Jewish Healing

What does it mean to be healed? A person can have serious difficulties that manifest in many ways. Kabbalah, Jewish mysticism, teaches that there are four interconnected worlds; problems may appear in any of them. The four worlds are: the world of Action, physical existence, the body, work, this existence's; the world of Formation, emotional realities, the place of angels and psychiatry; the world of Creation, the intellectual realm; and the world of Drawing Near to God, the spiritual plane.

Jews believe that they can be guided to invoke angelic presence, sing prayers, meditate, consider our bodies as vessels for Divine light, recite Psalms or Biblical texts, or sometimes just to sit and listen. These practices are derived from Jewish traditions. If you know where to look, Jewish sources provide many suggestions for healing practices.
Some of our sources include:

1. Psalms: Psalms are a powerful source of healing. Many of the psalms speak of Divine power as the source of rescue, capable of pulling us from the pit. We often read the 23rd psalm, and meditate on its meaning. We also follow the Chassidic custom of studying the psalm of your year. This means that if you are 42 years old, you would read the 43rd psalm every day, since that is the year of life you are experiencing. Frequently, a single word or phrase appears in psalm that is healing in some hidden fashion. And if a good translation is available, the beauty of the language used in psalms is very soothing.

2. Talmud: Various Talmudic texts present the mysteries of healing and need for assistance from someone else, even if the person afflicted is himself (herself) a healer. Use of the hands in healing is presented in the Talmud. We hope to serve as focusing lenses for Divine energy, to bring spiritual healing; as the Talmud states, the client himself (herself) plays an active role in the healing process.

3. The siddur, the prayer book. Great comfort and peace can be obtained from traditional sources, even for people who may feel themselves to be quite distant from their religious origins. Finding the appropriate texts or translating into English can be challenging but well worth the trouble. Prayers are recited daily asking Divine intervention for healing; recited at the reading of weekly Torah selections, requesting healing for someone not able to be present at services; recited every time one recognizes the miracle of the body's holes and tubes that open and close properly, so that one can have a bowel movement. In addition to these daily prayers, the prayer recited before sleep includes a recognition of Divine messengers, angels, surrounding us. For healing purposes, we are especially aware of Rafael behind us. Rafael is the angel who represents God's healing energy.

4. Musical settings, in Hebrew and English, or many prayers are available on cassette and C.D. Many Jews have stated that they respond to the music of Reb David Zeller, Reb Shlomo Carlebach (of blessed memory), Debbie Friedman, Hannah Tiferet Siegel, Shefa Gold.

Jews are taught that each visitor to a sick person can ease 1/60th of the pain or disease. Many Jews visibly demonstrate the positive effects of community support. Often, they learn how to accept help, after years of being givers, nurturers. They learn from all of life's experiences, from each person they meet. They continue to learn until the time (for some) of their death. Or until and beyond the time that they heal.