The old expression, “A day late and a dollar
short” applies to my reflection on today’s daf TB Shabbat 66. Yesterday was
Mother’s Day and today Abaye quotes his mother four times to share her wisdom on
healing. What makes it even more special is the fact that this woman is his
adopted mother. Abaye was an orphan at an early age and adopted by his uncle
Rabbah and his aunt. The Gemara teaches “anyone who raises an orphan
in his house, the verse ascribes him credit as if he gave birth to him.” (TB Sanhedrin 19b, Sefaria.org translation)
No wonder he calls her his mother.
“Abaye said: Mother, actually his foster mother, said to
me about the healing properties of madder: Three garlands maintain
the illness at its present state and prevent it from worsening, five
garlands heal the illness, and seven are effective even against
sorcery. Rav Aḥa bar Ya’akov said: And that benefit provided by the
madder plant is specifically in a case where one on whom the
knots were tied does not look at the sun and the moon, and does not see
rain, and hears neither the sound of clanging iron, nor the sound of the
hen, nor the sound of footsteps. Rav Naḥman bar Yitzḥak said: If that is
the case, the remedial powers of the madder fell in a pit, i.e., if so,
many conditions exist, for all intents and purposes it provides no benefit at
all.
“Abaye said, Mother said to me: All incantations that are repeated are intoned
using the name of the mother of the one requiring the incantation, and
all knots tied for the purpose of healing are tied on the left.
“And Abaye said, Mother said to me: All incantations for which the number of times
they must be intoned is specified, one recites them as they are specified;
and those for which the number of times they must be intoned is
not specified, one recites them forty-one times.
“And Abaye said, Mother said to me: To heal a fever of one day, let one
take a pale, i.e., newly minted, dinar and go to the salt pools, and
weigh its weight in salt against it, and let him bind the salt to
the opening of the neckline of his garment with a thread made of
hair. And if this remedy is not effective, let him sit at a
crossroads, and when he sees a large ant carrying something, he should take
the ant and place it in a copper tube, and close it with lead, and seal it
with sixty seals, and shake it, and lift it, and say to it: Your burden is upon
me and my burden, my fever, is upon you. Rav Aḥa, son of Rav Huna, said
to Rav Ashi: And perhaps a different person already found
this ant and used this remedy to end his illness. In that
case, by accepting the burden of the ant, he is bringing another’s illness upon
himself. Rather, let him say to the ant: My burden and your burden are
upon you
“And if
that remedy is not effective, let him take a new jug, and go to the
river, and say to it: River, river, lend me a jug of water for a guest who
happened to come to me. And let him turn it around his head seven times,
and pour out the water behind him, and say to it: River, river, take
back the water that you gave me because the guest who happened to come to
me came on its day and left on its day.” (Sefaria.org translation)
My advice to you is don’t try this at home! You should listen to your own
mother and not to Abaye’s mother when comes to medical advice. I heard that the
Shulchan Aruch says that these treatments only worked during Talmudic times and
not during our era; consequently, we shouldn’t employ them. I am still
searching for the source. Once I find it I shall share with you. And if the
choice is between listening either to your mother or listening to a physician,
I will listen to your physician first.
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