Rabbi Aḥa said: It is dependent upon a person to ensure that illnesses do not befall him. What is the source? It is as Rav Aḥa said: “The Lord will remove all illness [ḥoli] from you” (Deuteronomy 7:15); it is “from you” to ensure that illnesses do not befall you. Rabbi Avin said: This is the evil inclination, whose beginning is sweet23In Aramaic, the term ḥoli means sweet, and it is an allusion to the evil inclination. but whose end is bitter.
Rabbi Tanḥuma in the name of Rabbi Elazar, and Rabbi Menaḥama in the name of Rav said: “The Lord will remove all illness from you,” this is the [evil] eye, in accordance with the opinion of Rabbi Elazar, [who said]: Ninety-nine [die] due to the [evil] eye and one at the hand of Heaven.24Only one in a hundred people die due to natural causes. Some commentaries emend the text to match the opinion of Rabbi Elazar as cited in Bava Metzia (107b), where the “illness” is interpreted as referring to the medical problems stemming from the gall bladder, which was viewed as the source of a wide variety of illnesses (see, e.g., Etz Yosef).
Rav and Rabbi Ḥanina, Rav [interpreted] in accordance with his opinion, as he said: Ninety-nine [die] due to the [evil] eye and one at the hand of Heaven. Rabbi Ḥanina [interpreted] in accordance with his opinion, as Rabbi Ḥanina and Rabbi Natan both said: Ninety-nine [die] due to cold and one at the hand of Heaven. Rav, because he resided in Babylon where the evil eye is prevalent; Rabbi Ḥanina, because he resided in Tzippori, and it was cold there.
Antoninus said to our saintly Rabbi:25Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi. ‘Pray on my behalf.’ He said to him: ‘May you be spared from cold.’ He said to him: ‘Add one garment and the cold is gone.’ He said to him: ‘May you be spared from the heat.’
He said to him: ‘Say that prayer on my behalf,’ as it is written: “None escapes its heat” (Psalms 19:7). Rabbi Yishmael ben Rabbi Naḥman said in the name of Rabbi Natan: Ninety-nine [die] due to heat and one at the hand of Heaven. The Rabbis say: Ninety-nine die [due] to negligence and one at the hand of Heaven.