THE WINGS OF THE SUN
Traditional Jewish Healing
in Theory and Practice
SECTION 5
Rebbe Nachman and the Doctors
Chapter 14
Redemption of the Soul
After having been immersed in Rebbe Nachman's profound and moving teachings about simchah and healing, his emphatic warnings against doctors may seem almost jarring. He urged his followers to avoid medicine even in cases of serious illness. He said that the majority of doctors have no understanding of the art of healing. Being far more likely to cause damage than to do any good, most doctors are nothing but agents of the Angel of Death (Rabbi Nachman's Wisdom #50, see next chapter).
Many people find these views shocking and disturbing. Anyone who has had some bad experience with the medical profession is liable to laugh at and complain about doctors. But when illness strikes, God forbid, how could Rebbe Nachman apparently rule out medicine altogether? Even if we accept the paramount importance of repentance, charity, prayer and joy when facing illness, doesn't the rejection of medicine contradict one of the most basic tenets of Judaism - that we must do everything possible to protect and extend human life? Failure to treat illness could cause irreperable damage and actual loss of life, not to mention untold pain and suffering, both to the sick and to those around them!
These issues involve matters of life and death, and they must be considered with the utmost care and seriousness. It is not our purpose here to determine whether people should or should not receive medical treatment. Every present-day halakhic authority would rule unequivocally that in our times a sick person is duty bound to consult a competent doctor and must not rely on being healed miraculously. In the words of the TaZ (Rabbi David ben Shmuel Halevi, 1586-1667), one of the most important commentators on the Shulchan Arukh: "It is a positive obligation and a mitzvah to turn to the doctor at a time of sickness, and the Torah itself accepts that healing can come about through natural means. For the Torah penetrated the innermost recesses of man's mind and knows that his merit will not be sufficient to enable him to be healed through a miracle from heaven" (Turey Zahav on Yoreh Deah #336, and see Birkhey Yosef ad loc.).
No one should use Rebbe Nachman's warnings against doctors, or any other comment in this book, as a rationalization for avoiding necessary medical treatment. People have all kinds of fears about doctors and medicine, and some hold back from consulting a doctor even when they really need to. Even those who do go to doctors often neglect their advice and fail to complete the full course of recommended treatment. This can be highly dangerous. Anyone who has questions or doubts about medical advice they have been given, or about treatment they are undergoing, should consult authorities in the field. Any related religious or spiritual questions should be discussed with a competent rabbi.
Our purpose here is to investigate Rebbe Nachman's various statements about doctors and medicine in order to gain deeper insight into his own healing pathway. His opposition to medicine is founded on his basic standpoint that bodily illness reflects a flaw on the spiritual dimension. Only when the spiritual flaw is rectified can physical healing come about. To try to cure bodily problems with medicines alone is to misunderstand the meaning and causes of physical illness, which is intrinsically bound up with the maladies of the soul. Spiritual healing, far from being merely an "extra," is the very essence of healing.
Rebbe Nachman's attacks on doctors are well-known. Yet he also made numerous other statements indicating that he himself saw a place for medical treatments. As we will see in the course of our study, he recognized that medicines have the power to effect changes in bodily functioning. He himself recommended vaccination as a preventive procedure, and he accepted that at times doctors are in fact able to cure sickness.
Perhaps Rebbe Nachman's warnings against doctors and medicine should be seen not so much as an attack on medicine per se as an attempt to shake people's blind faith in its powers. Since God is the true Healer, to put all one's trust in the doctor and his treatment is misguided. Indeed, waiting for a complete cure through passive submission to medical treatment may actually impede genuine, long-term healing, if it becomes a way of avoiding confronting the personal issues and other problems that so often lie at the roots of physical illness.
The appropriate way to treat illness depends in large measure on what is deemed to be its cause. In the following brief teaching, "Why do people get sick?" Rebbe Nachman gives a general answer to the question of why people become ill.
