15
15. New Certainties and New Mysticism
New Mysticism
Codifiers
It is a religious duty to visit the sick. Relatives and friends may call imme-
diately, and strangers after three days. If, however, a man falls ill suddenly,
both parties may call on him immediately. Even an eminent person should
visit a humble one, even many times a day, and even if he is of the same age
as the invalid. Whoever visits often is considered praiseworthy, provided
he does not weary the sick person. Gloss: Some say that an enemy may
visit a sick person. However, this does not seem right to me. Rather a man
should not visit a sick person or comfort a mourner who is his enemy, lest
the latter think that he rejoices at his misfortune, and only be distressed.
This seems to me to be the correct view. He who visits the sick may not sit
on a bed, or in a chair, or on a stool, but must reverently wrap himself and
sit in front of the invalid, for the Shekhinah is above the headboard of his
bed. Gloss: This applies only if the invalid lies on the ground so that the
person sitting down will be higher than he; but if he lies on the bed, the
visitor is permitted to sit on a chair or a stool. This is our custom. One
should not visit the sick during the first three hours of the day, for every
invalid’s illness is less severe in the morning, and so one will not trouble
one’s self to pray for him. Nor should one visit during the last three hours
of the day, for then his illness grows worse and one will despair of praying
for him. Gloss: He who visited a sick person and did not pray for him has
not fulfilled the religious duty of visiting the sick.With such admonitions on every aspect of life, however domestic or
intimate, the Shulhan Arukh (‘Laid Table’) of Yosef Karo, with the
glosses (Mappah, or ‘Tablecloth’) by Moses Isserles, from which these
passages are cited, became a standard guide for most Jewish communi-
ties almost immediately after their publication in the sixteenth century,
with Karo as the guide for Sephardi, and Isserles for Ashkenazi,