In this week's Parsha we read that G-d tells the Jewish People that if they listen to Him and follow His Commandments, then all the afflictions that He brought upon the Egyptians He will not bring upon us because He is our Healer. This seems like a rather trivial promise for following the word of G-d, we would have expected to have been promised many glorious rewards for following the Torah, more than just "not getting sick". But the truth is that we all know when a person is sick G-d Forbid they and their loved ones will sacrifice any other gift that they have been given in life in order to be healthy once again. We sometimes forget how thankful we should be just for being physically and mentally healthy. Furthermore, our body is constantly working to fight and fend off illnesses and infections that we never even know about. A person may have certain genetic dispositions that scientifically say a person should become ill with "xyz" but these illnesses never actually come to fruition Thank G-d. This is all because the Ultimate Healer is protecting us and constantly giving us health. The Torah is giving us health advice, it is good for our health to follow the Torah!

In honor of my wonderful father, may he be well, I wanted to relate a story from R'Elimelech Biderman. There was a prominent rabbi who went to a dentist for some procedure. While the dentist was working on the Rabbi, he began to speak to the Rabbi about various Torah topics. The Rabbi was astounded by the vast Torah knowledge that the dentist had and after he finished working on him the rabbi asked the dentist how do you know so much Torah? Why are you working as a dentist? You should be a rabbi. The dentist turned to the rabbi and told him that it is true he is very learned and in fact he used to be a rabbi. The rabbi was even more stunned and asked him nu, so how did you become a dentist? The dentist told him that when I was a rabbi and people would come to ask me questions and advice they would never listen. I figured, if I became a dentist though, everyone who comes to me will actually listen and heed what I am saying to them. The Torah is therefore telling us not just Rabbinic advice it is telling us health advice!

Shabbat Shalom,

Heath