The Cause of Illness and the Archangel Raphael
If a person does not know the purpose of his life, what does he need life for?
For the soul strives to manifest the will of the Creator, and if it is prevented from doing so, it wishes to reunite with Him. What does it do? It strives to leave the body—its connection with the body weakens, and illness comes.
When a person changes his attitude toward life—his habits and destructive passions—recovery follows, because self-restraint and victory over oneself are equivalent to the bitterness of medicine.
Every illness is a test. Visiting doctors, waiting in queues, injections, and procedures—all this is called the bitterness of illness, which atones for sins.
And when the soul sees this, it returns, hoping that the person will return and fulfill the will of the Creator.
The Maggid of Mezeritch taught (may the memory of the tzadik be a blessing):
«Know that healing does not come from medical wisdom or from medicines. An angel is appointed over every doctor, and it is he who heals. The more knowledge and skill a doctor possesses, the greater the angel who watches over him, for even the greatest doctor needs help from Heaven. And over the finest doctor, the Archangel Raphael himself is appointed».
Sippurei Tzadikim
A learned Jew from Vilna, seeking a livelihood, took up commerce. He had to travel extensively, and while visiting Ukraine he heard many stories about the Maggid of Mezeritch. There, in Ukraine, people spoke about him differently than they did in his native Vilna, which aroused his interest; eventually, he decided to investigate everything for himself. He prepared an interesting kushya on the Talmud and decided to visit this rabbi during one of his journeys. It was not easy to gain access to the Maggid: a long line had gathered outside the house. At last, he entered the room. The Maggid did not let him say a word. Extending his hand in greeting, he began speaking himself:
«When a doctor treats a sick person, a special angel is sent from Heaven to bring healing. The higher the doctor's qualifications, the more important the angel who is sent. But if he is the best doctor in the world, the angel Raphael himself comes to heal the person».
The Maggid extended his hand in farewell, and the audience was over. The Jew merely shrugged in bewilderment—he had understood nothing.
Upon returning to Vilna, he fell seriously ill. His fever was high, the medicines did not help, and it soon became clear that his days were numbered. He was greatly loved in Vilna because he had helped many people. Crowds gathered outside his home, arranging minyanim to pray for his recovery and doing whatever they could to help.
At that time, the King of Prussia arrived in the city on a visit. His procession happened to be passing along the street beside the house where the sick man lay. When the Jews saw the king's carriage, they rushed toward him, begging him to provide a doctor to save the man's life. The carriage stopped, and the king asked a guard officer what was happening. The officer replied that all these Jews were shouting and waving their hands, but as far as he could understand their jargon, someone among them was ill and they were asking for a doctor.
The king's personal physician, an Italian named Lagloria, was sitting in the carriage with him, and the king suggested that he try his skills. When the doctor saw the patient, he became very angry: the man was in agony, and the doctor did not know how to raise the dead. But so many hopeful eyes were fixed on him that he could not simply walk away. He therefore wrote a prescription in Latin for a medicine that could do no harm and sent someone to the apothecary. However, as he looked at the patient before leaving, the doctor suddenly saw that something inexplicable was happening—perhaps this man could still be helped. He tore up the first prescription and wrote a second. But the second prescription was not needed either—the patient was visibly recovering. The doctor had to write yet another prescription. This happened several times, until, before the doctor's eyes, the patient fully recovered and regained consciousness without any treatment at all. When he came to, he repeated the Maggid's words to the physician. On hearing them, the «Italian» remembered that he was a Jew and felt an acute need to visit this rabbi in Mezeritch. He left his position and traveled to the Maggid. The first time he entered the room, he heard: «I have been waiting for you for a long time; we need one another. You will heal my leg, and I will heal your soul». Thus the Maggid gained a disciple who, in time, became one of the members of the holy brotherhood of his students. His name was Rabbi Aaron Gordon.
(from Rabbi Nachman's book Likutey Moharan 268; from the book At the Shabbat Table by Rav Yaakov Doctor)
[P.S. The photograph shows a work by Luda Miriam Shulman, provided to the website]
