Q:
I was listening to one of your lectures and you said that everything comes from Hashem; that Hashem is paying you back for something. And then you quoted the sages that the only thing that doesn’t come from Hashem is the common cold. Can you explain that?
A:
This gentleman is quoting me as saying that the common cold is not from Hashem. And he wants to know why is it that the common cold is the only thing that does not come from Hashem.
Now we have to qualify that statement. It’s not only the common cold. All the things that a person causes by his own negligence to himself are his own doing. Let’s say if a man walks up to this wall. He walks from here and makes a charge with his head against the wall and he has a headache tonight. So this man is lying in bed and his head is throbbing and he’s thinking, “Mah zos asah Elokim lanu? Why has Hashem brought this upon me? For what sin did this come to me?”
It’s a good question. And the answer is for the sin of butting your head against the wall. And that’s a big sin.
So if a man is lying in bed with a cold and he’s thinking about what he did to deserve this — and he should think! — but the first of all things, before he thinks about any other thing, he should think, “Did I go out without a jacket? Did I go to sleep too late last night so I lowered my resistance. I could have gone to bed on time but I was looking in the newspaper until too late at night and in the morning I woke up and I didn’t have any energy and therefore when the germs started floating in the air on an airplane of a piece of dust and I breathed it in so my mucous membrane had been breached because my resistance was lowered. And that’s why the cold germs found a nest in my throat.” That’s number one. That’s the first thing to think about when you get sick.
So why blame Hakodosh Boruch Hu for what you did? Is that clear now?
TAPE # 13
