The True Power of Healing

Dating back to the Greco-Roman era, the international symbol for healthcare has been a snake wrapped around a staff. The first time this image appeared was in the desert when Hashem tells Moshe to stop a plague of deadly snakes by “Mak[ing] for yourself a serpent and put it on a pole, and it will be that all those who see it will live” (Numbers 21,8). The Gemara (Rosh Hashana 29A) asks the obvious question: how did staring at a snake heal people whom the snakes had poisoned? Rather, the Gemara explains that the secret medicine Hashem prescribed was not the power of the snake but the power of G-d. When the affected looked up towards the snake, they were really looking towards Heaven, realizing who could truly heal them. 

We learn from this story how Judaism approaches medicine. Ramban explains that this remedy was counterintuitive because it was well-known that looking at the face or even the reflection of a snake or dog could be lethal. If so, why did Hashem say that anyone bitten by the snake should stare at the image of that very snake to be healed? The Ramban explains that the message was to realize that G-d allows poison to kill, but He holds the keys to abolish its potency as well. Accordingly, when the Jews ignored common sense and relied on the direct word of G-d, they were saved. 

The same applies to medicine today. The old paradox of philosophy and medicine is how one can decide to change an illness that G-d put on someone. Yet, most Poskim hold that not only is one allowed to seek medical treatment, one is obligated to do so. The answer to this paradox is the message of the snake. Both the doctor and the patient must realize that they are not overpowering G-d to heal what He has inflicted; they are using the tools He gave them to remove an illness. With this recognition, physicians will merit His mercy to spread health and happiness to others. 

Adapted from Medicalhalacha.org