A religious doctor can surely arrange that you will not have to bathe on
Shabbos;
Shabbos itself will then provide healing, in keeping with the saying of our Sages, of blessed memory: "It is
Shabbos when it is forbidden to plead" — and nevertheless, and indeed through refraining from acting in this manner — "healing will come soon." ...
(Igros Kodesh, Vol. VII, p. 276)
... You write in the beginning of your letter that [by not bathing on Shabbos] you lost one therapeutic bathing session:
Surely you did not lose anything by refraining from bathing; as I have already written to you in my previous letter — if memory serves me correctly — regarding the saying of our Sages, of blessed memory: "It is Shabbos when it is forbidden to plead" — and nevertheless, and indeed through refraining from acting in this manner — "healing will come soon."
Moreover, the degree of healing that comes about from [G-d by] not bathing on Shabbos is ever so much greater than the degree of healing that comes about through this bathing [on Shabbos,] as is readily understandable. ...
(Igros Kodesh, Vol. VII, p. 332)
... Understandably, the question of blood transfusions is an issue in itself. During recent times this has become quite common and is becoming increasingly more so. We observe that there is no effort made to ascertain the source of the blood, [i.e., whether it came from a Jew]. Logically, this [blood] would have a more spiritually negative effect (
metamtem yoser) than that which is stated in
Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh Deah, in the gloss to ch. 81, sec. 3.
[42]
Possibly, the reason people are not particular about this is that most often a blood transfusion is given to a dangerously ill patient, or at least to a seriously ill patient [and thus involves the issue of pikuach nefesh, saving a life]. Moreover, the transfusion is merely a one-time occurrence, as opposed to the situation discussed in Yoreh Deah.
(Igros Kodesh, Vol. XIV, p. 108)
... Disease — may Merciful G-d spare us from it — generally means that there is a defect or disorder in a certain part of the body. There is, however, a disease in which the body does not lack anything, but is in fact added to by the growth of new tissue.
[43]
One might say, "Who cares that there is an extra growth, since nothing is lacking in those parts of the body that should be present?" Nonetheless, this is clearly perceived as a disease, in fact a disease that is more virulent than one involving a bodily defect. Indeed, it is so severe that people avoid calling it by name.
This additional growth is damaging to the part of the body that it invaded, and may, Heaven forbid, spread even further.
Just as this disease differs from all others, so, too, is its cure different from all others. With other cures one adds something to the body. The cure for this disease, however, lies in destroying the additional part, and that is how the patient's health may be truly restored.
Cures for this disease were only discovered a few generations ago. The ways to use these cures were discovered still later, and research continues in this field.
Someone may refuse to use these cures because
- the purpose of medicine — he says — is to enhance and strengthen the body, not to destroy; and
- for generations on end no one used such a technique, and thus the patient refuses to obey these new doctors with their new forms of healing. "I am conventional," the person says about himself, "and I shall follow the traditional methods of healing."
Surely, the fallacy of such an argument is self-evident. Enhancing and strengthening the body only applies to the essence of the body itself, not to an extraneous and harmful growth that has invaded the body, [which must be excised, irradiated, etc.].
In the past, this disease was not as familiar and prevalent as it is now. Thus there was little research done in this field, and, most significantly, Providence did not help furnish the appropriate cure.
Lately, however, as this disease has become more pronounced — may Merciful G-d spare us from such maladies — G-d "created a healing before the disease" and provided cures.
(Likkutei Sichos, Vol. I, p. 150 [44])
... You write in your letter that you suffer from constant constipation:
It would be well worthwhile for you to ask the advice of a doctor at the earliest opportunity. For it is known how disapprovingly Chassidus relates to this matter [of the lack of internal purification].
It would therefore be worthwhile to make an effort to rid yourself of this problem as soon as possible. And see as well Rambam, Hilchos Deos 4:5. ...
(Igros Kodesh, Vol. V, p. 186)
Notes:
- (Back to text) The gloss there gives preference to an infant's nursing from a Jewish woman in order to avoid timtum halev.
- (Back to text) The Rebbe is referring to cancer, a disease so virulent that he chose not to mention it by name, as he soon states. He would sometimes refer to it as "the known malady."
- (Back to text) From a sichah of the Rebbe, dated Yud-Beis Tammuz, 5712.
Surgery of the Prostate