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Prayer for Healing

illness

Please call on Rabbi Shulman and/or Rabbi Libman at a time of illness, for a hospital or home visit, or personal support.

healing

If you or a loved one confront illness, you desire healing.
If you or a loved one know difficulty or stress, you desire healing.
If you feel alone or alienated, you desire healing.
God’s gift of healing in our lives is the incredible capacity of our spirits, and our bodies to renew,
to be resilient and strong, to live life and pursue goodness. Remember this so healing may begin.
 
The Zohar, Judaism’s mystical text from the 13th century concurs. “If a physician cannot give his patient medicine for his body, he should at least make sure that medicine is given for his soul.” Prayer is medicine for our souls.
 
There are three types of healing available to us when we are ill. First and foremost, we seek healing for cure. We want our bodies to return to their full and vibrant health. Next, and only when physical recovery is no longer possible, we seek healing for comfort. We want as much quality and ability to live and love as we can sustain. Finally, and sadly with love and compassion, we seek healing for peace. Death, gentle and tender, relieves our body of its suffering and heals a soul for eternity.
 
Here at Congregation Beth El, we maintain a communal list of members, loved ones, and friends who seek healing. We invite you to send us the name(s) of a loved one who is facing the challenge of illness, accident, surgery or other health or personal situations. We wish to support you and them by including their Hebrew or English name(s) in our prayers when we recite our communal Prayer for Healing. Please contact our Hesed Committee or Rabbinic Office with the name(s) and relevant information, including how we may contact you. In order to respect each individual's privacy, permission to recite a name is required from an immediate family member or the person himself or herself.
 
The Mishaberakh Prayer for Healing seeks both physical and spiritual healing within the community of others facing illness. Traditionally, the Mishaberakh Prayer for Healing is said in synagogue when the Torah is read. At that time, we pray God be a source of strength and healing to all those who face illness and the burden of difficult days. We offer our prayer for healing while reading Torah because the words of Torah represent the blessing of God’s presence in our lives. We pray God’s healing be present to our loved ones and friends through our compassion, support, and caring love. The Mishaberakh Prayer for Healing is also said by professional health caregivers, patients, and loved ones at various times during treatment and recovery from illnesses of all sorts.
 
Here is a version of the Prayer for Healing you may use on behalf of others.
 
Mi sh’be-rakh Avoteinu v’Imoteinu, y’varekh et (Hebrew or English name)
 
May God who blessed our ancestors Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel and Leah, bless ______________________________ at this time of treatment and health concern. May God be a source of strength and well-being to him/her, to his/her family, and to all who seek recovery and healing.
 
May ____________________ and all who love him/her know God’s healing presence at this time felt in compassion, support, and caring love. May they derive confidence and hope. May those who treat ____________________, and those who assist, or who will attend to his/her needs for wellbeing, bring insight, sensitivity, wisdom and skill. May God’s blessings of love and life touch ______________ with strong and speedy healing.
 
Eternal God, may Your presence be with us in moments of strength and weakness. May all of us and those we love know blessings of health and goodness.
 

To make a contribution in support of a loved one's healing, click here.  To learn more about Hesed support resources visit our Hesed page.

Thu, March 30 2023 8 Nisan 5783