Q&A: Whispering Over a Wound and Spitting
Whispering Over a Wound and Spitting
Question
In general, what is the attitude toward whispering over a wound, “All the sickness that I placed upon Egypt”?
Or saying Psalms for someone’s recovery?
Or performing commandments for the sake of the blessing promised for them?
What is permitted and what is forbidden?
Answer
The great sages have already written about this, so what could my opinion add. In my view, this is of course nonsense and apparently also forbidden by Torah law. As for the prayer “All the sickness”—if one sees it as a request and not as a charm, then there is no prohibition (although it probably will not help).
See here: https://mikyab.net/posts/71958
Someone who performs commandments for the sake of the blessing promised for them is not doing it entirely for its own sake, but there is nothing invalid about that, and certainly no prohibition. Some commentators claim that one who gives charity on condition that my son live is a completely righteous person, but in my opinion that is not correct. And all this is if he gives the charity for its own sake, except that his motivation is that his son should live. Plainly, this was said only about charity beyond the minimum amount, when he is not obligated to give. With commandments where one is obligated to give, in my opinion there is no reason to say that “on condition that my son live” makes him a completely righteous person.
I saw that some have the reading: “this is completely valid charity” (and not “a completely righteous person”), and they argue that it was originally an abbreviation, and at some stage the printers decided to expand the abbreviation, and that is how the mistake was created.