Hot answers tagged choleh-sick
12
The Zohar (Bereishis 84a, citing Psalms 86:16, "והושיעה לבן אמתך") says that it's better to pray using the most definite facts available. There can be a slight chance that the sick person isn't really the son of the man who is assumed to be his father (even though, for halachic purposes, we ignore this possibility and follow the majority - Chullin 11b), but ...
9
The Shulchan Aruch discusses this issue (Even HaEzer 76).
In Seif 3, he comments regarding the standard onot as fixed by profession:
בד"א, במי שגופו בריא ויכול לקיים העונה הקצובה לו, אבל מי שאינו בריא אינו חייב אלא לפי מה שאומדין אותו שיכול לקיים.
In what situation do [the above times] apply? For someone who's body is healthy and is able to ...
8
This article from Dr J Menczer indicates that although there is a significantly lower incidence of cervical cancer amongst Jews it is not due to family purity laws, as even Jews who do not observe these laws have a lower incidence of cervical cancer.
7
I am going off of the Shulhan Arukh HaRav on this one. Not my normal source for halakhic information, but considering we are talking about a case of in extremis there is what to be lenient. The relevant portion is O"H Simian 43. Obviously one should do everything possible to keep from entering into a toilet with tefilin on, however that is not in the case ...
7
See Har Tz'vi (OC 1:163) where he discusses this issue. He first quotes the Panim M'iros (2:27), Chasam Sofer (OC 127), and the Minchas Chinuch (313), who hold that hana'as mei'av is a necessary criterion for birkas hamazon. Therefore, these opinions hold, if someone ate half of a k'zayis, then vomited it up, then ate another half k'zayis, he would be exempt ...
5
Indeed, that is how the minhag began. The practice of changing one's name to an entirely new and unrelated name is attested in many places relevant to gitin because of the precision in names necessary there. (citation needed)
Incidentally, it seems that the minhag was drawing upon the auspiciousness of the name changing and not the meaning of the new name, ...
5
One who has a bandage on his hand which is not easily removable should wash as much of his hand as possible (even if that amount zero) and take care that any skin which could not be washed not directly touch the bread.
Source: Shulchan Aruch OC 162:10, Magen Avraham sk 18, Mishna Brurah sk 68 and particularly 69
It would seem that the appropriate blessing ...
5
The first section in Nishmas Avraham on Even Haezer reads (in my own translation):
Rabbi S.Z. Auerbach zatzal wrote me:
I'm uncertain about someone with an hereditary disease whose descendants will be in pain all their days, or who suffers a blood-clotting disorder that passes to sons (hemophilia), whether he may therefore refrain from ...
4
A few years ago there was a tehilim drive for a sick baby pre-bris and the tehilim name being used was Tinok Ben Aviva until they were eventually able to do a bris. The child's father is an established Rabbi , currently leading this congregation and many congregations used this name worldwide, so I assume this is the accepted practice. Not sure how to handle ...
4
http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/1228223/jewish/Psalms-and-Jewish-Prayer-for-Healing.htm
When praying for an individual who is ill, it is customary to recite
the following thirty-six chapters of Psalms: 20, 6, 9, 13, 16, 17, 18,
22, 23, 28, 30, 31, 32, 33, 37, 38, 39, 41, 49, 55, 56, 69, 86, 88,
89, 90, 91, 102, 103, 104, 107, 116, ...
4
The following story is from Rabbi Paysach Krohn, Echoes of the Maggid. It is one of my favorites. I believe that those that are imperfect are here in order for us to perfect ourselves.
A young boy, Shaya, attends a special school during the week, Chush,
for learning-disabled children. He loves baseball, but because of his
lack of coordination isn't ...
3
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, GA advises:
Preventing the Flu: Good Health Habits Can Help Stop Germs
Avoid close contact. Avoid close contact with people who are sick. When you are sick, keep your distance from others to protect them from
getting sick too.
2. Stay home when you are sick. If possible, stay home ...
3
First of all, nowadays it is obvious that colds (and many other sicknesses) are transferred by shaking one's hand with someone who is sick and then kissing the hand. This fact is almost universally known (especially in places like Israel and the U.S.).
It is far from clear that the rabbi would be embarrassed, considering that it was obvious to the ...
3
I have heard anecdotally that these types of individuals (as well as children who die in infancy) posses souls that have been reincarnated in order to achieve a very slight thing that was omitted in a previous gilgul (soul-incarnation). God always gives people the tools they need to achieve their goals in this world, therefore if God gave these people less ...
3
None of G-d's creations exist for no reason. As Rabbi Akiva's teacher, Rabbi Nachum Ish Gam Zu, taught him, gam zu l'tovah -- everything is for the (Divine) Good. What that is, we don't always know. When trouble happens to us, individually, it may be a message from G-d. Talmud Bavli Berachot 5a tells us that when hard times falls on us, individually, we ...
