ועבדתם את ה’ אלקיכם וברך את לחמך ואת מימך והסרתי מחלה מקרבך (משפטים כג:כה)

The Rebbe, Reb Hershel of Ziditchov zt״ל, was once unwell, and his doctors prescribed a certain medication. He refused to take it.

One of his close talmidim explained: Why does a person need to eat at all? Food contains holy ניצוצות—sparks of kedushah—and when a person eats with proper intent, he elevates and sanctifies those sparks. As the Baal Shem Tov explains the pasuk in Tehillim (107:5), “רעבים גם צמאים נפשם בהם תתעטף”—a person feels hunger because neshamas are hidden within food and require a tikkun, a spiritual rectification.

At times, however, a neshama does not merit to be enclothed in ordinary food that people eat. Instead, it becomes embedded in plants or substances that are not normally consumed. Hashem, in His kindness, arranged that medicines are produced from these growths, allowing those neshamas to receive their tikkun when Yidden take medication.

When the Mittler Rav zt״l later retold this story, he added: “We must daven that Hashem help the nitzotzos we are meant to rectify be found in ordinary food, and not in medicines.”

This idea is alluded to in the pasuk: “ועבדתם את ה’ אלקיכם”—when a Yid serves Hashem properly, he merits that the sparks he must elevate are found in simple food. “וברך את לחמך ואת מימך”—the blessing comes through what he eats and drinks, and as a result, “והסרתי מחלה מקרבך”—he remains healthy and has no need for medication.