A Short Tribute

"…while you, who held fast to the LORD your God, are all alive today." One cannot, of course, hold fast to the Shechina; the verse's meaning is that we adhere to His commandments, fulfill His commandments and learn from the light and goodness of His ways. Thus, we find that the Holy One, blessed be He, visited the sick Himself, as we see when He came to visit our father Abraham. From this we learn that great people must also visit less important people, and that stringency about rank is not pertinent to fulfilling commandments. This is particularly so in the case of this commandment, in that the heart rises at the sight of another's distress; when one asks for compassion and the prayers are accepted it as though one had revived the ill person. And upon the sight of such distress, one seeks out those things that are necessary, and is obligated to sweep and clean their house, for a place full of litter causes an illness to become worse, as does sleeping in a filthy and dusty place. Whoever cleans does an act of great loving kindness. And one who visits the sick yet does not pray for their recovery has not fulfilled the commandment. Happy are those who treat the poor when they are ill, and make efforts to visit the sick, and have people who inform them about who might be ill so that they may send flower nectar, fowl and all they might need.