3
The reason that Moses was told to effect a cure is that people had already been bitten, and simply sending the snakes away would have been insufficient to stem the rate at which people were dying. But if you look closely at the language in 21:7, what the people were really asking Moses for was forgiveness (cf: Rashi and Or haChayim on that verse). As Or ...
3
When I went for genetic testing, the secular geneticist told me that her rule of thumb was "oh they'll just test each pregnancy and terminate the Tay-Sachs ones." Suffice to say that Rabbi Moshe Feinstein vehemently opposed that logic. His student Rabbi Tendler is therefore opposed to amniocentesis as the couple will then be pressured to terminate -- when ...
3
Personally, I don't convert the name to Hebrew. It's not their name.
There are plenty of Jews whose Hebrew name is nothing like their English name (e.g., my father is Joel/Yitzchak Isaac). If someone converted his name to Hebrew it would be wrong. If they kept it English, they'd be right.
Jack's a good example since it can be Jacob, John, or ...
3
My late Rav, Rabbi Gedaliah Anemer, zt'l, founder and Rosh HaYeshiva of The Yeshiva of Greater Washington D.C., held that mishaberachs should not be said for those with chronic illnesses that are not life threatening at present. He said we don't want to "drey G-d's kup" (i.e. bother Him) with prayers for people who are going to have their illness for years ...
3
Could the guiding principle be Hillel's "That which is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbour"?
If you would be happy to use your precious time to daven/ say tehillim for someone with that level of illness, then it's reasonable to be put on the "the cholim list" for it.
But take care, making the Community wait (eg for a MiSheberach) is not a minor ...
3
The Ben Yehoyda(Brachos 55b Anna) answers the person needs merits, and since men have a harder time because the have Bittul Torah and other sins more specific to men, their Zchus is better. The Birchei Yosef(Orach Chaim 284) uses this to answer why when somone has a father Yahrtzeit and the other has a mother the father has precedence he says basicly the ...
3
"Rama, Orach Chaim 656:1, rules that one must spend up to one-fifth of his assets on order to fulfill a positive mitzvah and his entire fortune in order not to violate a negative commandment." (source) As for negative commandments that are violated by passivity--such as the commandment that you may not allow someone else to die--there is dispute about ...
2
I heard in the name of Rav Heineman that the reason is because of סכנתא חמירא מאיסורא, and since we always have a ספק who the father is, it is better to use the mother's name to identify the person because by the mother there is no ספק. Even though this רוב of רוב בעילות אחר הבעל works very well in regards to איסור והיתר.
--but it could be that Rav Heineman ...
2
I know a lawyer who writes living wills who is close with Rabbi Breitowitz; here's the language I've seen:
RABBI YITZCHAK BREITOWITZ ... HAS DETERMINED THAT ANY LIFE SUSTAINING TREATMENT, SUCH AS CPR, WHICH MUST BE EMPLOYED IMMEDIATELY TO AVOID DEATH SHALL BE EMPLOYED. ANY DECISIONS FOR LIFE SUSTAINING TREATMENT, SUCH AS A RESPIRATOR, THAT DO NOT NEED ...
2
If they know the father's name they can say that instead (Yabia Omer 2:11).
If they do not know the father's name either, the Nishmas Avraham (vol. 4 42:13) writes in the name of Rabbi Elyashuv that they should say "bas Avraham" - see there at length.
I have personally heard "bas Sarah" being used rather than "bas Avraham".
2
R. Akiva Eiger (Igrot Sofrim 29) was asked whether minyanim should be held during a cholera outbreak or whether public gatherings should be avoided altogether. His response was that they should continue holding minyanim but in an open area, in groups no larger than 15, where the same 15 people always daven together. This is a compromise where one limits ...
2
My advice (which is practical, rather than halakhic) is to not shake his hand if it is obvious that he is unwell. The fact that he is coughing and sneezing means that it is obvious to him too, and he shouldn't have extended his hand in the first place. Now that he has, the only way to save face is to decline shaking it on the grounds that you have a cold. ...
2
Hm. As I understand it, the reason Ashkenazim don't eat matza-made-with-fruit-juice is to respect a minority opinion in Tosfos, that it would create a certain form of chametz. But if someone is ill, we rely on the majority opinion.
Kitniyos is purely a custom, and one that was never decreed against those who are ill. Hence my guess is all else being equal, ...
1
We learn from Tamar's refusal to identify Yehudah outright that it would be better for a person to be exposed to a fiery furnace than for him to humiliate someone else in public: Sotah 10b;
Getting a cold is less of a problem than a fiery furnace so the first answer is to kiss your hand and hope avoiding embarrassing the Rav is a merit for you to avoid ...
1
The Pri Megadim does seem quite difficult to understand. Especially since really he's not arguing with the Shach but rather trying to say that this is how the understand the Shach since he says the words "Rotzeh l'omar" (ר"ל)
I saw however an interesting thing. I don't know if this is an answer to explain the Pri Megadim but could be this is a start. The ...
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