"When a person fails to focus on the ultimate purpose - the תכלית (takhlit) - what is the point of his life? The soul constantly yearns to do the will of her Maker. When she sees that this person is not carrying out His will, she becomes filled with yearning to return to her Source, and she prepares to leave the body. As a result, the person becomes sick, because the power of his soul is weakened, owing to the fact that she is trying to withdraw from his body since he is not carrying out her desire. The soul's only wish is that he should carry out God's will.
"The reason a person's health returns through taking medicines is that his soul sees that he is able to control himself and to act contrary to his physical desires and habits. Perhaps he is accustomed to eating bread and other foods, but now he curbs his desires and submits to a medical regime, taking bitter medicines for the sake of his health. His soul sees that he has the power to control his impulses in order to achieve a certain goal, and she therefore comes back to him in the hope that he will curb his desires for the sake of the true purpose - which is to carry out the will of the Creator" (Likutey Moharan I, 268).
Underlying this teaching is the idea that the health and vitality of the body depend entirely on the soul. The soul is the vital core which animates the body. If the body is sick, it is because the soul's power to vitalize it has been weakened, leading to deterioration and malfunctioning of the physical system. Conversely, if the body recovers, it is because the soul's power is restored.
Rebbe Nachman is teaching us that the very key to health and healing lies in a driving will to live - a courageous embrace of life in this world as a magnificent opportunity to develop one's soul to the fullest and strive for an ever deeper connection with God. This is the purpose for which the soul is sent into this world of challenge. When we rise to the challenge and fight to elevate ourselves spiritually at all times, our souls thrive and radiate, sending us a flow of glowing health and vigor. However, when a person mistakes the meaning of this world and goes after its "false grace and vain beauty," this merely thwarts his holy soul. Every step he takes in his pursuit brings another flaw into the soul, separating her from God and taking her further from her true goal. To "cut her losses," as it were, the soul seeks to withdraw from the body and begins to pull away. And with its life-force weakened, the body deteriorates and becomes sick.
It would be wrong to look upon this brief teaching as a general theory of illness, and to question its validity on account of the numerous exceptions that might be found. Many people are obviously far from the spiritual purpose of life, yet seemingly enjoy robust good health (though the Rabbis teach that their vitality comes from the sitra achra, the "unholy side" of creation). As to why people become sick, this is such a broad question that there could never be a single, all-encompassing answer. The human body is so complex and finely-tuned that it is prone to a vast range of ailments and illnesses, depending on all kinds of factors, internal and external. To attribute all the different things that can go wrong in babies, children, adolescents, young adults, the middle- aged, the old and the very old to a single factor would clearly be ridiculous.
Various statements in Rebbe Nachman's writings indicate that he fully grasped that there are many different kinds of illnesses. He discusses terminal illness (Likutey Moharan I, 250), congenital and noncongenital illnesses (ibid. II,
Nevertheless, numerous cases of physical illness are clearly linked with what is happening in the minds and hearts of those afflicted - from the colds and infections that develop at times of particular stress, to far more serious conditions such as heart disease, certain cancers and other problems. Much has been written in recent years on the connection between a wide variety of physical conditions and important events and developments in the lives of the patients, their outlooks, attitudes and personalities (see Norman Cousins, The Healing Heart; Bernie S. Siegel M.D., Love, Medicine & Miracles and Peace, Love & Healing).
Rebbe Nachman's teaching on "Why do people get sick?" provides a powerful approach with which to penetrate to the very core of the inner crises that so often lie at the roots of such conditions. The conscious or unconscious feelings of anxiety, frustration, meaninglessness, grief and despair involved in many different illnesses are all essentially bound up with the broad loss of purpose to whichRebbe Nachman refers. The rediscovery of meaning and personal mission - the will to live - has time after time proven to be the single most important factor in people's long-term recovery from all manner of serious, life-threatening conditions.
