For the source text click/tap here: Nedarim 39
To download, click/tap here: PDF
The Mishna (38b) discusses whether a person who has taken a vow not to derive benefit from another can sit or stand in the other person’s presence if the other person is ill and he is fulfilling the mitzva of bikur holim. This leads our Gemara to discuss various aspects of this mitzva.
The baraita teaches that there is no limit to bikur holim. Although Rav Yosef suggests that this means that there is no limit to the reward that a person gets for fulfilling the mitzva of visiting the sick, Abaye counters that this is true of all mitzvot.
We explore the mitzvah of bikur cholim and its halachic ramifications in the modern era.