How much is an uncontrolled temper tantrum going to cost you? How, is the cost of a physical assault accurately assessed? The answers are set out in the compendium of Jewish law that is found in this week’s parsha. The attacker would be required to pay for five different categories of damages that the victim has incurred, one of which is his medical bills. The words used in the parsha are “verapoh yerapeh” the attacker must “provide for healing”.
The Gemara in Tractate Bava Kama states that it is also from these words that we learn that a Doctor has “the right to heal!” This seems like a real eyebrow raiser, why would a Doctor need permission to heal?
Before we go any further be assured that Jewish people may and must go to Doctors, on the contrary, failure to see a Doctor at the right time is sinful. The wording, “permission given to heal” seems however to suggest the idea that medical treatment is something which is permitted but not the optimum thing to do. The approach to illness in Judaism is that the illness visits a person as retribution for an iniquity of which he is guilty or as a means to allow one the gain merits in return for his suffering. If so, the way to deal with ailments should be prayer and repentance, for if sins are the cause for the illness the treatment must be their being forgiven.
The truth is that indeed, we are required to pray and repent in the face of illness or adversity however in addition to this, the Torah requires us to live according to the rules of nature that govern the world we live in. There is even a mitzvah to make every effort to remain healthy and seek medical care in the unfortunate event of illness. The Doctor in the eyes of the Torah is seen as a messenger of Hashem in the holy task of healing the ill, it is for this reason that there are so many references in the Torah writings to the piety of sincere Doctors. It is from the words “verapoh yerapeh” that we can infer that although the source of the malady is a spiritual one, permission is still granted to the Doctors to be the messengers of Hashem in dealing with it according to the rules of nature.
The Mishna in Kiddushin 4:14 writes “tov sheberoifim l’gehinnom” – the best Doctors will go to Hell! What does this mean? Surely this cannot be literal; the Torah holds physicians in the highest esteem! One of the many explanations is that the Doctor who is the best in his profession runs the danger of growing haughty and hence forgets that he too is a pawn in the hands of Hashem. He fails to appreciate that the work he does is with the permission of Hashem and the success he sees in the work of his hands is the direct impact of divine support. Hashem who is the healer of all flesh simply funnels the healing powers into the worthy individual and empowers them to heal.
The following story is told in the name of several Sages and may well have occurred on several occasions. A young girl was handed a dire prognosis by her Doctor and now had only a short time to live. Her father ran to the Tzaddik R’ Dovid Moshe of Chortkov and poured out his heart to him. After listening to his plight R’ Dovid Moshe told him not to worry “your daughter will see a complete recovery”. “But the Doctor said…..” R’ Dovid Moshe quickly replied “don’t pay heed to those words, the Doctors have only been given a right by Hashem to prolong life, not to decide the when a life will end”. The commentaries on the Mishna in Kiddushin tie the concept we encounter in this week’s parsha – “the permission to heal” and the Mishna in Kiddushin that says that he best of Doctors will go to Gehinnom, together. They explain that the Doctor may lose sight of his position and forget that he is a messenger on an exalted mission to heal Hashem’s creations and that he can do so only according to Hashem’s will. It is this Doctor who in through his success has forgotten his creator that we discuss in the Mishna in Kiddushin. This poisonous mind-set puts the patients’ under his care into danger and thus is on the path to Gehinnom.
Good Shabbos, Meir