רְפוּאָה

All illnesses, Heaven forbid, are in the dimension of dispute — for there is no peace in one's bones and the elements overpower each other without conducting themselves in peace with an equal temperament [ha'mezeg ha'shaveh]. And healing is the dimension of peace. [Translator's note: No source citation appears for this teaching in this edition.]

Our Rabbis of blessed memory said: "One who degrades a Torah scholar has no healing for his wound" [Talmud Bavli, Shabbos 119b] — for the primary drawing-down of peace, which is the primary dimension of healing, is through honoring those who fear Hashem with a complete heart. This is the dimension of returning honor to its root — meaning to awe [yir'ah] — through which one merits to peace and healing. [Translator's note: No source citation appears for this teaching in this edition.]

The reason a person sometimes returns to his health through medicines is that the soul sees that this person can force himself and break his desire and will and accept bitter medicaments for the sake of his health and healing. Therefore it [the soul] hopes that he will force his desire for the sake of the true ultimate purpose — to do the will of his Creator; and therefore it returns to him until he is healed and returns to health through this. See the inner text. [Translator's note: No source citation appears for this teaching in this edition.]

The foot [regel] is a healing for the lung [rei'ah]. [Translator's note: No source citation appears for this teaching in this edition. This is a terse medical aphorism preserved without explanation; regel may also allude to walking/pilgrimage.] The primary illness comes from sins — for sins are in the dimension of clouds that darken the light of the sun through which comes healing. And through prayer the sins are atoned for and the clouds dissolve and depart — in the dimension of "I have wiped away your transgressions like a cloud, etc." [Isaiah 44:22]. And then it is the dimension of the shining of the sun — from which comes the healing. [Translator's note: No source citation appears for this teaching in this edition. Note: the source itself numbers this item as ו [six] and the next as ח [eight], skipping ז [seven] — this numbering anomaly appears in the original manuscript.]

Oil [shemen] is a healing for the lung — as the world says. [Translator's note: No source citation appears for this teaching in this edition.] All the healings are included in Shir HaShirim [the Song of Songs] — and therefore it is sometimes good for one who has an ill person, Heaven forbid, in his household, to recite the entire Shir HaShirim before daybreak. [Translator's note: The source text itself numbers this item ח [eight], skipping ז [seven] — this appears to be a numbering anomaly in the original manuscript, not a missing teaching. No source citation appears in this edition.]