דף נושא: בריאות

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.

Blessed are You, Adonoy our God, King of the Universe, Who formed man with wisdom and created within him openings and hollows. It is obvious and known in the presence of Your glorious throne that if one of them were ruptured, or if one of them were blocked, it would be impossible to exist and stand in Your Presence even for a short while. Blessed are You, Adonoy, Who heals all flesh and performs wonders.

[God] said, “If you will heed your God יהוה diligently, doing what is upright in God’s sight, giving ear to God’s commandments and keeping all God’s laws, then I will not bring upon you any of the diseases that I brought upon the Egyptians, for I יהוה am your healer.”

They set out from Mount Hor by way of the Sea of Reeds to skirt the land of Edom. But the people grew restive on the journey, and the people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why did you make us leave Egypt to die in the wilderness? There is no bread and no water, and we have come to loathe this miserable food.” יהוה sent seraph serpents against the people. They bit the people and many of the Israelites died. The people came to Moses and said, “We sinned by speaking against יהוה and against you. Intercede with יהוה to take away the serpents from us!” And Moses interceded for the people. Then יהוה said to Moses, “Make a seraph figure and mount it on a standard. And anyone who was bitten who then looks at it shall recover.” Moses made a copper serpent and mounted it on a standard; and when bitten by a serpent, anyone who looked at the copper serpent would recover.

Incidental to the discussion of the required intent when sounding the shofar, the mishna cites the verse: “And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed; and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed” (Exodus 17:11). It may be asked: Did the hands of Moses make war when he raised them or break war when he lowered them? Rather, the verse comes to tell you that as long as the Jewish people turned their eyes upward and subjected their hearts to their Father in Heaven, they prevailed, but if not, they fell.Similarly, you can say: The verse states: “Make for yourself a fiery serpent, and set it upon a pole; and it shall come to pass, that everyone that is bitten, when he sees it, he shall live” (Numbers 21:8). Once again it may be asked: Did the serpent kill, or did the serpent preserve life? Rather, when the Jewish people turned their eyes upward and subjected their hearts to their Father in Heaven, they were healed, but if not, they rotted from their snakebites. Returning to its halakhic discussion, the mishna continues: A deaf-mute, an imbecile, or a minor who sounds the shofarcannot discharge the obligation on behalf of the community. This is the principle with regard to similar matters: Whoever is not obligated to do a certain matter cannot discharge the obligation on behalf of the community.

Eight things are hard on a person when done excessively, but pleasant if done sparingly: [drinking] wine, work, sleep, [having] wealth, sexual relations, [bathing in] hot water, (sexual relations,) and bloodletting.

§ Elijah the prophet said to Rabbi Natan: Eat a third of your fill, and drink a third of your fill, and leave a third of your fill, so that when you become angry you will become full. If you do this, there will be room, as it were, for the anger. If you become angry when your stomach is full you will be harmed. Rabbi Ḥiyya teaches: One who does not want to come to a situation whereby he contracts intestinal disease should become accustomed to dipping his food in wine or vinegar, both in the summer and in the winter. He also teaches: You should remove your hand, i.e., stop eating, from a meal that you enjoy so that you do not overeat. And do not delay yourself at the time when it is necessary to relieve yourself.

Rav said to Ḥiyya, his son: Do not get into the habit of drinking medications, lest you develop an addiction. And do not leap over a ditch, as you might hurt yourself in the process. And do not pull out a tooth, but try to heal it if possible. And do not provoke a snake in your house to try to kill it or chase it away. And do not provoke a gentile, as this too is dangerous.

The Torah has granted the physician permission to heal, and it is a religious duty which comes under the rule of saving an endangered life. If he withholds [treatment] he is regarded as one who sheds blood; and even if there is someone else who can heal him; for not from every one does one merit to be healed. Nevertheless, on should not occupy himself with medical treatment unless he is an expert and there is none other greater than he; for if not so, he is regarded as one who sheds blood. If one administered medical treatment without the permission of the Jewish Court, he is subject to payment of indemnities, even if he is an expert; and if he administered medical treatment, having the permission of the Jewish Court, and erred, causing [thereby] injury [to the patient], he is exempt by the laws of man and is held responsible by the laws of Heaven. If he caused death and it became known to him that he acted inadvertently, he is banished on account of him.

Another matter, “if…will become poor” – that is what is written: “The man of kindness does good for himself” (Proverbs 11:17), this is Hillel the elder, who, when he would take leave from his disciples, would walk with them. His disciples said to him: ‘Our teacher, where are you going?’ He said to them: ‘To perform a mitzva.’ They said to him: ‘What mitzvais this?’ He said to them: ‘To bathe in the bathhouse.’ They said to him: ‘Is that a mitzva?’ He said to them: ‘Yes. If the statues of kings that are placed in theaters and circuses, the one who is appointed over them scrubs them and washes them, and they provide him with sustenance, and moreover, he is exalted among the prominent leaders of the kingdom; I who was created in the likeness and image [of God], as it is written: “For in the image of God, He made man” (Genesis 9:6), all the more so.’
Another matter, “The man of kindness does good for himself,” this is Hillel the elder, who, when he would take leave from his disciples, would walk with them. His disciples said to him: ‘Our teacher, where are you going?’ He said to them: ‘To perform an act of kindness with the guest inside the house.’ They said to him: ‘Every day you have a guest?’ He said to them: ‘And is this wretched soul not a guest inside the body; one day it is here, the next day it is not here.’
Another matter, “The man of kindness does good for himself, and one who abuses his flesh is cruel” (Proverbs 11:17). Rabbi Alexandri said: This is one who has a reason to celebrate, but he does not invite his relatives to be with him due to poverty. Rabbi Naḥman said: It is written: “For it is due to [biglal] this matter” (Deuteronomy 15:10), it is a cycle [galgal] that recurs in the world. Therefore, Moses cautions them: “If your brother will become poor.”

