By Rabbi Dr. Bernhard Rosenberg in Edison, New Jersey
Why is there illness in the world? Every one of us will suffer a major illness in our lives. According to the Midrash (Bereishit Rabba Toldot 65:9), there was no sickness in the world until Father Jacob asked Gd for choli, or illness. Why would anyone ask to be sick?
Before Jacob, suggests the Midrash, when it was one’s time to leave this world, one simply sneezed and expired. That perhaps explains the universal custom of following a sneeze with everyone saying, “Gd bless you!” No, Father Jacob didn’t want the suffering that illness often brings, he just wanted to have some warning before he died—says the Midrash—so that he would have time to put his affairs in order.
–Sometimes Gd will bring an illness upon us to give us a good kick in the pants when we ignore Him or don’t showing appreciation for all He has blessed us with.
–Kabbalah suggests that sometimes one suffers illness as a correction for one’s soul for something one has done in a previous lifetime.
–Sometimes it can be because Gd feels it’s essential to learn something that can only be learned through illness and recovery.
–An illness might be a kapara (an atonement) a lesser substitute for something worse that might have happened. Example: You get Covid from which you recover in a week instead of losing your business!
–Illness can bring families and whole communities closer together.
There are more reasons and any one or more can apply in any given situation.
Ultimately, no one ever really knows why one becomes ill. Sometimes it’s just, as the sages call it, derech hateva (the way of nature). We may call it “dumb luck.” There is illness out there in the world and it’s possible that we may just be in the wrong place at the wrong time and catch it—like Covid! But for whatever reason illness occurs, the Talmud (Brachot 5a) suggests that we use our illnesses as opportunities to review our lives and the direction we are going to make corrections and better ourselves.
From looking to Gd and repenting comes spiritual healing that may lead to physical healing as well Also, a powerful spiritual principle is surrender. Yes, do everything you can to heal yourself with doctors, diet and exercise. But then surrender yourself to Gd. Trust in His goodness, and by doing so you allow healing to enter. So, let’s look upon DNA and the wonders of the human body, and lift our hearts toward heaven…for there is where the healing comes for our shattered souls.
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Rabbi Dr. Bernhard H. Rosenberg is rabbi emeritus of Congregation Beth-El in Edison, New Jersey and is the author of Theological and Halachich Reflections on the Holocaust, among other books