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June 2011/Sivan 5771
A JOURNAL OF JEWISH RESPONSIBILITY
Health, Healing, Hope
Julie Pelc Adler
Prayer and the Courage
to Heal. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Deborah Kram
When We Pray, We Are
Talkingto God ........ 2
David Ellenson
The Confession of
One’s Soul. . . . . . . . . . . 3
William Cutter
A Prayer for Healing:
The Misheberach . . . . . . 4
Evan Kent
Musical Midrash. . . . . . . 6
Shefa Gold
Chanting: A Mishkan
for Healing. . . . . . . . . . . 7
Discussion Guide . . . . . . 7
Elie Kaplan Spitz
Rethinking Music Making:
A Teshuvah for the
Conservative Movement . 8
Rachel Brodie
& Abby Caplin
Healing Is Always
Possible. . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Michael Agus
Managing Hope. . . . . . . 10
Sharon Salzberg
Suffering Is Part of Life:
Getting Closer to the
Balm of Acceptance . . . 12
Kate Alkarni
Unintended
Consequences. . . . . . . . 13
Maayan Ravid
& Stav Bar-Shany
Giving up on Peace
Is Not an Option. . . . . . 14
Michele Prince, Mollie
Cantor, Bruce Feldstein,
Michelle Friedman,
Sara Paasche-Orlow
Training for Caring
Communities:
A Roundtable . . . . . . . . 15
Lori Klein, Rachel
Gurevitz, Marjorie Sokoll,
Stuart I. Forman
NiSh’ma ........... 18
Jason Weiner
Book Review: Facing
Illness Finding God . . . . 19
Douglas Hauer
Sh’maEthics . . . . . . . . 21
e dedicate this issue of Sh’ma to the life and work of Debbie Friedman, z”l, whose
music has inspired hopefulness in the face of despair and perseverance in the face of
challenges that embattle the spirit. Much of what appears in these pages touches on
Debbie’s gift for creating music and deep connection. We explore the power of prayer — in
particular, the Misheberach, the prayer for healing. We also look at ritual and its capacity to effect
healing, at strategies for maintaining a realistic sense of hope in facing illness or any number of
challenging situations, and at the relationship between hope and suffering. We trust that this
issue will inspire reflection of a deep sort and offer an opportunity to consider how we assess the
measure of a life. Sh’ma greatly appreciates the generous contributions of the Opaline Foundation
and the Kalsman Institute on Judaism and Health at the Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of
Religion in Los Angeles, sponsors of this issue on health, healing, and hope. — S.B.
W
Prayer and the Courage to Heal
JULIE PELC ADLER
This morning I received a text message from y Aunt Linda saying, “I am doing well… love being home after three weeks
in the hospital and rehab.” I almost replied, as
if on rabbinic autopilot, “I’ve been praying for
your recovery,” but instead wrote, “I’ve been
thinking of you a lot! You’re so strong!” Some
might argue that my aunt was able to recover
from the infection in her hip replacement, to heal
from the surgeries to remove the new hip and
clean the prosthesis, and to begin rehabilitation
again because God heard the prayers of the
many individuals and communities pray-
ing for her health and healing. But then,
what about those who don’t have the
strength or courage to persist — those
whose infections, diseases, or disabilities pressed
them past the point of healing? Does God deem
them less worthy of renewed health? Do their
families and friends pray less zealously? Aunt Lin-
da replied, “Well, you have been my inspiration.”
Almost nine years ago (when I was 26), I
was forced to completely relearn how to func-
tion after a brain aneurysm ruptured in my cere-
bellum. In addition to the open-cranial brain
surgery and five weeks in the hospital and
rehab, there were countless outpatient therapies
and doctors working tirelessly to nudge me in
the direction of healing. There were also rabbis,
ministers, chaplains, friends, and family pray-
ing for my recovery: My rabbinic school class-
mates held healing services around my hospital
bed; friends placed notes in the Wailing Wall for
me; and the silent prayers of my worried family
circled me like a protective salve. I am an or-
dained rabbi. I recovered and survived.
In essence, prayers for healing can be
transformative. But they’re not magic; I do
not believe that prayers alone can heal.
not. I do not want to be a miracle; I cannot believe in a God who would deliberately select individuals based on unknown criteria and “allow”
them to survive calamities any more than I can
believe in a God who would deliberately select
individuals to suffer. And I do not believe that I
survived merely because God was persuaded by
the prayers of my friends and family. I don’t
know that prayer “works” in that sense.
There are three ways that prayer can be effective. The one we usually mean when we say
that prayer “works” is what might be called a
prayer of intervention: If I can only pray the
correct prayer, in the correct way, doing everything just so, God will do as I ask and grant my
request. I do not accept that kind of prayer.
