Are we allowed to seek medical attention?

(22) And the children struggled together within her; and she said: ‘If it be so, wherefore do I live?’ And she went to inquire of the LORD.

(12) And in the thirty and ninth year of his reign Asa was diseased in his feet; his disease was exceeding great; yet in his disease he sought not to the LORD, but to the doctors. (13) And Asa slept with his fathers, and died in the one and fortieth year of his reign.

(26) and He said: ‘If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and wilt do that which is right in His eyes, and wilt give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of the diseases upon thee, which I have put upon the Egyptians; for I am the LORD that healeth thee.’

The best of doctors go to hell.

(9) The following six things were done by King Hezekiah; three of which were approved of, and three were disapproved... He hid away the Book of Healing, and they agreed...

Rabbi Yermiyah fell sick. The doctor came to heal him...

And it was taught: Any city that does not have in it these ten things, a Sage may not live within it....a doctor...

(19) if he rise again, and walk abroad upon his staff, then shall he that smote him be quit; only he shall pay for the loss of his time, and shall cause him to be thoroughly healed.

On going in to be bloodlet one should say: 'May it be Your will, O Lord, my God, that this operation may be a cure for me, and may You heal me, for You are a faithful healing God, and Your healing is certain, since it is not the way of man to heal, but this is a habit with them.' Abaye said: A man should not speak thus, since it was taught in the school of R. Ishmael: [It is written], He shall cause him to be thoroughly healed. From this we learn that permission has been given to the physician to heal. When he gets up [after cupping] what does he say? — R. Aha said: Blessed be He who heals without payment.

But Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said, "Rabbi Chanina permitted me to drink cress on the sabbath [for healing]... And why [was it specifically] Rabbi Chaninah [who said that statement about healing]? Because he was an expert in medicine.

(3) If ye walk in My statutes, and keep My commandments, and do them; (4) then I will give your rains in their season, and the land shall yield her produce, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. (5) And your threshing shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time; and ye shall eat your bread until ye have enough, and dwell in your land safely. (6) And I will give peace in the land, and ye shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid; and I will cause evil beasts to cease out of the land, neither shall the sword go through your land. (7) And ye shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword. (8) And five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall chase ten thousand; and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. (9) And I will have respect unto you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you; and will establish My covenant with you. (10) And ye shall eat old store long kept, and ye shall bring forth the old from before the new. (11) And I will set My tabernacle among you, and My soul shall not abhor you.

But the blessings of this portion are general rules for the nation, when our people are completely righteous. Therefore, it mentions the land here constantly... for all these blessings are miraculous, and it is not natural for rain to be brought, and to have peace from enemies, and their hearts want to flee [just] because of the weapon of our doing the laws and commandments... The rule is that when the Jewish People are in a state of spiritual perfection, neither their physical bodies nor their country, nor any of their other affairs are governed by nature at all. This applies to the nation as a whole and to each individual Jew. For God `will bless their bread and their water, and remove illness from their midst' (Exodus 23:25). They will have no need of doctors, nor will they have to follow medical procedures even as precautionary measures, `For I, God, am your healer' (Exodus 15:26). In the era of prophecy, the tzaddikim acted accordingly. Even if they happened to sin and became sick, they consulted not doctors but prophets, as did King Hezekiah when he was sick (Kings II, 20, 2-3). It is said of King Asa that `even in his sickness he did not seek out God, but he turned to the doctors' (Chronicles II, 16:13). If it was common for them to go to doctors, why should the verse mention doctors at all? Asa's only guilt would have lain in the fact that he did not seek out God. But this phrasing is similar to saying, `He did not eat matzah on Pesach but chametz.' Someone who seeks out God through the priest will not consult doctors.

"What place do doctors have in the house of those who carry out the will of God, after He promised that `He will bless their bread and their water, and remove illness from their midst'? The only function of the medical profession should be to give nutritional advice - what to eat and drink and what to avoid. Thus the Rabbis said, `For the entire twenty-two years of Rabbah's leadership, Rav Yosef did not even call a bloodletter to his house' (Berakhot 64a). They went by the principle that `a door that does not open to charity will open to the doctor' (Bemidbar Rabbah 9:3). It is true that the Rabbis said, `because it is not the way of human beings to bring about a cure, but this is the practice' (Berakhot 60a,). But this merely means that, had they not been in the habit of resorting to medicine, a person who became sick because of his sin could have been healed through the will of God alone. However, since they resorted to medicines, God abandoned them to the vicissitudes of nature.

"As for the rabbinic comment on the verse, `He shall cause him to be thoroughly healed' (Exodus 21:19) - `from here we learn that the physician has been given sanction to heal' (Berakhot 60a) - they did not say that license has been given to the sick to resort to medicine! What they meant is that if a doctor is approached by a patient who was in the habit of resorting to medicine and was not part of the community of God whose share is life, the doctor should not refrain from treating him, not from fear that the patient might die under his hand - seeing as the doctor is expert in his craft - nor on the grounds that God alone is the healer of all flesh - because this patient is already in the habit of resorting to medicine. It is true that if two people quarrel and one hits the other with a stone or his fist, the Torah lays down that the attacker must pay the medical expenses of the injured party (Exodus 21:18). But this is because Torah law does not rely on miracles, for God knew that `the needy will not cease from the midst of the earth' (Deuteronomy 15:11). But when a person's ways find favor in God's eyes, he has no business with doctors."

Since maintaining a healthy and sound body is among the ways of God - for one cannot understand or have any knowledge of the Creator, if he is ill - therefore, he must avoid that which harms the body and accustom himself to that which is healthful and helps the body become stronger.

They are as follows: a person should never eat unless he is hungry, nor drink unless thirsty. He should never put off relieving himself, even for an instant. Rather, whenever he [feels the] need to urinate or move his bowels, he should do so immediately. (Translation from Chabad.org)

And after one leaves the Beit Knesset one should go to the Beit Midrash - before he goes to his job - and set aside time to learn. ... And it is a Mitzvah to accustom one's self to good character traits and behave well to guard one's health in order that one be healthy and strong to serve the exhalted Creator.

Mitzvah #73 - Do not eat a Treifah - As it is written...

(Paraphrase from Rabbi Gil Student: one may not bring danger to himself because Hashem gave us a nefesh which resides within the body. you are obligated to protect your body in order to protect your nefesh.)