Even in the case of more minor ailments - colds, 'flu, rashes, digestive upsets, allergies, etc. - Rebbe Nachman's teaching implies that sometimes people may be afflicted because the pressures in their lives have deflected them from their purpose, weakening their soul-powers and thereby disrupting their physical balance and lowering their immunity. An important element in recovery may be to take the time to recommit oneself to one's highest goals and seek more effective strategies for attaining them.
Missing the mark
The Rabbis taught that the main reason why illness strikes is because of sin. "There's no suffering without sin, as it is written (Psalms 89:33), `I will requite their transgressions with the rod and their iniquity with plagues'" (Shabbat 55a). "If you see a Jew with one of the four signs of leprosy mentioned in the Torah, its only purpose is to heal him of all his sins, and through his suffering he attains the life of the World to Come" (Tanna devei Eliahu 5). "Rabbi Acha said, It is up to the individual himself not to be afflicted with illness, as it is written (Deuteronomy
Explicit statements by our Sages must be accepted with the utmost respect. At the same time, it is a fact that some people find the suggestion that illness results from sin to be disturbing and even offensive. The distress and anxiety suffered by those confronting serious illness are painful enough. Is it not cruel and heartless to compound them by suggesting that the sick person is responsible for his own suffering and should feel guilty about it? Why should the patient be burdened with fear and guilt at a time when he most needs sympathy, kindness and support? Surely the idea that sin is the underlying cause of illness is more likely to hinder the healing process!
Rebbe Nachman well understood that many people experience nothing but negativity and depression when thinking about sin, and he knew how damaging these can be. While he leaves us in no doubt whatever that sin and evil actually do exist and that we must try our utmost to avoid them, he also recognized that when a person has already sinned, it is counterproductive for him to sink into gloom and self-recrimination. "The reason most people are far from God is that they become demoralized when they see how destructive their behavior has been, and they fall into depression and sadness. One must use one's intelligence to fight against this, because low self-esteem is worse than anything. It is true that the person actually committed the wrongdoings that cause him to experience this demoralization. But the demoralization and depression themselves are nothing but the work of the Evil One, who wants to weaken his resolve and cast him down completely" (Likutey Moharan I, 282).
The last thing Rebbe Nachman would have wanted is that we should let our sins drag us into depression and despair. Yet he wanted us to recognize the truth, that illness may be caused by sin. He mentions this idea in several places (e.g. Likutey Moharan I, 4:5; ibid. II, 8:6 etc.). He did not want people to allow their distaste for uncomfortable guilt feelings to blind them to the truth. On the contrary, he urged us to confront our sins and transgressions directly, to the point of taking time each day to examine our behavior and activities and feel contrition for our mistakes. This is an integral part of hisbodedus, and careful introspection and wholehearted acknowledgement of past mistakes for what they are can be a most important part of the healing process.
Rebbe Nachman's teaching on "Why do people get sick?" can be seen as a restatement of the rabbinic teaching that illness is bound up with sin, clarifying the essential truth the Rabbis were expressing while avoiding the clouds of negativity and depression associated with the idea of sin in the minds of many people. The Hebrew word חטא (chet), usually translated as "sin" or "transgression," has the root meaning of "lacking" (cf. Kings I,
When we do, we ourselves are the losers. Each person has his or her own individual takhlit - a unique pathway of connection with God - as well as the particular constellation of obstacles that constitute his or her unique challenge in this world. Perhaps the worst chet in life is to fail to fulfil one's personal mission. In the famous words of Reb Zusya of Anipoli (d. 1800), "On the day of reckoning, when they ask me, `Why weren't you like Abraham, Isaac and Jacob?' I won't be afraid. But when they ask me, `Why weren't you like Zusya?' - that's when I'll be afraid." In his teaching on "Why do people get sick?" Rebbe Nachman is telling us that to allow ourselves to veer from our true mission in life is not only a deep spiritual flaw; it is also a direct threat to our actual physical health.
