Parsha Mitzvot: Vayechi: Visiting the Sick

The verse in Deuteronomy (Chapter 2) describes Moses’ demand that we follow “the path that we must walk.” The Vilna Gaon (Aderet Eliyahu, Devarim) explains that we may walk to fulfill any other Mitzvah, however we walk to the Mitzvah. Visiting the ill is the exception as the actual “walking” is part of the Mitzvah. The minute we set out to visit someone who is ill we are beginning to fulfill this great Mitzvah.