Rabbi Lawrence A. Hoffman Parashat Ki Tissa, 2010 Nature and culture are the twin poles of human existence. Nature is how the world greets us in raw beauty, promise and power. Culture is how we partner with it, riding its sound waves with music, converting wood and stone into homes, and carving ski slopes out …
Continue reading “Synagogue Life Should Be Like Handwashing (not hand wringing!)”
Meir Sendor From Sh’ma: a journal of Jewish Responsibility October 3, 1997Reprinted with Permission Healing remains one of the genuine mysteries of our daily lives. Real healing from physical or emotional illness is a multidimensional process, and new medical fields such as psychoneuroendoimmunology indicate a growing modern awareness of the intricate interrelationship between mind and …
by Avis Dimond Miller From Moment, October 1997Reprinted With Permission It’s been said that 90 percent of life is just showing up. A news article in the Washington Post told about how a wealthy person in Japan, afraid of the embarrassment of a small turnout, can rent a cast of hundreds from an agency to …
Stephen A. Karol From CCAR Journal: A Reform Jewish Quarterly, Winter 1997 Reprinted with Permission “This 44 year old… patient of mine since 1983 is known to have hyper-cholesterolemia treated with Pravachol 20 mg. per day. He has a positive family history for hypertension. He has a stressful occupation but otherwise has no risk factors …
Nancy Flam From Sh’ma: a journal of Jewish Responsibility October 3, 1997 Reprinted with Permission Serious illness affronts the whole person: body, mind and spirit. Early on, Jewish liturgy acknowledged that the ill person seeks healing on different levels. In our central prayer for healing, the mi shebeirakh, we pray for a complete healing: refuah …
The Torah can be a source of healing for the spirit and psyche. Some rabbis “prescribe” sacred verses for use in mediation. For someone who is anxious about her self worth, a rabbi may recommend she sit quietly, breathe slowly, and for five minutes twice a day repeat this verse: “Yismach Moshe b’matnat chelko; Moses …
In addition to bikur cholim, Jewish tradition teaches that we should pray for ourselves and others during a time of illness. Many modern Jews are resistant to praying in general, and especially skeptical about praying for something specific, such as good health or a cure. One reason such prayer can be difficult is that we …
A fundamental feature of Jewish spiritual healing is bikur cholim (visiting the sick), which responds to two of the greatest burdens of contemporary life: isolation and lack of community. At a time of illness, bikur cholim offers us the comfort of human connection and interdependence, a sense of community we so desperately need. The mitzvah …
Jewish tradition has long recognized that there are two components of health: the body and the spirit. The Mi Sheberach prayer, traditionally recited for someone who is ill, asks God for refuah shleima, a complete healing, and then specifies two aspects: refuat hanefesh, healing of the soul/spirit/whole person, and refuat haguf, cure of the body. …
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Nancy Flam From Reform Judaism, Summer 1994 Reprinted with permission In times of illness, Judaism offers potent remedies to help strengthen the body and spirit. When Eve W. was diagnosed with lymphoma, she sought the finest medical treatment available. But she wanted more than high-tech medicine could offer. Like millions of Americans, she supplemented her …