Parashat Vayera: Visiting the Sick

Living Emunah By Rabbi David Ashear

The Gemara says in Masechet Sotah that we have a mitzvah to emulate Hashem. And one of the ways in which we do this is by visiting a person who is sick, just like Hashem did in this week's parasha Vayerah when Avraham was home, healing from his brit milah . Our greatest Rabbis would take away time from their Torah study to go visit sick people. When we do bikur cholim , we are connecting to Hashem. The Gemara says in Masechet Nedarim that when a person visits the sick, he brings life to that person and part of the mitzvah entails praying for the person to be healed. The Gemara says the Shechina rests right above the bed of a sick person and therefore, we are able to pray for the person there without even mentioning their name. If the visitor can give the sick person any words to lift his spirits, it makes the mitzvah infinitely greater. When Hashem came to visit Avraham, He gave him the ultimate chizuk , as explained by the Maharshak. The Rabbi asked, why did Hashem send all three angels to Avraham's house? One of them was just there to go overturn Sedom. Furthermore, why did Hashem leave Avraham in pain for three days? Once He was going to heal him anyway, why didn't he heal him right away? The Rabbi answered,לפום צערא אגרא – according to the pain is the reward. If Avraham would have become healed immediately from the brit milah , it would have detracted from the value of that mitzvah. Moreover, every day that a person serves Hashem the way he is supposed to, he creates an angel. The three angels who came to visit Avraham, said the Rabbi, were the three angels that Avraham created by doing the avodah that was expected of him during those three days. By Avraham accepting the pain he was going through, yearning to perform mitzvot despite that pain, he accomplished world changing events. On the first day, Avraham created an angel that was going to save Lot, who was going to be the father of the Mashiach . On the second day, Avraham created an angel that was going to inform him about the birth of Yitzchak Avinu. And on the third day, he created an angel that was going to rid the world of the evil of Sedom and, some say, the angel who came to heal Avraham. When Hashem came to visit Avraham, He gave him the ultimate chizuk. He revealed to him what he was accomplishing by going through the pain of that brit milah and how great it was that he was accepting it with love. Every sick person endures a great deal of yissurin . They have no idea how much they are accomplishing with their suffering. If they are able to do what they can spiritually, while they are sick, and they accept what they are going through with love, they will also be creating angels and those angels may be changing the entire course of history. We don't know how valuable accepting yissurin is, but one day everyone will be able to see how much they accomplished by doing their jobs despite being in a state of affliction. Sometimes all the job entails is not complaining. Everyone has a mitzvah to visit the sick and thereby emulate Hashem. Each visit will add more life to the patient. May Hashem bring רפואה שלמה לכל חולי ישראל. אמן.. Shabbat Shalom.