Mishpatim: 5784 - Rabbi Shimon Zonnenfeld: "V'rapo yerapei" - from here we derive that a doctor is given permission to heal. The Mishnah in Kiddushin states: "The best of doctors is destined for Gehinnom" - why? At the conclusion of the shiur by Rabbi…

00:00 Speaker 1 Please.

00:02 Speaker 2 From one point to another on the same subject we just learned in the Mishnah: if someone gives an item to a craftsman to repair and he damages it, does he have to pay? He does not have to pay. So there’s a beautiful explanation. In the weekly parsha we read, “And he shall surely heal”—from here we learn that a doctor has been given permission to heal. But the Mishnah in Kiddushin says that the best of doctors—

00:29 Speaker 1 Go to Gehinnom.

00:30 Speaker 2 Go to Gehinnom. How does that fit together? Here you give him permission to heal, but we see that the best of doctors goes to Gehinnom. So there’s a very beautiful explanation from my great-grandfather in Jerusalem. He was very, very close to Dr. Wallach, the founder of Shaare Zedek Hospital. Dr. Wallach wouldn’t do anything at the hospital without getting his approval and consulting him. So my great-grandfather would share interpretations of this verse with him. He said to him: What does “the best of doctors goes to Gehinnom” mean? Why? Why does the best of doctors go to Gehinnom? Why would he deserve Gehinnom? So he explained it this way. There are many interpretations, but he offered this one: Sometimes a doctor treats a patient who is in very, very serious condition. If he makes even a small mistake, the person could die. So one doctor says, “Why should I take the risk?” From the outset, he’s unwilling to treat him, because there’s a risk that he might go to Gehinnom—he might kill this person with the slightest mistake, since the person is in such serious condition. But the best of doctors, someone who is truly a good doctor, will take it upon himself to treat the patient even in such a dangerous situation, willing to go to Gehinnom. In other words, if a mistake happens, G-d forbid, he’s willing to take that risk, because there’s a chance he might help him after all. That’s the meaning of “the best of doctors”: precisely the very best doctor is willing to take the risk, even if he might go to Gehinnom, because he wants to help. Another time he also said to Dr. Wallach—he wanted, how do you say, to—

02:25 Speaker 1 Encourage him.

02:25 Speaker 2 Strengthen him. So he told him that it’s precisely in Gehinnom that there are so many souls with all kinds of blemishes from the sins they committed. That’s where you really need a good doctor. In Gan Eden, “You are altogether beautiful, my beloved, and there is no blemish in you.” There’s nothing for a doctor to do there.

02:42 Speaker 1 The sick people are there, in Gehinnom.

02:44 Speaker 2 So that’s precisely where the good doctor is needed.

02:47 Speaker 1 That’s how it is. Excellent. Good Chodesh.