[quote=walterwhite]i think jews have a biblcial commandment somewhere to visit the sick. i think i read somewhere in the torah that a visit to the sick eases 1/60 of their suffering. probably not in this case, but may work for gallstone operation. but seriously, a visit to the sick benefits the visitor as much or more than the person being visited.[/quote]
Good job! The visiting the sick is the commandment from Genesis (I won’t bore you with the precise section). The Talmud says he who visits the sick, even 100 times a day, takes away 1/60th of the pain. (weird, I know, for an athiest to remember this shit.)
I was just thinking about it last night. I have a close friend dying of cancer. He’s actually my brother’s closest friend, and my brother has been at his house every day. I was there once last week. In and out of conciousness, saying some hilarious stuff. (He just told his sons he married their mother because she had great boobs. She was standing there and confirmed that she knew it to be true.) And he’s had people in and out of his house constantly. Some he hasn’t seen in years. I don’t really think I should go back again. I don’t think it’s helping him or his family. One of those rules that kinda works in general. But not always.
