Prayer for people with physical ailments

[rabbiyitz]

Our sages tell us that until the time of our Patriarch Jacob, people passed away without prior illness. Jacob prayed for mercy that he have time to prepare his family and bless them properly before he died. Hashem granted this to the world and people from then on took ill first and then died. When a person sneezed all were afraid that death was imminent, as before Jacob people sneezed and died. When G-d created Adam it says, He "blew it" (the soul) into Adam's nostrils. Thus, when it comes time for the soul to be returned to its Maker, it departs through the same place that it entered. The custom to say "bless you" or as many say "gezuntheit" came into being to bless the ill to recover and not pass away, as sneezing is a sign of illness, so indeed it is proper.