חילא דעשבאThe Power of a Herb

ḥeila de-isbaIn Gamatria ↗

Every plant holds a power; God hid them so we'd trust Him.

Never treat any creature with contempt. In the Zohar on Yitro, R. Ḥiyya wanted to kill a snake and R. Elazar stopped him: a snake bites only when it is whispered from above, and the world needs every creature. Those who shoot animals for practice will be judged, and even herbs should not be wasted. R. Yosi and his son meet a silent man gathering herbs. He warns that one herb near them would have made them lepers, and cures them with wild garlic. At his home a two-headed man comes out of a millstone each day to torment him. He binds a snake, sets the herb on its head, sends it into the mill, and both fall dead. 'If people knew all that God planted in the earth...' God hid it, so they would trust Him, not herbs.

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