From the WSJ Opinion Archives
HOUSES OF WORSHIP
Divine Intervention
Petitionary prayer returns to Jewish services.
A seemingly small change in religious practice can illuminate large social and cultural shifts. A case in point is the widespread adoption by synagogues across the Jewish religious spectrum of new customs to recite an ancient prayer, "May He Who blessed our ancestors, bless and heal the ill."
To be sure, prayers for healing are not unique to Judaism. In their recent book, "Prayer: A History," Philip and Carol Zaleski trace the multiple forms but single purpose such prayers have assumed in the wide range of religions: "the world's first shrines were houses of healing . . . and it is not outlandish to imagine that the world's last patients in the last hospitals on earth will spend their final hours praying ardently for respite or cure."
Judaism too has long included prayers for the healing of the self and for all who are ill. "Have mercy upon me, O Lord; for I am weak: O Lord, heal me; for my bones are vexed," declares the Psalmist. But how and when such prayers are recited is significant. Since the Middle Ages, a healing prayer beginning with the words mi sheberakh (meaning "May he who blessed") has been part of the Torah service. The association with the Torah reading is not accidental, as the Bible itself recalls the prayer of Moses, the lawgiver, on behalf of his sister Miriam, "Heal her now, O God, I beseech thee."
The blessing for healing was one of several offered by the person called to the Torah. These typically included a mi sheberakh for the welfare of family members, friends and synagogue officials; for the sick; and even for the dead. Often a monetary offering was promised in exchange. Liberalizing synagogues eliminated these because they wasted much time. But many congregations also saw them as an unacceptable burden on the flow of a public service in the cause of a private prayer. Reform synagogues had an additional reason for eliminating petitionary prayer--it added a personal element to a service that was supposed to accent the universal and communal.
Over the past two decades, the practice has changed dramatically. Now, at almost every synagogue in the country, the Sabbath and holiday services come to a halt, the rabbi dramatically announces to the congregation that every member is invited to participate and the prayer is uttered or sung in a very public fashion, allowing each congregant to insert the name of the intended recipient of the blessing.
Each of the religious movements of American Judaism makes different arrangements for the recitation of the mi sheberakh. Orthodox synagogues, which pride themselves on never changing, have instituted new practices to accommodate large numbers of men who line up to utter the name of the sick person to a responsible synagogue official for public announcement. In some congregations, the lines have grown so unwieldy that a second officiant assists and also takes names from women seated in a separate gallery. In virtually every Conservative synagogue, members stand at their seats and quietly insert the name of the sick person as the traditional formula is publicly intoned, usually by the rabbi. And in Reform synagogues, the entire congregation stands to sing the prayer in a melody and setting composed by Debbie Friedman, whose musical style and sensibility borrow heavily from the folk music tradition of the 1960s.
The newfound popularity of the prayer for the sick begs for explanation. Why has this once fairly obscure prayer assumed such importance and ubiquity? And why has it spread in popularity across the Jewish denominational spectrum?
Jews may be reacting to recent reports about the reputed efficacy of prayer in facilitating healing. Some studies have suggested a link between prayer--including the prayers of others--and prospects for recovery. A survey conducted last year, in fact, found high percentages of American physicians who believe in the power of prayer in the healing process. By uttering the prayer, they are "doing something" constructive. Or as the Zaleskis put it: "Healing prayer . . . is a work of repair, reknitting the social fabric that is frayed by illness or ruptured by death."
Another possible explanation for the resurgence of petitionary prayer is that far more people today are living with illness for long periods of time. Astonishing advances in medical treatment that have prolonged the years of people who live with illness may serve to explain why this prayer has gained a wide following.
Perhaps, most important, the prayer for healing captures the current spiritual mood of America's Jews. The prayer is both highly personal, for we bid God to remember a particular family member or friend, and also universal in that the entire congregation is similarly engaged.
In these various senses, the prayer may bring healing to the intended recipient of God's succor, to the petitioner and to the Jewish community.
Mr. Wertheimer is provost and professor of American Jewish History at the Jewish Theological Seminary.
