Nedarim 40a (מ.) — the Talmud in English

Rav Helbo fell ill [

he became ill].

Rav Kahana went out and announced:

Rav Helbo is ill,

he has become ill!

There was no one who came [

no one entered to visit him].

He said to them

Rav Kahana: And is it the case that

there was not once an incident involving one of the students of Rabbi Akiva who became ill,

and

the Sages did not enter to visit him, but Rabbi Akiva entered to visit him, and because he honored him and swept and sprinkled water before him—

he recovered?

He said to him

that student to Rabbi Akiva:

My teacher, you have restored me to life!

Following that incident,

Rabbi Akiva went out and taught: Anyone who does not visit the sick—

it is as though he sheds blood!

For had Rabbi Akiva not visited that student, and honored him and swept and sprinkled water before him, he would not have lived!

When Rav Dimi came, he said: Anyone who visits the sick—

causes him to live.

And anyone who does not visit the sick—

causes him to die.

And we raised a difficulty concerning this:

What is the meaning of “causes”?

What did Rav Dimi intend when he said that one who does not visit the sick causes him to die?

If you say

that he intended to say that

anyone who visits the sick—

prays for mercy on his behalf that he should live, whereas anyone who does not visit the sick—

prays for mercy on his behalf that he should die,

prays on his behalf that he should

die—

can it enter your mind?

Can it be that one who does not visit him prays that he should die?!

Rather,

this is what Rav Dimi intended: There is a sick person for whom it is appropriate to pray that he should die, for example, one who suffers greatly from his illness. One who visits the sick person benefits him through his prayer even by causing the sick person to live; and it is all the more obvious that his prayer is effective in requesting that he should die.

But

anyone who does not visit the sick—

does not pray for mercy on his behalf, neither that he should live nor that he should die.

That is to say, even in the case of a sick person for whom it is appropriate to pray that he should die, if one does not visit him, one does not provide him even with this benefit.

On the first day of his illness, Rava

[on the first day that he became ill]

said to them: Do not reveal it to anyone

that I have become ill,

so that my fortune should not be harmed,

for perhaps, through the slight request that my enemy would make for my misfortune, my illness would worsen. Rosh.

From that point onward, he said to them: Go out and announce in the marketplace

[go out and announce in the marketplace that I have become ill].

For anyone who hates me—

let him rejoice

[anyone who hates me

—let him rejoice],

as it is written: “When your enemy falls, do not rejoice, and when he stumbles, let your heart not be glad, lest the Lord see it and turn His anger away from him.”

And if so, this will benefit me and I will recover.

And those who love me

[whereas those who love me],

should request mercy for me

[should pray for me].

Rav said: Anyone who visits the sick—

is spared the judgment of Gehenna, as it is stated: “Fortunate is he who acts wisely toward the poor; on the day of evil the Lord will save him.”

“The poor”—

refers only to the sick ,

as it is stated: “From illness he shall take his portion.”

Alternatively, from the verse itself

which is stated concerning Amnon:

“Why are you, son of the king, so poor from morning to morning?”

And

“evil” refers only to Gehenna, as it is stated: “The Lord has made everything for His purpose, even the wicked for the day of evil.”

And if he visited

the sick person—

what is his reward?

And we wondered:

What is his reward?! As Rav said above,

that one who visits the sick

is spared the judgment of Gehenna!

Rather, what is his reward

for visiting the sick

in this world?

As stated in the continuation of the verse:

“The Lord will preserve him and sustain him; he will be fortunate in the land, and You will not deliver him to the will of his enemies.”

And this is the meaning of the verse:

“The Lord will preserve him”—

from the evil inclination.

“And sustain him”—

from suffering.

“He will be fortunate in the land”—

everyone will honor him.

“And You will not deliver him to the will of his enemies”—

that companions like

the companions of

Naaman, who healed his leprosy,

[that is, Naaman’s servants, who advised him to accept the prophet’s words and immerse himself in the Jordan; through that advice, he was healed of his leprosy]—will come his way.

And companions like

the companions of

Rehoboam, who

through their evil counsel

—

divided his kingdom. It was taught in a beraita: Rabbi Shimon ben Elazar says: If children say to you, “Build!” and elders say to you, “Demolish!”

Listen to the elders, and do not listen to the children.

Because

the building of children—

is demolition, and the demolition of elders—

is building.

