Likutei Moharan 2:24 - Visiting the Sick

Rav Ḥelbo fell ill. There was no one who came to visit him. Rav Kahana said to the Sages: Didn’t the incident involving one of the students of Rabbi Akiva who became sick transpire in that manner? In that case, the Sages did not enter to visit him, and Rabbi Akiva entered to visit him. And since they swept and sprinkled water on the dirt floor before the sick student, he recovered. The student said to Rabbi Akiva: My teacher, you revived me. Rabbi Akiva went out and taught: With regard to anyone who does not visit the ill, it is as though he is spilling blood. When Rav Dimi came from Eretz Yisrael to Babylonia he said: Anyone who visits the ill causes that he will live, and anyone who does not visit the ill causes that he will die. The Gemara asks: In what way are his actions the cause of that result? If we say that anyone who visits the ill pleads for mercy from God that he will live, and anyone who does not visit the ill pleads for mercy that he will die, does it enter your mind that he would pray that the sick person will die? Rather, anyone who does not visit the ill does not plead for mercy for him, neither that he will live nor that he will die.

§ Ravin said that Rav said: From where is it derived that the Holy One, Blessed be He Himself sustains the sick person? It is as it is stated: “The Lord will support him upon the bed of suffering” (Psalms 41:4). And Ravin said that Rav said: From where is it derived that the Divine Presence is resting above the bed of the sick person? It is also as it is stated: “The Lord will support him upon the bed of suffering,” The Gemara notes that this is also taught in a baraita: One who enters to visit a sick person may neither sit on the bed nor sit on a bench or on a chair. Rather, he wraps himself in his garment and sits on the ground, because the Divine Presence is resting above the bed of the sick person, as it is stated: “The Lord will support him upon the bed of suffering,”.

...When a person becomes sick, it is a mitzvah upon every person to visit them. For we see that the Blessed, holy One also visits the sick, as it says - "God visited him by the oaks of Mamre" which was in order to visit the sick, and the practice is based on the verse "teach them a path to walk upon".

It is an important mitzvah to visit the sick for this will lead to praying on behalf of the person which will help them recover. Also, when you actually see the person you will inquire and see if they need anything, and make the effort to secure what is needed and make sure the room is cleaned and the bed made.

(7) Perceptions of Godliness can only be grasped through many contractions: from the First Cause to the caused, from the upper intellect to the lower intellect. We see this empirically, that it is impossible to grasp the greater insight without it being enclothed in the lower insight.

(8) This is like the teacher who, when he wants to elucidate a profound insight to the student, must enclothe it in a lower, lesser insight so that the student will be able to understand it. That is, he begins by supplying him with introductions and lesser insights which first take him round about [the material], so that through this he can give him to understand the intended subject—itself a lofty and great insight.

(1) 2. Each person must seek out a suitable teacher such as this, one who can elucidate and give him to understand such a great and lofty insight, namely, perceptions of Godliness. For this is something which requires a very, very great rabbi; one who can explain a great insight as this through <a lesser and lower insight>, as mentioned, so that people lacking [in spiritual perception] can understand it.

(2) In addition, the more one is lacking [in spiritual perception] and the further one is from the Holy One, the greater the rabbi one needs. Thus, we find that when the Jewish people were on a very low level, when they were trapped in the Forty-Nine Gates of Impurity in Egypt, they required a great master, a great and awesome teacher—namely Moshe Rabbeinu .

(3) For the more lacking and removed one is, the more one needs a great teacher. He has to be an educator of such quality that he is able <to imbue, elucidate and> enclothe an insight as lofty as this—i.e., a perception of the Holy One—to one as lacking and distant as he. For the sicker the patient, the greater <and more expert> the doctor he requires.

(4) Therefore, a person should not say: “It is enough for me to be a follower of a distinguished, God-fearing individual, even if he is not so outstanding. Would that I first be like him.” Do not say this. On the contrary, to the degree that a person knows inside himself the extent of his unworthiness and his remoteness from the Holy One—commensurate with what each and every person knows in his soul, as well as his great distance which he himself recognizes—he has to seek a very, very great healer for his soul, indeed, the greatest one. That is, he has to persistently and constantly request that he be found worthy of drawing closer to the very, very great master. For the more one is lacking [in spiritual perception], the greater the teacher he needs, as above.

(1) 5. One who possesses this wisdom must see to draw life-force into it; giving vitality to this lower wisdom, each person commensurate with the lower wisdom that he possesses <and> in accordance with the lower wisdom that is in each world.

(2) And the main life-force comes from the Light of the Face, as in (Proverbs 16:15), “In the light of the Living King’s countenance.” One therefore has to elevate Malkhut, lower wisdom, to the Light of the Face, which radiates on the Three Festivals.

(3) This is because the essence of the Light of the Face is joy, as is written (Proverbs 15:13), “A joyous heart makes a good countenance”; and the essence of joy is from the mitzvot, as in (Psalms 19:9), “The instructions of God are upright, they make the heart rejoice.” And the main joy is in the heart, as is written (ibid. 4:8), “You placed joy in my heart,” with the heart of the entire year being the Three Festivals. This is as in (Leviticus 23:4), “Eileh Moadei YHVH —These are the festivals of God.” The first letters spell EMY (my mother), which is “EM to binah (understanding)” (Proverbs 2:3). And understanding <is the> heart (Tikkuney Zohar, Introduction).

(4) Now, the joy of all the mitzvot which we fulfill throughout the year gathers in the heart, the Three Festivals. This is why they are days of joy, as in (Deuteronomy 16:14), “you will rejoice on your festivals.” Then the face radiates because of the joy, as in, “A joyous heart makes a good countenance.” Because of this, we were commanded (ibid. 16:16), “Three times each year, all your males shall thus appear before the countenance of God your Lord”—in order to receive <from the Light> of the Face.

(5) This is the meaning of: A man is obligated to receive the countenance of his master on the festival (Sukkah 27b). <That is,> in order to receive <from the Light> of the Face, to give vitality to the aspect of Malkhut. { “Righteousness will go to His face and set his p’amav (st eps) on the way” (Psalms 85:14). }

(6) And this is the meaning of: “Righteousness will go to His face.” “Righteousness” <is the> Malkhut of Holiness when it is led to the Light of the Face. This primarily happens in the aspect of “set his P’AMav on the way”—i.e., three P’AMim (times) each year through which one receives from the Light of the Face, as explained.

(7) And this is, “The upright will dwell in Your face” (Psalms 140:14). “Upright” alludes to “The instructions of God are upright, they make the heart rejoice.” They compose, cause to radiate and organize the Light of the Face, as above.