By: Rabbi E. Tauger

IYAR

Telling Tales

Our Rabbis teach that Iyar, the name of this Hebrew month, is an acronym for the Hebrew words , "I am G-d your Healer." In that context, we would like to present the following story:

All of Crown Heights shuddered. As she was crossing the street in front of the Beis Rivkah School, a girl from the local chassidic community was hit by a speeding van. She was propelled through the air and her skull came crashing down on the pavement. In the emergency room, the doctors had only grave words. There were many severe concussions; there was much internal bleeding. In their opinion, the girl had no more than a few hours to live.

Her father had one thought in mind. He hurried to 770 and wrote a letter to the Rebbe. "She belongs also to the Rebbe, please Rebbe, care for her as a father would care for his own daughter." After receiving the letter, the Rebbe summoned Rabbi Groner and asked him to call a doctor from a Lubavitch family. When the doctor arrived, the Rebbe described the situation and asked him a favor: "I know that it is not your hospital and doctors are sometimes sensitive about having someone from a different hospital treat their patients. But could you try to treat her?" When the doctor agreed, the Rebbe advised him concerning the treatment to employ.

He asked that the doctor visit the girl every night and then come to 770 to appraise the Rebbe of her progress. Although the doctor lived in Manhattan, the Rebbe asked that he visit the girl even on Friday night and then consult with the Rebbe after the conclusion of the Shabbos. The doctor dedicated himself to the girl's care. He was given the full assistance of the hospital's staff. They watched as the girl's condition stabilized and then steadily began to improve. Every night, the doctor would travel from Manhattan to Brooklyn to check on the girl and then he would come to 770. Although the Rebbe told him to come in when he arrived, he would wait respectfully until the Rebbe was about to leave. Then he would confer with him for several minutes, describing the girl's improvement and discussing the next steps to take.

Within two weeks, the girl was ready to be discharged. The doctor of the ward at the hospital could not contain his feelings. "If you ever have a problem with people who have difficulty believing in G-d and believing in miracles, let them come to me," he told the girl's father.

Two Faces of Reality

There are many who feel uncomfortable with such a story. Of course, they are happy that the girl recovered, but they feel that telling such stories serves a negative purpose. A person must, they argue, be realistic. If one is sick or one is, heaven forbid, dying, than one has to know that, and live with it. If a doctor says that he can't help, one must resign to the situation.

It's unpleasant, but it is the truth of the circumstance and only by facing the truth of the circumstance, one is able to infuse depth and meaning into one's life. And only in this way will happiness be genuine, not merely a cathartic release of energy.

There is a certain dimension of validity to their arguments. Unquestionably, there are times when people beset with infirmity run from door to door seeking otherworldly intervention instead of using the time and energy granted them for meaningful interaction with their loved ones. That said, theirs is only a limited picture of reality. Just as a person must look his reality squarely in the face and realize he is seriously ill, he must also know that in any situation he can recover.

There are many people who were diagnosed as clinically dead walking the streets today. And even the most serious illnesses and injuries have been overcome. These are documented facts that no one can dispute.

The Well From Which Healing Flows

Not only is their ultimate conclusion faulty, a fundamental flaw lies at the core of their argument. Healing is not Newtonian physics, balancing actions and reactions, matching an effect to a cause to produce a textbook response.

At one point in the development of medicine, many doctors thought that they were little more than technicians. They would prescribe drugs or perform operations like a mechanic fixing a car or a computer. Today, the large majority of doctors appreciate that healing is not so cut and dry. They have seen too many situations where against all odds, a person recovered, and others, when despite every reason to think that they would be able to bring about a cure, they met with failure.

Healing is a function of the soul as well as the body. Every one of us has a soul which is an actual part of G-d. This is the core of our being, our true selves. This spiritual potential is unlimited, capable of overcoming any obstacle. The body is not an independent organism, separate from the soul. Just as what happens to the body affects the soul, the stirring of the soul can affect the body. This is the essence of healing, to tap our inner potential and bring it into contact with the body.

This potential exists within each one of us. We all possess the possibility within ourselves for healing and recovery. Moreover, ultimately, healing is in G-d's hands. He is the absolute Master of our lives and we cannot put any limits on His potential. The Power of Hope For these reasons, when doctors would tell patients that there was no hope, the Rebbe would object. "The Torah tells us," he would often repeat, "that a doctor is given permission to heal. That is his expertise. When he gives a prognosis of doom, he has stepped beyond his field." The Rebbe would frequently reiterate the popular Yiddish maxim: Tracht gut un vet zein gut, "Think positively, and the outcome will be positive." And he would challenge us to overhaul our entire approach to medicine.

For example, the Hebrew term for hospital is Beis Cholim, literally meaning: "A home for the sick." "Call it a Beis Refuah, `a house of healing,'" he would continually say. By no means did he seek to encourage naive euphoria. Instead, he sought to contain the debilitating feelings of helplessness which are, at times, more crippling than sickness or injury.

Return to Roots

These concepts may, however, open up a Pandora's box. For there are a wide variety of people - some well-intentioned and some opportunist - who offer spiritual healing. Without passing any judgments upon them, it must be emphasized that this is not what we are driving at.

