seeing that the pain is serving no worthwhile purpose, seeks to relieve the suffering. The miraculous ability of a rabbi to heal by the touch of his hand speaks of the talmudic assumption that Torah, and those who embody it, have the power of life and healing. Our section ends with a logical question: If Rabbi Yoḥanan had the power to heal his student Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Abba, why couldn’t he heal himself? The answer is that just as a prisoner cannot free himself from jail, so too, a sick person cannot