Test of Faith: During Illness - Who is the True Healer?

Our sages expounded 'and he shall surely be healed' (Exodus 21:19) - from here we learn that permission is granted to the healer to heal. It is interesting to note the sages' expression 'from here permission is granted to the healer to heal,' implying there was initially a prohibition to visit doctors. Hence, our sages required an exposition and a lesson from an extra word in the Torah to innovate that permission is granted to the healer to heal.

The words of the Ramban are well-known: 'What does a servant of Hashem have to do in the doctor’s office?' A person must place their trust in Hashem, who heals the sick. Our sages have allowed visiting a doctor because it is Hashem's will to manage His world naturally and test us—whether, despite behaving according to nature and worldly customs, we do not neglect our faith. Rather, on the contrary, only His salvation and healing are before us, and the doctor is merely an emissary sent by Hashem to continue His path to our healing. [This path is for those who are not capable of strengthening their trust solely in Hashem without attributing any power or cause to the healer, for these elevate souls—the perfected in trust—will have their healing decreed without a doctor or remedy.]

What is Idolatry?

Today, unfortunately, the medical system has become complete idolatry. Patients' dependence on doctors and medications is practically like the idolatry that was practiced in ancient times.

For let us consider, what is idolatry? As Rambam writes, they did not deny Hashem—they believed in Hashem and knew that there is a supreme power that created the world and all within it. They understood it is sheer madness to think otherwise, to believe the world is eternal, etc. They understood the world is certainly renewed, especially those who were near the time of the world's creation, such as Pharaoh and other nations during the patriarchs' time. Nebuchadnezzar spoke words of faith and providence that almost left no room for David’s melodies alongside Nebuchadnezzar's praises and speeches of faith, as explained in the Talmud (Sanhedrin 92b). [Even though Nebuchadnezzar spoke his words perfunctorily without heart, and even less, being wicked and driven by desire, while King David spoke from true emotion.]

If so, what was their mistake? Their mistake was saying Hashem has abandoned the earth to various intermediaries. Some believed in beneficial and saving intermediaries like the sun, others the moon, etc. Hence, idolatry means belief in an intermediary in a way that denies and strips away the supreme power—Hashem.

If so, a person who entirely depends on doctors and medications, believing that without them they are lost and all their hope and expectation from Hashem are gone, is no different from an idol worshiper.

And how sad it is to see people, that in times of illness or injury, their first course is to the doctor, and only after recovering do they turn to Hashem or the rabbis for blessings and prayer.

And When You Come to Request Prayer - Do You Want It for Free?

There was a story of a person whose family member fell ill, and he approached the "Saba from Novardok" זצ"ל to organize prayer in the yeshiva for the ill person. The rabbi asked if he could support the yeshiva, aware of the immense self-sacrifice with which the "Saba" founded his yeshivas against the communist's satanic eyes, requiring support for his yeshivas. The man responded that his situation did not allow for much donation. The rabbi heard his words and shifted the conversation to other topics, eventually asking which doctors he had visited and how much he had paid for treatments. The man replied that he had despaired after visiting all doctors and spending a fortune, hence he turned to the rabbi to pray to Hashem for the ill person's recovery. The rabbi immediately replied: Tell me, for the doctors you say you spent a fortune and did not leave any practitioner whose medicine you did not pay full price for, and when you come to request prayer—a prayer to the Master of the World, which is unrivaled in efficacy—you want it specifically for free and are not willing to contribute a little for the boys to cry out to Hashem with supplication and request for healing?!

This true story rebukes many, proving their belief in Hashem, contemplating how much more they ought to strengthen their faith in Hashem and realize they remain distant from true acknowledgment of Hashem.

One does not fully participate in the Torah of Moses our teacher until they believe all our affairs and incidents are miracles. There is no natural or worldly order in them, whether public or private unless they do good and succeed as their reward, and if they do evil, they are punished (Ramban, end of Parashat Bo).

This article is taken from the book "Living with Faith." To purchase the book by Rabbi Yaakov Yisrael Lugasi click here.