Pray And Mean It #14 -- R'faeynu -- Heal Us
Cant...@aol.com
As we approach (or have arrived at) this season of forgiveness, I hope
that you'll forgive my quietness over the last couple of months. My
aspiration for this listserv was bi-weekly postings. But a wonderful
summer vacation trip (to China) followed by the run-up to the holidays
has challenged my apparently overly optimistic assessment of how
frequently I could keep up with this project.
I feel that we are arriving at some b'rachot in the Amidah whose
benefit is clear -- sections that should be easy to write about. Yet
it still takes time to organize the thoughts, the texts, the
translations, etc.
In any case, as I indicate below, I believe that this next paragraph
is a crucial one in our Amidah and am glad to get it out to the "Pray
and Mean It public" on the cusp of Selichot and Rosh Hashanah.
Best wishes for a happy and HEALTHY new year, full of great
inspiration and joy.
Cantor Jack Chomsky
Congregation Tifereth Israel
Columbus, Ohio
Pray and Mean It is an occasional listserv – every 2 to 3 weeks. Its
aim is to build an understanding of and connection to Jewish prayer
step by step. It is administered through googlegroups. (Your
inclusion in this group is confidential. I am the only person who has
access to the names and e-mail addresses on the list.) People who
wish to be added to the listserv may visit the googlegroups site or e-
mail me at Cant...@aol.com. All postings can be viewed with clear
legible Hebrew at my synagogue’s website, www.tiferethisrael.org You
are welcome to share this with others who might find it interesting or
valuable. Recipients will NOT be able to respond to the entire list,
but may correspond with me.
Thanks and best wishes – Cantor Jack Chomsky, Congregation Tifereth
Israel, Columbus Ohio
Pray and Mean It 14
This is the 14th installment in this series.
Returning to one of the central ideas of this project, we have sought
to examine individual prayers with an eye toward the notion that each
one would itself be sufficient as a daily conversation with the
Creator. Of course our goal is to build the practice of reciting more
and more of the service -- but we will rarely encounter a passage so
obviously worthwhile as the next b’rachah -- r’faeinu -- the prayer
for healing.
רְפָאֵֽנוּ ה' וְנֵרָפֵא,
R’faeinu Adonai
v’neirafei
הוֹשִׁיעֵֽנוּ וְנִוָּשֵֽׁעָה,
Hoshieinu
v’nivasheiah
כִּי תְהִלָּתֵֽנוּ אָֽתָּה,
Ki t’hilateinu
Atah
וְהַעֲלֵה רְפוּאָה שְׁלֵמָה לְכָל מַכּוֹתֵֽינוּ.
V’ha-aleih r’fuah sh’leimah l’chol makoteinu.
כִּי אֵ-ל מֶֽלֶךְ רוֹפֵא נֶאֱמָן וְרַחֲמָן אָתָּה.
Ki el melech rofei ne-eman v’rachaman atah.
בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה'
Baruch Atah
Adonai
רוֹפֵא חוֹלֵי עַמוֹ יִשְׂרָאֵל.Rofei cholei amo
yisrael.
Heal us, Adonai, and we shall be healed;
save us and we shall be saved; for You are our glory.
Raise up perfect healing from all our hurts;
because You, King, are a faithful and merciful Healer.
Praised are You, Adonai,
Healer of the sick among the people Israel.
One of my great concerns in looking out at the people who come to
services on an occasional Shabbat is that they might come with a
particular need, a particular concern or worry, and open the prayer
book only to find the matter seemingly unaddressed, because Shabbat
prayer (mostly) excludes the petitionary, and heaps praise after
praise after praise upon God.
Naturally, health is at or near the top of the list of concerns that
people bring with them -- concern for one’s own health and concern for
others in our lives for whom we care deeply. A firm connection to
this life-threatening issue is to be found in this b’rachah that
appears in the Amidah each day -- except Shabbat.
This prayer serves us in at least two ways. One is that it provides a
language and ritual for us to ask for healing for ourselves. When
someone asks you “how are you?” and you reply “fine” when that’s not
the case, you know how you are cheating yourself out of deeper human
contact. So being able to say “heal us” when we ourselves are hurting
is a step in the right direction.
The act of healing is one of the most remarkable things that God has
given to us. Ultimately, a time comes in all our lives when we will
not be able to heal -- where we will ultimately reach the end of our
days. Yet if we are cognizant of the many times that we have healed
or been healed successfully over the course of our lives, the prayer
will still have meaning.
I find myself always thinking of a toaster in this context: once my
toaster breaks, it will never get better -- although someone might
come along and repair it (-- less and less likely in this day and
age!). Yet if we cut or bruise ourselves, our body has the capacity
to heal itself. If we get a headache or cold, it will eventually go
away. Even when our heart breaks, it can be re-formed. Isn’t this
sort of God-given capacity worth reciting a b’rachah?!
Even more powerful than contemplating our own healing, though, is the
opportunity to pray for the healing of others. I find the regular
recitation of this prayer an opportunity to specifically remember
loved ones who need healing. I can even say their names -- in Hebrew
or in English -- using the formula shown below, adding this passage
after the words l’chol makoteinu above.
וִיהִי רָצוֹן מִלְּפָנֶֽיךָ
יְיָ אֱלֹהֵֽינוּ וֵאלֹהֵי אֲבוֹתֵֽינוּ
שֶׁתִּשְׁלַח מְהֵרָה רְפוּאָה שְׁלֵמָה מִן הַשָּׁמַֽיִם
רְפוּאַת הַנֶּֽפֶשׁ וּרְפוּאַת הַגּוּף ל____
בְּתוֹךְ שְׁאָר חוֹלֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל.
May it be thy will, O Lord our God, and God of our fathers, speedily
to send a perfect healing from heaven, a healing of soul and body unto
the sick...among the other sick of Israel.]
It is customary to use the Hebrew name of the “patient” and his or her
mother -- with the idea that God is somehow more merciful when we
invoke the name of the mother. I advocate using the father as well
where possible.
These prayers can really work -- and not necessarily in mysterious
ways. For me, the paragraph where I insert the names of people I’m
praying for helps to remind me that I ought to visit them or call them
and find out how they’re doing. (I only wish I did a much better job
of doing this.) Visiting the sick, being supportive of them,
listening to them -- these are simple tasks with miraculous power.
Some say that there’s scientific evidence that people who are being
prayed for do better than people who aren’t being prayed for -- even
if they are unaware. Others say that there isn’t evidence like this.
I say -- I don’t really care which way the science breaks on the
question -- praying for people is a beautiful and meaningful idea.
A note on the origin of the phrase רפאנו ה' ונרפא etc. This is a
somewhat modified quote of Jeremiah 17:14 -- רפאני ה' וארפא הושיעני
ואושעה כי תהלתי אתה -- “Heal me Adonai and I will be healed, Save me
and I will be saved, for You are my glory.” Jeremiah speaks to a
people in the singular. Our prayers speak to us individually in
plural. Were we to intone this prayer in the singular only, it would
or could be a selfish statement. Yet by praying it in the plural, we
are better prepared to call on God for healing for ourselves as
individuals, for those for whom we specifically pray, and for all
those who are ailing.
This suggests a remarkable dynamic -- that by praying for others, we
are somehow in a better position to pray for ourselves.
If you wish to respond, you may e-mail me at Cant...@aol.com.