"And when you offer a thanksgiving sacrifice to Hashem, you should offer it according to your good will" (Leviticus/Vayikra 22:29)
When medical researchers succeed in finding a new cure for a deadly disease, most people in the World praise the scientists, as if the entire cure came only in their merit. Many people express themselves saying that this proves the power of human will against natural dangers.
At such a time, believing Jews must take the time to reinforce our pure belief that everything that takes place in Nature comes from the Supernal Divine Providence of the Creator, Who runs the world. Human beings do not have the power to conquer diseases on our own, it all depends on the Will of the Creator, as the Creator desires to cancel the illness, then He allows the scientists to discover the cure.
The Skulener Rebbe zt"l once told me in the name of his father, the Noam Eliezer of Skulen, zt"l, that this is why in our morning liturgy in the blessing of "Yotzer Or" we say that Hashem is the "Creator of Cures" in the present tense, rather than saying that He "created cures" in the past tense. This is because in every generation there arise new illnesses which appear to be incurable, but in the end Hashem creates new cures for them through His agents, the doctors and scientists, as He gives the brainpower and ability to them to discover and produce new cures.
These cures come to the world in the merit of the teshuvah and good deeds of religious Jews who accept upon themselves good resolutions to become stronger in their devotion to Torah and mitzvos. The Holy Rebbe Yisroel of Ruzhin zt"l said that in every generation, the Yetzer Hara creates new sins which damage not only the soul, but the body as well. This is why there are new diseases in every generation, R"L, however the Yetzer Tov fights this with new mitzvos and good deeds, and from this, new cures sprout up in every generation.
One could ask, if the cure actually comes from Hashem Himself, as the Torah writes in Parshas Haazinu "I smite and I heal" (Deuteronomy/Devarim 32:39), why would Hashem make cures come only from human behavior? Hashem could simply cure people without any medical intervention.
The foremost answer to this is what the Baal Shem Tov zy"a taught, that if people were suddenly healed without any human efforts, it would make it more difficult to have free will for a person to make a choice between faith and heresy, because it would be too obvious that Hashem was in total control, so it would be illogical to be an atheist or agnostic. Therefore, Hashem hid the ways of healing within medicine and treatments, in order to give an opening for a person to fool himself with the mistaken ideas of heresy, to think that cures are natural and scientific. This is so we can have free will, so a person can receive a reward for using his free will to choose the path of faith.
Along these lines, a story is told that the holy Rebbe Boruch of Mezhbuzh zt"l saw the medicine that doctors were bringing to heal his daughter who was ill, he called out and said "I believe with perfect faith that if Hashem will is such, my daughter can be healed without any medicines. However, we recite in the blessing 'Yotzer Or' that Hashem creates cures. Why does Hashem create medical cures instead of curing directly without medicine? It is because Hashem is 'Awesome', and Hashem is afraid that people will give 'praise to the Lord of Wonders', then all people will be forced to praise Hashem because He is the Lord of Wonders, thus Hashem created medicine in a natural form in order that free will should not be taken away from human beings".
This is why when believing Jews are healed from a dangerous illness, or some other potential fatality, they thank and praise Hashem with joy for the great gift of life which He gave them, and from this they show and plant deep roots in their heart that everything comes exclusively from Hashem.
This is why on Lag B'Omer the custom is to play music and to sing and praise Hashem, because on that day the plague ended among the disciples of Rebbe Akiva (Rema Orach Chaim 493:2 in the name of the Maharil).
This exact praise is what brings healing, as the Siddur Ha'Arizal writes in the brachah of Yotzer Or that the praiseful words "Creates Cures" correspond to the Sefirah of Hod, which contain the intent to give thanks to Hashem, because in the merit of thanking Hashem through perfect faith we bring the creation of new cures.
According to this, the holy Rebbe Pinchas of Koritz zt"l asked why the plague attacking the disciples of Rebbe Akiva ended specifically on Lag B'Omer. He explained that according to Kabbalah, the day of Lag B'Omer corresponds to the sefirah of Hod She'Be'Hod, meaning to thank Hashem perfectly, recognizing that everything is only from Him. This is why on the day of Lag B'Omer when we strengthen our efforts to thank Hashem for everyone who is left alive after the plague, and not to think that this was all merely a natural occurrence, thus they were worthy to see the pandemic totally end. According to this, the holy Rebbe of Koritz zt"l taught that whoever needs to be healed or to help others to be healed should begin their treatments on Lag B'Omer if possible, because it is a day of segulah to bring down healing.
This is the concept behind the Korban Todah, the Thanksgiving Sacrifice that was offered when the Beis HaMikdash stood. If someone was sick and then was healed, or if someone was saved from a danger, he would bring the Korban Todah to thank Hashem, because this showed that he believed that all healing and salvation comes only from Hashem, and we do not envision that our own human material efforts is the source of healing. Today, we accomplish this with words of prayer and thanksgiving, and in this merit we are worthy to bring more healing and salvation.
It is possible to explain that this is why Scripture warns "and when you offer a thanksgiving sacrifice to Hashem", when you go to bring a Korban Todah to thank Hashem for healing and salvation, "according to your good will you should offer it", you should sacrifice, slaughter, and nullify your own will- human will- totally, and not conceive that human effort or will has any control over this issue. Remember that everything comes only from the Will of the Creator Who controls the entirety of creation.
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