And a sign of this is

the incident involving

Rehoboam son of Solomon

at the beginning of his reign: he followed the advice of the children [the young men], who advised him to make the yoke upon the people heavier, and he did not follow the advice of the elders, who advised him to lighten the yoke. As a result, the people rebelled against him and his kingdom was divided.

Rav Shisha, son of Rav Idi, said: A person should not

visit

a sick person

[a person should not visit the sick],

during the first three hours

[during the first three hours of the day]

or during the last three hours of the day, so that he will not lose confidence in the efficacy of prayer for mercy

[so that he will not cease to focus on requesting mercy].

This is because during

the first three hours—

the sick person’s mind is at ease

[the sick person still feels well], and the visitor assumes that there is no need to request mercy for him.

But during the final three hours,

the latter—

his illness becomes severe,

the illness overcomes the sick person, and the visitor assumes that there is no longer any hope and despairs of prayer for mercy.

Ravin said in the name of Rav: From where do we know that the Holy One, blessed be He, sustains the sick?

As it is stated: “The Lord will sustain him upon his bed of illness.”

And Ravin said in the name of Rav: From where do we know that the Divine Presence rests above the bed of a sick person?

As it is stated: “The Lord will sustain him upon his bed of illness.”

It was also taught in a beraita: One who enters to visit the sick should sit neither on a bed, nor on a bench, nor on a chair. Rather, he should wrap himself—

and sit on the ground.

The reason is

because the Divine Presence rests above

the bed of a sick person, as it is stated: “The Lord will sustain him upon his bed of illness.”

If the visitor sits on a bed or the like, he will be higher than the place of the Divine Presence .

And Ravin said in the name of Rav: Rain in the West

[when rain falls in Eretz Yisrael]—

the Euphrates is its great witness

[the Euphrates River testifies to it]. When the waters of the Euphrates increase, it is known that although no rain fell here, in Babylonia, rain fell in Eretz Yisrael.

The practical implication is that it is prohibited to immerse in the Euphrates at that time. For “dripping waters,” meaning rainwater, purify when they are “flowing” [like river water, which flows] only according to the view that they are in a pool, that is, when they are collected in one place without flowing.

Immersion for ritual purity can take place in two ways:

Immersion in spring water, or immersion in “cistern water,” called a “mikveh.”

Spring water purifies one who immerses in it whether it is stationary or flowing [“flowing”]. Mikveh water, however, purifies only when it is gathered in one place, without any flow at all.

Rivers, lakes, and seas, as well as wells from which living water springs, derive their water from springs, and one may immerse in them even while they are flowing or while their waters move back and forth.

Rainwater, by contrast, and melted snow are not considered spring water, and they purify only when gathered in one place, in a mikveh, without flowing.

Usually, rainwater and melted snow flow into the rivers, and they do not constitute the majority of the river’s water. But if, at some period of the year, the rainwater [called “dripping waters”] becomes greater than the water in the river that flows from springs [called “flowing waters”], the river’s water is disqualified for immersion throughout that period.

As it is taught in the Sifrei: “One might think: Just as a spring purifies through flowing waters, so too a mikveh purifies through flowing waters. The verse therefore states: ‘Only a spring and a cistern.’ A spring purifies through flowing waters, whereas a mikveh purifies in a pool.”

Therefore, when there is reason to suspect that rainwater, called “dripping waters,” has become greater than the river water that flows from springs, called “flowing waters” — it is prohibited to immerse in the river.

This applies specifically when the river is very large. But if it was flowing slowly, or if it increased only slightly, so that there is no reason to suspect an increase of dripping waters, it is permitted. As it is taught in the Tosefta: “Rabbi Elazar ben Rabbi Tzadok testified concerning flowing waters that became greater than the dripping waters—that they are valid.”

And it disagrees

with the statement of Ravin—

with that of Shmuel.

For Shmuel said: A river—

from its rock

[from its source, from its origin]—

is blessed.

That is to say, although we see that when rain falls the rivers increase, nevertheless their principal increase comes from their source.

As we say in tractate Ta’anit [25b]: “There is not a single handbreadth of rain that falls from above without the deep rising two handbreadths to meet it.”

If so, the flowing waters always exceed the dripping waters, since corresponding to one handbreadth of rain that falls, two handbreadths rise from the spring. Therefore, according to Shmuel, it is always permitted to immerse in rivers, even when it is visibly apparent that they have increased greatly because of the rain.

And it disagrees

with the words of

Shmuel

above—

with Shmuel

[with a statement of Shmuel elsewhere]!