Mark: In many Reform synagogues, like mine, a prayer for healing has been reintroduced in recent years. Though always a part of traditional Jewish worship, it was abandoned by Reform Jews because it was felt to be a theological bridge too far for many to cross: It was one thing assemble as a congregation to engage in prayer; it was another thing, entirely, to ask God to actually intervene in our lives in a vivid, dramatic fashion, answering our prayers for healing with a miraculous cure or intervention, whether for us or for our loved ones.
But over these past few years, even as we have seen both the miracles of modern medicine, we have also witnessed the limitations on the reach of medical science, and so we have come to look for additional assistance of a Higher Power. In short, we who are rational human beings in most moments, become more religious human souls, searching, pleading for Divine answers or even Divine intervention.
In most Jewish worship services today, the Misheberach, the prayer for healings one of the most fervent prayers that is uttered is precisely the one that was abandoned years ago, the words banished from the Reform Jewish prayerbook. Now it has not only returned, but it is for many the most meaningful part of the entire service. Names of the infirm are often uttered aloud before the prayer begins, and then we ask God to intervene, to heal, and strengthen, console and comfort, or provide courage and consolation.
So, does God answer these prayers? Do those who offer these prayers expect an answer? How would we know for sure? And what if those prayers go unanswered? What then?
Here is what I believe: The God beyond us, the God of the heavens, so to say, intervenes and answers, or maybe that God does not. What I do believe is that it is certainly possible. Why respond to some prayers and not to others? That I do not know or understand. But that is okay. I do not need nor pretend to know the answers to that mystery. That is beyond my range of knowledge or comprehension. And that, for me, is okay.
What I also believe is this: The God within each of us, the Divine Image we all share, does respond with answers on a regular and consistent basis. That God inspires us with strength and courage, that God summons our abilities to offer comfort, compassion, and consolation. That God grants the intellectual and human gifts that allows physicians and nurses to cure, to remedy and to heal. That God answers our prayers often. Frank, how does this answer square with your thoughts and beliefs?
Frank: Mark, while you and I agree on many issues, I must respectively admit that on this one, we agree on one aspect of your answer about prayer but disagree on another.
You state that maybe God answers prayers and maybe God does not. Which one is it? You state that you do not understand why God responds to some prayers but not to others, but that this is okay and that it is beyond your knowledge or comprehension and that is also okay. I have trouble with that opinion, but I do agree with your statement that God does offer comfort and inspires us with strength and courage. I agree with you that God summons our abilities to offer, compassion, and consolation.
I believe that God is embedded in my DNA but does not answer prayers with direct intervention. Prayer does not cure cancer or heart disease or any other requested miracle. However, God does give the one who prays, the needed strength and courage to manage the difficult issues that life brings to us all. God speaks to us in a “Still Small Voice” to help bring peace to a troubled soul and calm to an anxious heart. That voice of God helps us understand what it is we need to do to help make us a better person and the world a better place.
So, Mark, we agree and disagree on this issue of prayer. That is what we Jews do.
Mark: Frank, as a physician, you certainly know about the human heart, that it can harden over time. When we read the Exodus story, Pharaoh suffered from the same affliction, though perhaps his was more figurative than literal. Just the same, we know that a hardened heart can have severely negative implications and effects on those who suffer from such a condition.
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Well, what if I said to you that I believe that, perhaps, one of the ways I have seen God answers prayers is through God’s intervention to soften our hearts, even when they have been hurt, or broken, and make them open up their same constricted heart muscles, once again. Not necessarily in a physical sense, but rather, in a spiritual one, allowing hope, promise and uplift to make their hearts soften and function at full function yet again.
Frank, think about the people you know and see if this concept resonates with you and holds true.
A friend is discouraged after a failed marriage or two and swears of never getting married again. But God directs him to a partner of his dreams and his heart is softened, and open, once again.
Or another friend, a widow, her heart broken and closed, finds her way, unexpectedly, to open her heart to love once again, her heart softened, her crushed spirit made whole once again.
Or a parent has a wayward child, his heart embittered and hardened, who cannot even fathom the choices his child has made. Yet something—or Someone— softens that parent’s heart with an extraordinary sense of compassion, opening it to find a way back to his child.
Or a child is born with a debilitating condition, making a parent or grandparent wonder about her ability to fully love and embrace that child. What eases that weight on her heart, what allows it both to soften and to strengthen in its ability to love that child in new ways, in ways beyond measure?
In this way, and others, I believe, it is possible that God may answer our prayers. Not all but some.
Frank: Mark, you make a wonderful argument for the prayer I believe in. In all your cases of a wounded heart that is healed by prayer, are cases where prayer allowed the person to turn inward and listen to that “Still Small Voice” that helped heal the broken or misguided spirit. It was the God within each of these individuals that helped that person move forward with their lives and love again as well as learn to love the wayward or disabled child. No external God heard a prayer and intervened. It was the God within that guided the path to love and acceptance. See, we agree!
Rabbi Mark Schiftan can be reached at mschiftan@aol.com
Dr. Frank Boehm can be reached at frank.boehm@vumc.org