When the Body Says Rest

My memories of being sick as a child go way back to our first apartment, where the telephone was a wall unit in the entry hall.

“Dr. Weizer, the fever is getting worse. Can you please make a house visit?”

I remember the anxiety in my mother’s voice. She was worried about her daughter, dripping with sweat, and desperately wanted medical attention for me.

So many years have passed since my mother stood at that wall telephone calling Dr. Weizer. Yet being sick today somehow brought that scene back to me with surprising clarity. Perhaps no matter how old we become, when we are sick, there is a little bit of the child in us wishing someone would simply come and make us well again.

A common cold is not a dangerous illness, but at this moment it feels particularly inconvenient. I have so many tasks to complete, things I neglected during my three-month stay in Israel.

The medication makes me weak and sleepy and leaves me in a dreamy kind of state, when all I can do is drag my tired body along like a heavy package.

And I want to call Dr. Weizer and say, “Remember me? You gave my mother medicine to bring my fever down. What cure do you have now to make me stop coughing?”

But I am beginning to realize that everything I am feeling may simply be my body telling me that once in a while, it needs to rest and not be constantly on the go.

Maybe we take good health for granted. We wake up, make plans, take care of what needs to be done, and simply expect our bodies to cooperate.

And then Hashem sends us a little reminder that good health is not something we should ever take for granted.

I notice it especially when I daven. Everyone I daven for, I pray for a little harder now. Perhaps because I am weaker myself, I feel the pain of others more deeply than usual. My discomfort is temporary, but it has made me think more about those who live with illness day after day.

So my wish for all of us is to have hope and to see the sun rise again in all its glorious beauty.

Every sunrise is a form of renewal. A new day begins, bringing with it the hope for strength, healing, and, above all, the blessing of good health for everyone.

Chodesh Tov to all!