Life

‘Keep them in health, that they may bring healing’: A prayer for the healers

A doctor wears a face mask as a preventive measure in the face of the global COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, at the Ana Francisca Perez de Leon hospital, in Caracas, on March 14, 2020. Image by Getty Images

By Rabbi Ayelet S. Cohen April 5, 2020

May the One who blessed our ancestors
Bless all those who put themselves at risk to care for the sick
Physicians and nurses and orderlies
Technicians and home health aides
EMTs and pharmacists
Hospital social workers and respiratory therapists
(Please include other frontline healthcare workers. And bless especially _______)

Who navigate the unfolding dangers of the world each day,
To tend to those they have sworn to help.
Bless them in their coming home and bless them in their going out.
Ease their fear. Sustain them.
Source of all breath, healer of all beings,
Protect them and restore their hope.
Strengthen them, that they may bring strength;
Keep them in health, that they may bring healing.
Help them know again a time when they can breathe without fear.
Bless the sacred work of their hands.
May this plague pass from among us, speedily and in our days.

מי שברך לאבותינו ולאמותינו, הוא יברך את כל צוותי הרפואה המסכנים את עצמם על מנת לרפא ולטפל בחולים- הרופאות והרופאים, האחים והאחיות, הטכנאיות, אנשי המשק, המטפלות, הפארמדיקים והרוקחות. (ברך במיוחד את ____). המנווטים בסכנה המתרגשת . .על עולמנו בכל יום, על מנת לרפא את יצורי כפיך

.ברך אותם בבואם, וברך אותן בצאתן. הקל על הפחד שלהם. חזקם ואמצם

רופא כל בשר, הענק להם אומץ רוח ומרץ רב לעשות עבודתם נאמנה. אדון כל הנשמות, הגן עליהם והענק להן תקווה. חזק אותם כדי שיוכלו לחזק אחרים. הגן על בריאותן כדי שיוכלו לסייע בהחלמה. סייע להם להגיע לזמן שבו יוכלו לנשום עמוק בלי פחד. ברך את מלאכת ידיהן הקדושה. מגר את המגיפה מעולמנו, במהרה בימינו

רפאנו ה’ ונרפא, הושיענו ונושעה.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO