Sickness brings us closer to Hashem – more words from the Rav
I decided ‘shorter but sweet’ is the way to go with the Rav’s teachings.
Enjoy!
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When they take a person’s health away – he becomes closer to Hashem.
Because good health hinders this from happening.
The Rambam said that a healthy body distances a person from Hashem.
“The soul is healthy, but the body is broken.”
The Rambam said, ‘the soul is healthy, this is when the body is weak.’
Because when the body is weak – the soul is healthy.
But when the body is strong – the soul is weak!
If they take a person’s health away, he just gets closer to Hashem.
Who took his health away? Hashem took it!
And now, he will draw closer to Him.
When the body becomes weakened, the neshama is closer to God.
In this world, we need to ‘weaken’ the pull of the body as much as possible, and as much as possible, we need to strengthen the soul.
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Translated from Shivivei Or 443.
Wow. This teaching felt like a direct punch to the stomach for me. I’ve been paying a lot of attention to phytotherapeutic methods lately, and I radically changed my diet precisely to improve my health in every sense. But today I realize that I think about this for a large part of my days, and this has been disconnecting me from the Supreme Source. It’s no coincidence that King Hezekiah hid the Book of Remedies in his time. Anyway, this is yet another battle I have ahead of me. On one side, the desire to take care of my body and brain, but at the same time, the need to take care of the soul, which is the most precious good.
I’m having the same battle, to not ‘obsess’ over health, and to know it’s all from God, whilst at the same time not just saying ‘yalla! pizza every night!’… Or whatever.
It’s a very narrow bridge.
Rambam, Hilchos De’os 4:1 :
“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.”
where is your rabbis getting his quote from?
This is a ridiculous comment.
The Rav is stating the obvious, that when a person is sick that brings him closer to Hashem, or at least, should do. There are 70 faces to the Torah, the Rambam has his opinion, and the Rav has his opinion.
No big deal.