Until Your Soul Goes Out
Refuah
Once, while on a journey, the Gra and one of his disciples stopped to rest at the home of an upstanding Jew. In the evening the host served supper and asked Rav Eliyahu to please eat something. The Gra had an upset stomach and felt ill, yet to please his host he tried to eat. After tasting the food he threw it all up. When the host returned and saw the plate still full, he urged him again. The Gra complied, and again he vomited. This happened a few times.
“Why do you force yourself to eat when you are clearly unable to keep anything down?” asked the disciple.
“Chazal say that we must do whatever the master of the house tells us, except to leave,” the Gaon explained. “The halachah is that wherever Chazal tell us to do something, even a rabbinic decree, the amount required is ‘until your soul goes out.’ He is our Master, and we must fulfill His will and bow before Him.” The Gaon was simply fulfilling the halachah as he understood it.