Praying for the sick
Praying for the sick is deeply instinctive. Divine petition is closely tied to hoping for and requesting the recovery of the sick. And yet, when emails are forwarded with names of the ill, and occasionally a description of their affliction, and we are expected to add them into our prayers, I usually delete the email. Heartless? Perhaps.
In some places long lists of names are kept and recited for a ‘refua shelema’ along with the torah reading. But I have always thought this a strange, impersonal ritual. There are obviously (at least!) hundreds of thousands of people, Jewish and non-Jewish, who are amid suffering, illness, persecution; and need wellbeing, recovery, salvation. There is no way to list them all; some will be fortunate (questionably) to have devoted friends and family circulate their name around the internet so that the world will pray for them. Others will not. Listing some out publicly in a way denies all those excluded.
Then again, I have just learnt how it feels. When you hear someone’s personal anguish, you want to run around mad and tell the world to pray. To return to instinct and pray.
I have just spoken to the rabbi of the student community in Montreal, and I heard his anguish. His wife gave birth to their first daughter three weeks ago, but only in her sixth month of pregnancy, and so their baby bears the affliction of premature birth. As much as they may be comforted by the encouragement and hope and joy of the people around them, and even from a friend in Australia, the pain, the worry, the love for a child in her own struggle all emanates from his voice. It leaves you wanting to hear his happiness again, and his joy as a father; and wanting to shout for everyone to help make that possible.
The prayer for the sick that we make with the torah reading is not really a prayer, so much as a dedication of charity. It appeals to God to heal the sick people in mind, but only because on their account is the one praying donating to charity on their behalf. This might be a little silly as well, in that it could be seen to only emphasise charity in times of need. Still, it is very Jewish to emphasise action (whatever the motive) over thought; the charity itself is an important deed, and the hope remains that by trying to benefit society, the anguish of illness should be taken away.
I will be praying and giving and doing good with Tzipora Yehudit bat Dena Rivka in mind. But I don’t expect you to.