Why Nochum Was Afflicted

It is told that Nochum Ish Gamzu was blind in both eyes, missing both legs and both hands, and that his whole body was covered in boils. He lay in a dilapidated house, with the legs of his bed standing in buckets of water so that ants could not climb onto him.

Once his talmidim wanted to carry his bed out of the house and then remove the furniture. Nochum said to them, "My children, first remove the furniture, and then remove my bed. You may be assured that as long as I am in this house, it will not collapse." They listened to him and removed the furniture first, and then the bed. The moment Nochum Ish Gamzu was outside, the house collapsed.

His talmidim asked him, "Rebbe, since you are completely righteous, why did all this happen to you?" He replied, "My children, I brought it upon myself. I was once traveling on the road to the house of my father-in-law, and I had three donkeyloads of food: one of food, one of drink and one of delicacies. A poor man approached me and said, 'Rebbe, sustain me.'

"I said to him, 'Wait until I unload some food from the donkey.' Before I had a chance to unload it, the man's soul departed. I went and fell on my face and said, 'Let the eyes that took no pity on your eyes become blind. Let my hands that took no pity on your hands be cut off. Let my legs that took no pity on your legs be cut off.' And my mind did not find rest until I said, 'Let my entire body be covered with boils.'"

His talmidim said, "Woe to us that we see you like this." Nochum answered, "Woe to me had you not seen me like this."

The Gemara then asks why he was called Nochum Ish Gamzu, and answers that whatever happened to him, he would say, "Gam zu letova, this too is for the best."