"The sins are inscribed upon the bones" Rebbe Nachman taught that "a person's sins are on his bones, as it is written (Ezekiel 32:27), `And their sins were inscribed upon their bones'" (Likutey Moharan I, 4:5). Immediately prior to giving this teaching, Rebbe Nachman told the following story: One of the Baal Shem Tov's followers was very sick, and sent a messenger to the Baal Shem Tov asking him to come. The Baal Shem Tov agreed. On the way, the messenger said to the Baal Shem Tov, "This sick man would seem to have repented completely and he is surely a good Jew. He's not very old yet - so why hasn't he been cured?" The Baal Shem Tov replied, "It is certainly true that this man has repented completely for all his sins. The reason he has not yet been cured is because he has not confessed his sins to a true Tzaddik. My purpose in going to him is to give him the opportunity to do so." The Baal Shem Tov continued: "If he confesses he will be cured immediately. But if he refuses, his condition will immediately deteriorate. He will start screaming with agony. He'll feel pain in all his limbs, his hands and his feet, and then he'll die. It is true that in the higher worlds not a single sin or transgression will be held against him, because he has repented completely for all his sins exactly the way he should. After his death the forces of evil will have no grip on him at all, seeing that he has rectified all the damage he has done. If he confesses to me, he will be cured immediately. But if he does not, the forces of evil will still have the power to take vengeance on him in this world. They will attack all his limbs until he dies." And so it was. The Baal Shem Tov came to the sick man and said, "Tell me what you know, and God knows, and I also know" - i.e. he should confess all his sins to him. The Baal Shem Tov said this to him three times. However the man was unwilling to confess. Immediately afterwards he started screaming in agony. He felt pain in each limb in turn, and he cried out bitterly. The man carried on screaming like this until he died, as the Baal Shem Tov predicted (Tzaddik #184). |
If illness strikes, God forbid, medical treatment may help. As Rebbe Nachman says in "Why do people get sick?" the self-discipline involved in following a medical regime may pave the way for the soul to shine into the body again and so bring about a cure. (The same could be said to apply to all healthful practices, such as careful diet and regular exercise, which many find to greatly enhance their spiritual as well as their physical well-being.) But even when receiving treatment, it is vital to bear in mind that the essential work of healing is not so much to take the medicine as it is to make sincere efforts to stir ourselves spiritually. We must ask ourselves: "Where in the world am I? What have I been doing with my life? What is my ultimate purpose and how can I attain it?" Many people want to leave all the work to the doctor: "Do something - anything! Just cure me!!!" But there can be no true healing without a movement to teshuvah on our part - a return to our own true mission.
What? "One should ask people `What?' People don't think about their purpose in life. What? After all the frustrations and distractions, after all the complaining and all the empty excuses you give for being far from God, when everything is over, what is going to be left of you? What are you going to do in the end? What will you answer the One who sent you? What are you if not a visitor on this earth? Life is vanity and emptiness, a passing shadow, a vanishing cloud. You know this. What do you say? Place these words on your heart. Bring them into the depths of your being. Don't ignore them. Turn them over and over and you will save your soul" (Rabbi Nachman's Wisdom #286). |
2. License to Heal?
The essential first step in bringing about a cure is פדיון נפש (pidyon nefesh), "redemption of the soul." The forces that cause people to veer from their true purpose in life often lock them in more strongly than prison bars. When a person falls into some kind of chet (transgression), his soul-powers are taken captive, as it were, by the impure forces nurtured by the chet. It may be impossible for him to free himself, because "a prisoner can't release himself from prison" (Berakhot 5b). The sick person needs someone with sufficient spiritual power to redeem his soul from its captivity. This is the true Tzaddik, who intercedes on behalf of the suffering individual, opening the way for a cure.
Pidyon nefesh, "redemption of the soul," is the main theme of Rebbe Nachman's teaching of the same name (Likutey Moharan II, 3). The essential idea is that only after pidyon nefesh has been accomplished does the doctor have the power to cure the patient. This teaching was probably given in the winter of 1808-9. By then Rebbe Nachman was seriously ill with tuberculosis, and he may have been alluding to his own illness in the opening words of the teaching, which refer to the mishnaic Sage, Rabbi Eliezer the Great. As the towering Tzaddik of his generation, Rabbi Eliezer had the power to accomplish pidyon nefesh for others, yet he was unable to do so for himself when he was sick.
