The Mitzvah of Visiting the Sick
11. The Sages taught that it is better not to visit a sick person first thing in the morning, during the first three halachic hours. In the morning, a sick person often feels better (and looks better than he actually is). Someone visiting him at that time may think that there is no longer any need to pray for him as fervently as before. Nor should one visit a sick person during the last three halachic hours, when he is already tired and his condition has deteriorated considerably. Seeing a patient in a very serious condition, people may think that there is no longer any point in praying for him.
However, many people do not follow these rules. If you can visit a sick person only at a particular time, even when he is not looking his best, it is better to come than to forgo the mitzvah altogether.
12. When praying in the presence of a sick person, one may do so in any language. But when elsewhere, one should pray for him in lashon hakodesh (the holy language).
13. When praying for a sick person in his presence, there is no need to mention his name. When the sick person is not present, one should pray for him by name, mentioning that he is among all the sick of the Jewish people.
****
Once, people noticed the great rabbi, the Alter of Slabodka, standing and praying near the home of one of his students. They asked him why he was standing in that particular place, since one can pray anywhere. He replied: “We know that someone in his household has fallen ill. We meet him every day in the synagogue or the yeshiva, and there it is much harder for me to feel how difficult things are for him. That is why I came here.”
14. If someone in the family falls ill, one should go to one of the town's sages and tell him what has happened so that he will pray for the patient. There is also a tradition of blessing all the sick in the synagogue during the reading of the Torah scroll (even on Shabbat).
15. One does not visit patients with intestinal or eye problems, or with any other condition that makes them embarrassed to receive visitors. The same applies to an illness that makes it very difficult for the patient to speak with others.
But in such a case, one comes to check whether the patient has everything he needs and, standing near his room, prays for him.
****
When the Alter of Slabodka learned that a member of the community was having problems or feeling unwell, he could find no peace and constantly prayed for that person. In addition, he would specifically send people to find out how the person could be helped and what he lacked. But even this was not enough. When it came to doctors, he tried to determine exactly whom it would be best to consult and which medicines needed to be purchased. If one of the yeshiva students fell ill, talk of it filled his home, and the subject was constantly on his lips. Very often, the rabbi would end up giving his own money to cover the necessary expenses, even when almost no money remained to support the yeshiva.
When he saw that a student was trying to help a sick person in whatever way he could, he valued this greatly, tried to forget all the student's misdeeds, and defended him in every way in various disputes. Conversely, if a student was indifferent to his sick companions, he would speak sternly to him and remind him that someone who studies Torah should be more sensitive and find no peace when people around him are suffering.