Igrot Kodesh · Letter 9476

[Note, Adar 5728]

It[1] seems[2] that this contradicts tractate Yoma* 86a, which says: "I will heal their waywardness," meaning that some of them had indeed contracted it, as Rashi's* commentary at that reference clarifies. One must conclude that this alludes to a heavenly healing for those who attain the lower fear, which in any case does not surpass the Sefirah* of Binah*. In contrast, this is not the case here for the verse[3]: "I am Hashem Who heals you," whose initials form the word Arich*, as Meoreh Or* notes on p. 124 in the Yair Nativ*, and one should also see Or HaTorah* of the Tzemach Tzedek*, Parasha* Beshalach*, on p. 580.

Conversely, regarding a healing originating from man, through the intermediary of the physician, one can also conceive: "a healing different from the most common one, which is only for the future and of which a trace therefore remains,[4] a healing by which the illness only existed.[5]" The action of man can also be, "what resembles a trial," according to the expression of the responsa Tzafnat Paneach*, at ch. 67, and of the Tzafnat Paneach* on the Rambam*, laws of forbidden relations, ch. 16, §8. No trace whatsoever remains of it and this is indeed the most complete healing.

Notes

[1] See Likutei Sichot*, vol. 16, p. 516 and letter no. 9320.
[2] This letter is a note relating to an explanation by the Tzemach Tzedek*. It was addressed to Rav Shmuel Levitin and subsequently published in Or HaTorah*, Nach*, vol. 1, p. 360. The Tzemach Tzedek* wrote: "From the outset, illness will not come and this is what is written in Parasha* Beshalach*: 'Every illness that I placed in Egypt, I will not place upon you, for I am Hashem Who heals you.' One should consult the commentaries of the Ramban* and the Behaye* on this verse. True, tractate Sanhedrin* 101a indicates that this healing can also occur after the affliction. This is also what can be deduced from Targum Yonatan*. Nevertheless, it is said: 'I am Hashem,' properly speaking, 'Who heals you.' This healing is therefore easier and more favorable, as the Maharsha* clarifies at this reference, noting that no trace remains of it."
[3] Beshalach 15:26.
[4] A healing that has no retroactive value, so that for a certain time the person was indeed ill.
[5] Whereas every trace of it has disappeared, as if it had never existed, as if the person had never been ill.

ט'תעו

[מרשימת אדר תשכ"ח]

לכאורה סתירה מיומא (פו, א) ארפא משובתם – שמקצת שמו עליו (רש"י שם). וי"ל דשם קאי ברפואה מלמע' הבאה ע"י תשובה מיראה, שעכ"פ אינה למע' מספי' הבינה, משא"כ כאן ד"כי אני ה' רופאך" ר"ת אריך (מאו"א א' קכד ביאיר נתיב, וראה אוה"ת להצ"צ בשלח ע' תקפ), ולאידך גיסא – גם ברפואה שיד אדם (רופא) באמצע, יש דברים "שיתרפא ולא בגדר רפואה (שרק) מכאן ולהבא (ובמילא גם נשאר רושם) רק המציאות כן כו'" או שפעולת האדם הוא רק "גדר נסיון" (שו"ת צפע"נ סי' סז. צפע"נ על הרמב"ם הל' איסו"ב פט"ז ה"ח), ולא נשאר רושם כלל וכלל, רפו"ש בתכלית.