Why do we go to a doctor? Does a doctor give life?
We go to the doctor because we need to repair not just our souls, not just our bodies, but our world as well.
We have made a world that brings sickness. That same world must now bring healing.
From the wisdom of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, of righteous memory; words and condensation by Rabbi Tzvi Freeman. Subscribe and get your dose daily. To order Rabbi Freeman’s latest book, Wisdom to Heal the Earth, click here.
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Tzvi Freeman
Thornhill, Canada
August 26, 2008
To Ann "We" in the collective sense, since Adam. We, humanity, by all accounts, have distorted the world G_d put us in. So now, let's fix it up and make it even better. Reply
Craig Hamilton
Sandwich, MA
August 25, 2008
Good Doctors Good doctors not only prescribe, but they also care about the underlying cause of a problem. - From the wisdom of Emma Goldman Reply
Ann in Texas
August 24, 2008
We did not make this world
And we did not make all the sickness in this world.
We did not create viruses and bacteria.
We did not destroy our immune systems.
We were born into a world that already had sickness. We may be adding to it by, say, driving a car, but we are not to blame for all the sickness in the world. We have have taken an attitude that does not promote health, but we are not responsible for all the sickness in the world.
Are you Moses? Or shall we say to you, You take too much upon yourself? No, we don't dare say that.
But it is not fair to us to claim that "we" have made a world that brings sickness. None of us alone, and all of us together, have not sufficed to do this. The actions of nature and of Gd and of the people who came before us, have done much more to promote sickness than all of us together have done.
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Eva
solana beach, ca
August 24, 2008
The Doctor I would not leave out the notion of personal responsibility in the healing of the world. It is everyone's work to better our world. Reply
Anonymous
Loveland , CO
August 24, 2008
Doctors are necessarym BUT Just a quick thought. Yes, doctors are necessary, but what good are doctors, when in America with all of its resources many Americans do not have even basic insurance coverage to insure that basic needs are met. There are those who can benefit from doctors because they have insurance, and there are those who simply must die sooner because they do not. Those with wealth are making even greater wealth off of those with little and are deciding who gets to live and who gets to die. It is kind of a form of murder which is over looked and appears to be okay for the sake of greed. How can this be? Reply
Right here we are talking about Tikun Olam = repairing the world. The simile with going to the doctor is right on target. A good doctor examines the symptoms to come to a diagnosis but if really good he also examines what is behind that is ailing this particular patient. So, too, a good doctor looks at the person as whole and then advices and acts. . WE are supposed to be like good doctors in healing ourselves, the community in which we live in, and the world at large. First ourselves to then help others. I repeat, nothing wrong with caring first of ourselves ,but no only. Surely, the world was made before us, and it was made with challenges so that we attempt to solve them, and improve ourselves and the world. Each generation achieves something more. We are not supposed to fix it all, but we are charged with fixing something. to the best of our ability. As for doctors' insurance that is another topic not related to this fragment of advice !.