Chapter 2. Rabbi Akiva opened and said: "Man is like grass, his days are like a flower of the field" (Psalms 103:15). It happened with Rabbi Yishmael and Rabbi Akiva who were walking in the streets of Jerusalem, and there was another man with them. A sick man met them and said to them: "My teachers, tell me how I can be healed." They said to him: "Do this and this until you are healed." He said to them: "Who struck me?" They said: "God." He said: "And you involve yourselves in something that is not yours! He struck me and you heal me - don't you transgress His will?!" They said: "What is your occupation?" He said: "I am a farmer, here is my sickle in my hand." They said: "Who created the vineyard?" He said: "God." They said: "And you involve yourself in something that is not yours! He created it and you cut its fruits from it." He said: "Don't you see the sickle is in my hand? If I did not go out and plow it, fertilize it, weed it - nothing would grow!" They said: "You foolish man, from your work you have not heard what is written: 'Man is like grass, his days are like a flower' (Psalms 103:15). Just as a tree will not grow if it is not weeded, fertilized, and plowed, and even if it grew but did not drink water and was not fertilized, it would not live but die - so too the body: the fertilizer is the medicine and the varieties of healing, and the man of the earth is the doctor." He said to them: "Please do not punish me. This body's generations are dependent on each other. Without this, that would not be. And when they separate from each other, the body tends towards death. Just as a house has four sides - if one detaches, the house falls. And everything He created, He created as pairs. Without death there would be no life, and without life there would be no death. Without peace there would be no evil, and without evil there would be no peace. If a person entered a city which was half peace and half evil, he would go in the evil part and recognize the peace. And if there was another city which was all peaceful, if there was no evil there, the peace would not be recognizable. If all people were fools, they would not be recognizable as fools. And if all people were wise, they would not be recognizable as wise. Rather, "He made one opposite the other" (Ecclesiastes 7:14). And if all people were rich, they would not be recognizable as rich. And if all were poor, they would not be recognizable as poor. Rather, He created poor and rich so they would be distinguishable from each other. And he created wise and foolish to distinguish one from the other. And He created dead and living to distinguish between fertile and desolate. He created beauty and ugliness, males and females, fire and water, iron and wood, light and darkness, heat and cold, eating and hunger, drinking and thirst, walking and limping, seeing and blindness, hearing and deafness, sea and land, speech and muteness, action and idleness, worry and calm, laughter and crying, healing and illness - with all the opposites that Solomon mentioned in Ecclesiastes: "A time to give birth and a time to die", etc. And all this is to make known the might of God, that everything He created He created in pairs, as partners. Could the Omnipresent not have brought forth children without incest and revealing nakedness? Rather, everything is with a partner and opposite. Without male and female joining there is no offspring. A male cannot give birth without a female, nor can a female give birth without a male. And a house is not built by itself, nor does a house build another house, rather it needs a builder to build it. There is no woodchopper without an axe, and without a woodchopper, what is an axe for? Without an axe there is no woodchopper. Without purity there is no impurity, and without impurity there is no purity." The pigs and all kinds of impure animals said to the pure animals: "You want to be grateful to us - if not for us impure ones, you would not be known to be pure!" The wicked person says to the righteous person: "You want to be grateful to me - if not for me being wicked, how would you be recognized? If all people were righteous, you would have no advantage." So we have said that everything has an opposite except for one thing - to make known to all who come into the world, subtly, that He (God) is One and has no second. And so too the wind, which has no opposite or partner. You cannot grasp it, strike it, burn it or throw it. And if you say you can grasp the wind in a waterskin - no, because if the waterskin is opened and a person comes and says "What is in it?" and you say "Wind" - he will say "What is it, black or red, white or green? How is it sold in the marketplace?" You cannot answer him. And if you open the waterskin's mouth, the wind departs and you cannot see if it is black or red, white or green. Not only that, but it carries people and carries the heavens and earth. How do you know? From what your eyes see: A person enters a house, deeper into the house, or a cave, deeper into the cave, and waves his garment, and the wind comes out, and you do not know from where it came and where it goes. From this you learn that wind fills the world. And so it was that the Queen asked Rabbi Akiva, "On what does the world stand?" He said, "On the wind." She said, "Show me!" He said, "Bring me camels laden with salt." They walked them around the house. He said, "What do you see?" They said, "Camels laden with salt." He said, "Bring me a rope." They brought him a rope and wrapped it around their necks. He gave the rope to two men and said, "This one should pull from here and this one should pull from here" until they strangled them. After they strangled them, he said, "Stand them up." She said, "You are the wise Jew - after you strangled them you say stand them up?!" He said, "What is missing from them except the wind? From this you learn that the world stands on nothing but the wind, which is supreme and exalted." "And it was from the beginning, as it says 'and the wind of God hovered over the surface of the waters' (Genesis 1:2). There are two things that we do not find created - the wind and the water - and they preexisted, as it says 'and the wind of God hovered over the surface of the waters.' The entire world and all within it we find created in the six days of creation, except for the water, the wind and the darkness, as it says 'and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the wind of God hovered over the surface of the waters' (Genesis 1:2), until Isaiah came and said 'He forms light and creates darkness' (Isaiah 45:7)."... GERMAN: Einst gingen Rabbi Akiva und Rabbi Ischmael auf den Straßen von Jerusalem. Ein Kranker begegnete ihnen und fragte sie: „Meine Herren, wie kann ich geheilt werden?“. Sie antworteten ihm: „Tue dies und das bis du gesund wirst“. Er fragte: „Wer machte mich krank?“. Sie sagten: „Gott“. Er sagte: „Und ihr mischt euch ein, in eine Sache, die nicht euch gehört? Er machte mich krank und ihr wollt heilen? Handelt ihr nicht gegen seinen Willen?“. Sie fragen: „Was ist dein Beruf?“. Er sagte: „Ich bin ein Landarbeiter“. Sie fragten: „Wer hat den Weinberg erschaffen?“. Er sagte: „Gott“. Sie fragten: „Du mischst dich in eine Sache ein, die nicht dir gehört? Gott erschuf ihn und du schneidest seine Früchte ab?“. Er sagte: „Würde ich den Weinberg nicht pflügen, nicht, jäten, nicht düngen, käme doch keine Frucht von ihm.“ Sie sagten: „Du Dummkopf, hast du nicht den Vers gehört `Des Menschen Tage sind wie Gras, er blüht wie eine Blume des Feldes´(Ps. 103:15). Genau wie das Gewächs, wenn es nicht gejätet und gedüngt wird, wächst nichts und wenn es wächst und nichts trinkt, dann stirbt es. Genauso ist der Körper des Menschen, sein Dünger ist das Medikament und die Arten der Heilung und der Landarbeiter, der sich darum kümmert, ist der Arzt.“