"Redemption of the Soul" was taught during the period when Rebbe Nachman was most outspoken against doctors. Yet the Talmud states explicitly that "the Torah gave the doctor license to heal" (Berakhot 60a). On the face of it, this would seem to be a clear statement that doctors have been given the power to cure illness! But according to Rebbe Nachman, the true meaning of this statement can only be understood in relation to another saying of the Rabbis, that a sick person can only be healed "by a particular drug and a particular man on a particular date" (Avodah Zarah 55a).*
*The talmudic statement that healing can come about only "on a particular date, through a particular drug and a particular doctor" (Avodah Zarah 55a) comes in the context of a discussion about why sick people who go to idolatrous healing shrines (which were common in Graeco-Roman times) come away cured: "Zonin said to Rabbi Akiva, `You and I both know in our hearts that idols are totally powerless. Yet we see that people go into idolatrous healing shrines virtually crippled by their ailments and they come out healthy! Why?' Rabbi Akiva replied, `Let me explain it with a parable. Once there was an honest man to whom all the townspeople used to entrust their valuables for safekeeping without witnesses. But there was one man in town who always made a point of depositing his valuables in front of witnesses. Once it happened that this man forgot, and he placed a deposit without witnesses. The wife of the man guarding the goods said to her husband, `Let's deny that he deposited these goods and keep them for ourselves.' But her husband replied, `Just because this fool acted improperly, does that mean we should throw away our honesty?' So it is with suffering. When suffering is sent to a person, the agents inflicting it are bound by an oath: `Come to him only on a particular day, and don't leave him except on a specific day at a given hour, through a particular doctor and a particular medicine.' When the time comes for the suffering to end, the sick person goes to an idolatrous healing shrine. At first, the agents inflicting the suffering say, `By rights we should not let go of him [because he will attribute his recovery to his idol].' But then they relent, saying, `Just because this fool has acted improperly, does that mean we should break our oath?'" (Avodah Zarah 55a).There may be a subtle humor in Rebbe Nachman's reference to this talmudic passage in his discussion of the doctors' license to heal. Rebbe Nachman saw something idolatrous about the way people put their faith in medicine, as if without medicine God does not have the power to heal (Likutey Moharan I, 62:6). Interestingly, even some prominent contemporary doctors also look upon modern medicine as a form of idolatry. In the words of Robert S. Mendelsohn M.D., Associate Professor in the Department of Preventive Medicine and Community Health, Abraham Lincoln School of Medicine, University of Illinois: "Modern medicine is the religion of a secular society that has rejected its traditional value systems. Modern medicine has at least ten of the essential components of a religion: (1) A belief system, modern medical science, which can no more be validated than the proofs of other churches... (2) A priestly class - the M.D.'s. (3) Temples - the hospitals. (4) Acolytes and vestal maidens - nurses, social workers and paraprofessionals. (5) Vestments reflecting hierarchical status - the color and length of M.D.'s gowns signify their rank. (6) A rich princely class supporting the church - drug companies, insurance companies and formula houses. (7) A confessional - the history must be given truthfully to the physician. (8) An absolution - the reassuring pat on the back - `You're fine, come back next year.' (9) Selling of indulgences - the outrageous fees, likely to bring down this modern church just as it did the medieval church. (10) Similarity of language - I have confidence in my plumber but `I have faith in my doctor'; the doctor-patient relationship is `sacred.' Unfortunately, the religion of modern medicine proves to be worship of a god who fails to answer, who is powerless and who, in fact, deceives. This, of course, is the definition of idolatry..." (from Dr. Robert S. Mendelsohn's Foreword to Natural Healing through Macrobiotics by Michio Kushi, 1992). |
Redemption of the Soul
Likutey Moharan II, 3