Recovering from surgery in the hospital, a beloved congregant recently said to me, “you know, that prayer that you have taught us is the ‘bathroom prayer,’* the one about the miraculous nature of our bodies … that really is true!” I smiled broadly at both the great appreciation of her body, and the somewhat novel realization of what prayer (even an ancient
one) has to teach us.
As members of a progressive Jewish congregation, Little Minyanites are not alone in our skepticism about the meaning and value of prayer. So many of us were raised with stilted language about the Divine Mystery … God, King of the Universe, Lord, Ruler, Father, Judge … whether in Hebrew or in English, language that generally didn’t jive with our intellect and modern sensibilities. The very notion of petitionary prayer, asking for God’s assistance in our 21st century world of advanced medicine, technology, science, is difficult to swallow – we who have so many tools at our disposal to control our own fate.
And yet … prayer works! Whether it is the comfort of familiar words that we have said for years and with parents and grandparents, or a new meaning or comfort we find in an ancient prayer because of our particular circumstances, prayer is healing. Intercessory prayer is an approach that has been part of the human reaction to illness since Moshe prayed to God on Miryam’s behalf, “Ana El Na Refah Na La (Please, God, please heal her),” which we just read in last week’s Torah portion. And for the skeptical among us, praying for the health of a person (as we do with our Mi Shebeirach prayer for healing) has been studied and shown to improve health.**
So, whether we are recovering from surgery or waking in the morning or eating a bite of food or viewing a beautiful sunset or watching a child take a first step, there is room for prayer in our lives and a deep value and comfort in it as well.
Artwork by Nechama Tamara Farber
* Asher Yatzar is a blessing that expresses the miraculous nature of our body, its openings and closings and the ability it gives us to move about each day.
** JAMA Internal Medicine , October 25, 1999, Vol. 159, No. 19
