"Deeds
of Kindness with Added Mystical Intentions"
Part 4: "Visiting the Sick"
translated
and edited from
Tomer (the Palm Tree of) Devorah
of
Rabbi Moshe Cordevero (the 'Ramak')
by Rabbi Moshe Miller
Caring for a newborn
Circumcision
Visiting the sick
Giving charity
Hosting Strangers
Attending to the dead
Providing for a bride
Peace-making
The
Shechina is lovesick for unification. As the verse states, "...for
I am sick with love" (Songs 2:5). Her cure is in the hands of man, who is
able to bring her pleasant remedies. As it is written, "Sustain me with dainty
cakes (ashishut), spread apples before me..." (ibid.). The Tikunei
Zohar expounds upon this verse according to the mystical explanation of the
word - which implies everything bound to the attribute of malchut - the
word for "dainty cakes" -- ashishut -- being composed of ish
(man), and isha (woman), representing gevura, which are the "two
arms" supporting malchut. Thus, a person who visits the sick sustains them
in their illness.
Alternatively, "spread apples before me" means
binding malchut between netzach and hod, for this is the
proper place of malchut, being that she is red and while, like those apples
whose colors are blended from the side of chesed. Thus, one must visit
her, keep her in mind, and entreat her to accept food and drink from the flow
of supernal benevolence from which she abstains, because she is sick with the
sins of Israel.
Just as one behaves toward ill people, so must
he behave toward the "ill" of the higher worlds. For she (malchut)
is "ill", as we have just mentioned, and he (tiferet) is also
"ill", for he is restless in the World to Come and isolated from her
in this world. As it is written, "Like a bird who wanders far from her nest
[the "bird" referring to the Shechina], so is a man who wanders
from his place" (Proverbs 27:8). He waits for her and swears that he will
not return to his place until returning her to her place. Thus, he, too, is "ill
because of our transgressions, crushed [willingly] because of our sins" (Isaiah
53:5). The healing of both lies in our hands. Therefore, it is proper to visit
them and attend to their needs by studying Torah and carrying out the precepts.
Next
installment: Giving charity
Previous
Installment: Circumcision
First Installment:
Preface
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Rabbi Moshe-Leib Miller, a guest teacher at Ascent
when he lived in Israel, was born in South Africa and received his yeshiva education
in Israel and America. He is a prolific author and translator, with some twenty
books to his name on a wide variety of topics, including a new, authoritative,
annotated translation of the Zohar. He currently lives in Chicago.
