Daf Yomi Yevamos 83
There were
three choices on the sheet of paper the Schwartzes handed me: do everything
possible to save the life of their father, including resuscitation; do
everything possible except resuscitation; or, only provide comfort
medication. The hospital had asked them
to make a decision as to how to deal with Mr. Schwartz and they wanted to know
what the Torah required of them.
I handed
them siddurim (prayerbooks) and instructed them to open up to Ethics of the
Fathers. We read together, “One moment
of repentance and good deeds in this world is greater than all of the life in
the World to Come.”
“Choice
number one is the right choice,” I told them, “we do everything possible to
keep a person in this world doing mitzvos.”
“But what
if he’s in bed and can’t even move or speak any longer?” Freddie asked, “Is it
still worth prolonging dad’s life? What
mitzvos would he be doing?”
It was taught in a Mishnah: One who spreads his
vine over the grain of his friend, renders it an unfit graft (kilayim) and he must
compensate him. This is the opinion of
Rabbi Meir. Rabbi Yossi and Rabbi Simon
say, “A person cannot forbid something that does not belong to him.”
Tosfos asks: How is this case different from
placing non-kosher meat into one’s friend’s dish, which would certainly
prohibit the food? Rabbi Isaac answers
that we only employ the principle that ‘a person cannot forbid something that
does not belong to him’ with regards to thought mitzvos. For example, if one worshipped his friend’s
animal, he cannot make the animal prohibited as an object of idolatry. Therefore, kilayim (grafting produce) which
is a thought transgression accords with this principle.
While you
can’t affect your friend’s life with negative thoughts, you most certainly can affect
their life with positive thinking. When
you think good, positive thoughts about someone else, you draw down blessing
into their life! According to Kabbalah,
the soul has three garments, meaning that there are three ways that the soul expresses
itself physically: thought, speech, and action. Not only can your soul accomplish in this
world by doing or saying good things, it also accomplishes incredible amounts
of good just by thinking good things!
And that’s
what I explained to the Schwartzes. “You
have no idea,” I said to them, “what your dad is thinking every time you walk
into the room – what nachas he’s
getting from the children and grandchildren!”
“It’s true,”
responded Freddie, “sometimes we’re not sure if he’s cognizant or not, but then
his face lights up when he sees the grandchildren! Obviously, he’s thinking good thoughts.”
Positive thinking
is not just for the ill and infirm. You
can achieve incredible blessing just by thinking positively about others. We all
know what we can achieve by our good deeds.
We even know what can be achieved by what we say. But you have no idea how much you can
accomplish just by what you are thinking!
And that’s why you always need to be thinking positively about
others. When you think positively, you
give people the ‘good eye’. G-d forbid,
should you think negatively about them, you would give them a ‘bad eye’, which
is a channel for negative energy to enter their lives.
It’s not just about the good things you say and
do in life. Every positive thought you have about someone else is a
mitzvah. When you think positively about
their success and accomplishment, you bestow the ‘good eye’ upon them and draw
down Divine blessing into their life. May you
always merit thinking positively about everyone and being a source of blessing
to all!
