Jewish Psychosomatics—Bile or Hormones

The connection between “mar” —(bitterness)— and illness is obvious, because the organ that the Sages call the principal site where most illnesses are concentrated is called in Hebrew “kis ha-marah” (gallbladder) —from the word “bitterness.”

Jewish Psychosomatics—Bile or Hormones

The connection between “mar” —(bitterness)— and illness is obvious, because the organ that the Sages call the principal site where most illnesses are concentrated is called in Hebrew “kis ha-marah” (gallbladder) —from the word “bitterness”. The Talmud teaches that the 83 illnesses that afflict humankind—for the gematria of the word “machalah” —(illness)— is 83—are connected with bile. The fluid in the gallbladder was called in ancient texts “green bile.” In Kabbalah, this fluid is associated with the natural urge to pursue physical pleasures. “Green bile,” the passion for physical pleasures, is also associated with “mayim tachtonim” —(the lower waters)—, mentioned by the Torah in its description of the process of Creation, in contrast to the “upper waters,” which represent spiritual and Divine pleasures. When these two “types of water” are separated and move away from one another, the lower waters become bitter—and illness then arises. According to the understanding of the Sages of old, the body consists of four types of “marot” —(biles)—: “White bile,” associated with the lungs; “Red bile,” associated with the liver; “Green bile,” associated with the gallbladder; “Black bile,” associated with the spleen. According to the modern understanding of the types of “bile” described by the Sages, they are hormones. Their quantitative and qualitative balance in the body, as well as their functioning, is connected with the body's immunity to various illnesses. Each type of illness is associated with a particular bile, and balanced bile repels illness and creates immunity to it in the body. Therefore, in the system of the sefirot, bile is associated with the sefirah Netzach (the hormonal system) and with the sefirah Hod (the immune system). The primary influence that bile has on human nature concerns a person's emotional well-being. White bile awakens in a person a brazen and mocking disposition. Red bile causes anger and irritability. Green bile awakens passions and drives a person to pursue pleasures. Black bile brings a person into a depressive state of sadness and sorrow. The names of the different types of bile (white, red, green, black) contain another allusion. The sum of their numerical values—“lavan,” “adom,” “yarok,” “shahor”—equals the numerical value of the phrase: “And G-d saw the light, that it was good.” (Bereshit 1:4) It is interesting that the gematria of the word “choshech” (darkness) equals the numerical value of the phrase “machalah marah” (bitter illness), referring to the mystery of the 83 illnesses associated with bile, “marah,” as explained in the Talmud. The only instance in the Torah in which a process of harmonization is described—amtakah —is the transformation in the wilderness of bitter, undrinkable water into fresh (sweet) water, and it is directly connected with the healing of illnesses associated with the gallbladder and the bile within it. It is related that when the people of Israel came to a place called Mara (bitterness), they encountered bitter waters, and Moshe, at the command of the Almighty, threw a branch of a particular tree into the water—“and the water became sweet.” The transformation of bitter, undrinkable water into fresh water suitable for drinking is described in Tanakh as its healing. Indeed, immediately afterward, in the very next sentence, the Almighty promises health and healing: “I will not bring upon you any of the diseases that I brought upon Egypt, for I am Havayah, your Healer.”   Therefore, according to Kabbalah and Chassidism, illness and its healing depend on correcting or redirecting the “vector” of pleasure—from bitterness (the false sweetness of material pleasures) toward true sweetness: pleasure in holiness.  (From the book by Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh, “Body, Mind, Soul”)