Is There a Jewish Source for Sun Healing?

Hi,

I am curious to know if there is a Biblical source for the healing power of the sun?

Answer:

We know that Vitamin D is manufactured by the interaction between the skin and sunlight, and that the main role of vitamin D is to increase absorption of calcium in the digestive tract.

Looking to Biblical sources for the sun’s healing power, we find the following episode: In Genesis, the story is told of the battle between Jacob and the angel of his wicked brother Esau. This wrestling match lasted throughout the night with the two opponents locked in a head-to-head competition. As dawn approached, Jacob’s nemesis took a cheap shot below the belt, dislocating Jacob’s hip and giving him a limp.

After the above story, the verse states (32:32), “And the sun shone for him.” Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki, known as Rashi, asks in his classical commentary: What do the words “for him” mean? When the sun shines, is it not shining for everyone?! He answers by telling us that the sun had risen for Jacob’s benefit, “for him,” in order to heal his hip.

Could this be an allusion to one of the wonderful healing mechanisms that G‑d has implanted in the natural world?

The sun is indeed a recognized source of health and healing in the Jewish tradition. In the book of Malachi, it states (3:20): “And the sun of mercy shall rise with healing in its wings.”

We are told that the light that illuminated the world during the six days of creation was removed from the world. The sun is only a minute fraction of this original light (1/60th to be exact). In the Jewish description of messianic times, this divine light will return to the world once again for us to enjoy. If the sun contains such incredible powers to heal, can you imagine what the “original light” will be able to do?

By Daniel Wasserman

Daniel Wasserman is a Doctor of Oriental Medicine in Hollywood, FL, and is an adjunct professor at Touro College. He has lectured extensively on the topic of Judaism, healthcare and alternative medicine.

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10 Comments

Lawrence R Toronto, CA June 20, 2021

If it is potentially true that for some people it is impossible to quit smoking due to genetic or psychological factors, and they started before adulthood when they could more fully be held responsible for starting, than would/should smoking limit someone from converting?

Is smoking nearly a moral failing, or is it a medical condition, and do medical conditions limit the possibility to become a jew? Reply

Daniel W June 21, 2021

in response to Lawrence R:

Wow! Complex question. If you are asking me personally, as the author of this article, I would think that it should NOT prevent someone from converting. However, acting on such an addiction would result in a person endangering their health. Through which, they would be joining 100 percent of humans who fail to reach optimal health. It is both a moral failing (The Torah demands that we love ourselves.) and a medical condition. But, on some level, there is genetic underpinnings to every decision that we have to make. Reply

Joseph Vinegar February 19, 2019

I mean, that's fair and true, but don't forget, the sun is nay a say-all or end-all. Reply

Mori Goldlist Richmond Hill ON January 1, 2014

The healing sun And in the beginning there was darkness.... Hashem creates sunlight and puts us naked under that sunlight in order for us not just to survive but to thrive,

I have been battling the "Sick Care System" for 30 years and 30 years ago I asked "Think sunlight is bad? Try living without it!" The pharmaceutical companies need to keep us sick so they can sell us treatments. Healthy people don't buy treatments. They also won't let us die in dignity choosing instead to "treatment" our soulless bodies ad infinitum!
The body heals itself through the production of ATP at the cellular level and the production is activated by a ray of sunlight called Infrared that has the unique ability to penetrate deep into the layers of flesh and bone and activate those particular cells.

Mori goldlist Reply

Nick Chicago, IL January 1, 2012

Is there not some connection... to Abraham, and his sitting outside on the third day after his circumcision? Reply

Stuart Sun Lakes, AZ December 31, 2011

A Selective Interpetation? While there may indeed be a biblical source for "the healing power of the sun", I think your interpetation is a bit selective. When I look at 32:27 in the Jacob story, it has the man/Divine Being saying "Let me go, for dawn is breaking" ,suggesting that the Divine Being needs to leave because of the sun. In 32:32, the pusic you reference Rashi, it says "limping on his hip". If the sun helped Jacob, why was he limping?
You also call the Divine Being Esau's Angel, from Berasis Raba I believe. Other commentators have other ideas (i.e. the Rashbam, who has a much more interesting,and less pointed, interpetation of this man/Divine Being.) Does it do the Torah justice by presented such a subjective and limited interpetation? Reply

Yhonason Doniel Ma April 19, 2020

in response to Stuart :

I believe the Midrash says the Angel had to leave because he was afraid he would be late for Shaharish Reply

Daniel Wasserman north miami beach May 5, 2020

in response to Stuart :

Sorry for the 'decade-late' response...well, if you are still out there...Your first point is a great one.
The sequence seems out of order. First, we have the phrase, 'the sun shone for him' and healed him, and only after that, 'He [Jacob] was limping'. Out of all the commentators that I have come across on this pasuk (since it deals with healing, I have spent some time searching), I only saw it asked once (now twice) by the Tiferes Shlomo, the great Kohen and chassidic master from Radomsk. He explains that the first step in any type of true healing, before any further healing can occur, begins with a clear insight our own deficiencies. Jacob's realization (and our own) of his limp and what needed fixing was the first step.
Regarding your second point, about selecting an interpretation...I can only say 'shivim panim laTorah'. Hashem's infinite wisdom, which out of pure kindness, he enclothed in Torah, can tolerate and contain multiple truths, each valid in their own right. Reply

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