Likutei Moharan, Part II 1:11/ליקוטי מוהר"ן·תנינא א׳:י״א

111. And know! There are different types of illnesses. Some illnesses act in the same manner as vegetation. When a seed is sown in the ground and decomposes, a fatty substance emerges that turns into radicles which steadily multiply and form the root. From this [root] twigs begin to emerge, and from them more twigs, until eventually the fruit blossoms. In the same way, there are illnesses that develop inside a person over the course of years.

2On the other hand, there are some illnesses that are genetically transmitted from one’s parents, though they only manifest in old age. During the developmental stages of the illness, it is hidden and concealed from all living beings, and nobody knows about it. Even so, weaknesses that are symptomatic of the illness are born in a person while the illness incubates.

3Likewise, there are differences also in the healing powers of the plants. Some illnesses can be cured by a single plant. Other, more serious illnesses are cured only by medications that are compounds of a variety of plants. Still other [illnesses] require hard-to-get remedies to be cured.

4And there are illnesses that no medication can cure, because the illness is stronger than the power of the plants.

5When the illness first began to develop, before it grew and manifested, it would have been possible to easily cure it. However, at that time it was hidden from sight and no one other than God knew of its existence.

6But when a person is attached to the Word of God, which is prayer, he can be cured by all things in the world, even bread and water. This is as in “one is cured by any means.” He can then be cured even at the time the illness is [just beginning to] develop, while it is invisible to the human eye, since he has no need for any medications other than bread and water. Therefore, even then—when the illness had yet to manifest—he could have likewise been healed by means of the bread and water he ate at that time. {“And He said: If you hearken to the voice of God your Lord, doing what is virtuous in His eyes, giving ear to His commandments and observing all His statutes, I will not bring upon you all the diseases that I brought upon Egypt, for I, God, am your Healer” (Exodus 15:26) . }

7This is the meaning of “I will not bring upon you all the diseases that I brought upon Egypt, for I, God, am your Healer.” All the commentators ask: If He does not bring [any diseases], what need is there for healing?However, based on what was said above, this is well resolved. The explanation is: “I will not bring upon you all the diseases”—i.e., He will not bring any illness whatsoever upon you, for He will heal you beforehand, while the illness is developing. This is: “for I, God, am your Healer.” Specifically “I, God”—that is, at the time the illness is developing, when no one knows of it except “I, God,” then I will heal you through the Word of God, prayer. It will never reach the stage of illness, because it will be cured before this, while it was developing.

8All this depends upon the rectification of prayer, which entails extricating oneself from the three “services.”

9This is the meaning of “And He said: If you hearken… doing what is yashar (right) in His eyes, giving ear to His commandments and observing all His statutes.” This is the rectification of the three [unholy] services.

10doing what is yashar in His eyes— This is the opposite of treating people with contempt. When one disparages people, it is said (Job 33:27), “Let him go around to people and say, ‘I sinned; I perverted that which was YaShaR (right) …,” as our Sages, of blessed memory, taught (Yoma 87a).

11giving ear to His commandments— This is the rectification of the Covenant, as in (Genesis 21:4), “Avraham circumcised his son Yitzchak at the age of eight days as God had commanded him.”

12and observing all His statutes— This is the rectification of faith, the opposite of idol worship [and] spoiling faith, about which it is said: “the statutes of the nations are futility” (Jeremiah 10:3).

13Thus: all the diseases that I brought… for I, God, am your Healer— For prayer is then perfected and it is possible, through the Word of God, to be cured by any means in the world, even before the illness manifests. * This is as in “one is cured by any means.”

14This is what Chizkiyah said: “and I have done that which is good in Your eyes” (Isaiah 38:3). Our Sages, of blessed memory, taught:

15He linked redemption to the Prayer and hid away the Book of Remedies (Berakhot 10b). This is all one idea, because by linking redemption to the Prayer—i.e., redeeming prayer from exile—he was able to hide away the Book of Remedies. This is because when prayer is redeemed, all remedies fall away, for one can be healed through the Word of God. Then, all doctors are embarrassed by their remedies, because no medicine has any potency since all the plants have put their power back into prayer, which is the Word of God—their supernal root.

16Every plant and “every herb of the field” (Genesis 2:5) is obliged to do this. When a person stands in prayer—and thus attains the Word of God, their supernal root—[the plants] put their power back into the prayer, which is their supernal root. And so when a person prays over some illness, those plants which have the potency to heal that illness are obliged to put their power back into the prayer, since it is their root, the Word of God.

17This is the meaning of “Yitzchak went out laSuaCh (to speak) in the field” (ibid. 24:63)— his prayer was with the SiaCh (herbs) of the field. All the herbs of the field put back their potencies and instilled them in his prayer, which is their root.