Instead, our message is to each person and to each family. Do not given in to despair. Work with a doctor who augments his medical expertise with hope and optimism. Focus on your own spiritual potential and do what you can to develop it. And use some common sense.

When seeking spiritual direction, look into our Jewish heritage. For thousands of years, in a variety of situations, it has been able to nourish the souls of our people. Certainly, it possesses the mystic awareness that can spawn depth, meaning, and joy today.

When Healing Will Blossom

The above concepts - though true and relevant on a simple level - are also metaphoric. For illness is identified with exile, and healing, with redemption. In that vein, the prophet speaks of "the lame man skip[ping] like a gazelle," and of "healing" those who strayed on wayward paths. In a personal sense, healing will come as a result of the fusion of modern medical techniques with inner spiritual awareness. The Redemption - the ultimate healing - will come when, on the backdrop of the advances science and technology have been able to provide us, we project an image of spiritual consciousness and personal development.

Torah readings of the month

Tazria - Metzora

These two Torah readings deal with tzaraas, an affliction which is often translated as leprosy. But it is not leprosy. The very fact that the Torah uses that term to describe a condition that affects the skin of people, the fabric of garments, and even stone walls indicates that we are not speaking about an illness or a disease in a simple physical sense.

Maimonides explains that tzaraas is "a departure from the world's ordinary pattern". A sign and a wondrous phenomenon within Israel to warn them against engaging in unfavorable conversation (lashon hora)."

In the time of the Be is HaMikdash, when the spiritual potential within the word was revealed, this affliction persisted. With the exile, it ceased. It will not, however, return in the Era of the Redemption. For "I will cause the spirit of impurity to depart from the world," and only positive spiritual potentials will be manifest.

Acharei-Kedoshim

When these two readings are combined as they are this month, they contain 79 mitzvos, more than 1/8 of all the mitzvos in the Torah. Looking carefully at these mitzvos gives us some conception of Judaism's message.

Although there are commandments dealing with the sacrificial worship in the Beis HaMikdash, the large majority of the mitzvos (- of this Torah reading and of the Torah as a whole -) deal with marital life, relations between parents and children, ethical business practices, interpersonal relations, agricultural laws, and charity. This clearly demonstrates that Judaism is more than a synagogue religion filled with rituals, prayer, and study. Instead, it is an all encompassing guide to life.

By giving us the Torah, G-d gave us a handbook on how to live life in all of its dimensions, adding depth, insight, and happiness to every element of our experience.

Emor

This Torah reading contains a description of the holidays we observe and elaborates on the mitzvah of Sefiras HaOmer, the counting of the Omer, the practice that connects the holidays of Passover and Shavuos. This mitzvah is also uniquely relevant to the present month, for every day in the month of Iyar, we fulfill this mitzvah.

The Omer was an offering of barley. Our Sages explain that barley is "food for animals." How is animal fodder an appropriate intermediary to join these two lofty holidays? Because the intent is to bring these lofty heights into the dimensions of our personalities that are animal-like in nature.

To explain this concept within the context of the mitzvos of the holidays: On Passover, chametz, leaven, is forbidden. Chametz rises. It refers to inflated self-concern and egotism. For there to be a Passover experience, chametz must be eliminated.

On Shavuos, however, two loaves of chametz are offered in the Beis HaMikdash. Indeed, this is one of the few occasions when chametz may be brought as a sacrifice. How can chametz, self-concern, be fit to be brought into the Beis HaMikdash? Because throughout the period of Sefiras HaOmer, we have refined ourselves and invested spirituality into even the animal-like aspects of our being.

Behar-Bechukosai

Parshas Behar begins with the description of the observance of the Sabbatical year when all fields were left to lie fallow. Just as there is a weekly cycle of seven days and a seven year cycle in the land, we find a similar pattern in the world's spiritual history.

We are in the midst - indeed, nearing the end - of the sixth millenium. The seventh millenium - like Shabbos in the weekly cycle and the Sabbatical year in the annual cycle - will be characterized by rest and comfort in a physical sense and heightened spiritual awareness.

There is the custom in many communities of welcoming the Sabbath early, ushering in its holiness even before sunset. Similarly, certain dimensions of the observance of the Sabbatical year were begun in the sixth year.

At present, we have the potential to follow that pattern and anticipate the mindset that will prevail during Era of the Redemption in our lives, here and now.

Parshas Bechukosai communicates the blessings we will receive for Torah observance and the curses that will result from a lack of such observance. Maimonides explains the prevailing motif. When a person shows that he is endeavoring to serve G-d by following His commandments, G-d grants him blessings to facilitate this observance. If, however, by contrast, he shows little interest in observance, G-d gives him hardships that will require him to struggle and seek to change the course of his fortune.

Bamidbar

This Torah reading describes the census of the Jewish people. A census communicates an important lesson. No one is greater than anyone else. Moses and a simple water carrier were both numbered in the same manner. Since each person possesses a soul, everyone is counted equally. Some of us may have been granted certain gifts that others do not possess, but those are external factors. When focusing on the essential core, each one of us has a soul which is "an actual part of G-d." From this perspective, no person possesses an advantage over the other.