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Well-being, health, and caregiving

This is an archive of prayers composed for, or relevant to, the health and well-being of others by or for caregivers.

If you have composed a prayer for overcoming illness, for well-being, or for the success of caregivers, healers, and physicians, please share it here.

Sorted Chronologically (old to new). Sort most recent first?

תהלים כ״ג | Psalms 23, translation by Shim’on Menachem, melody by Shir Meira Feit

Listen to a recording of Psalm 23 chanted to an Indian-inspired melody.

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מזמור Mizmor, תהלים Psalms, Psalms 23

Contributor(s):

Shim'on Menachem, David ben Yishai (traditional attribution) and Shir Meira Feit

אֲשֶׁר יָצַר | Asher Yatsar, interpretive translation by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi

This English translation of the prayer “Asher Yatsar” by Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi z”l, was first published in his Siddur Tehillat Hashem Yidaber Pi (2009). Versification by Aharon Varady according to the nusaḥ ha-ARI z”l.

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Asher Yatsar, Well-being, health, and caregiving

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אדם קדמון Adam Ḳadmon, Amoraic prayers, אשר יצר Asher Yatsar, Asiyah, Bathroom etiquette, Bathroom Prayer, Body as Cosmos, Body as Earth, Body as Society, Body as Temple, devotional interpretation, English Translation, excretion, four worlds, internal plumbing, interpretive translation, Late Antiquity, plumbing as metaphor, Prayers in the Babylonian Talmud, Prayers of Pumbedita

Contributor(s):

Zalman Schachter-Shalomi (translation), Abayyé ben Kaylil and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

Ritual for Judging Bad Dreams for Good

If one has had a terribly disturbing and potentially auspicious dream, this ritual recorded in the Talmud Bavli (Berakhot 55b) provides a remedy in the form of a means by which the dream itself is judged positively by a small court of one’s peers.

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Well-being, health, and caregiving, Dreaming, Repenting, Resetting, and Reconciliation

Tags:

anxiety, dreams, judgement, sleep

Contributor(s):

Aharon N. Varady, Aharon N. Varady (transcription) and Unknown

אסו ית ארסינואי | Two healing prayers for Arsinoë’s recovery (Amulets 80.AM.55.1 & 80.AM.55.2, J. Paul Getty Museum)

Healing prayers written on a pair of amulets for the recovery of a woman named Arsinoë

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Incantations, Adjurations, & Amulets, Well-being, health, and caregiving

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3rd century C.E., 41st century A.M., angelology, Angels, Angels of Healing, Aramaic, entering magical territory, קמעות ḳame'ot, Late Antiquity

Contributor(s):

Roy Kotansky (translation), Unknown and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

שנוי השם | Shinui ha-Shem, the healing ritual via name-change as reconstructed from “Sefer Toldot Adam v-Ḥava” by Rabbeinu Yeruḥam

A ritual for changing a name of a sick person. This text is recorded in abridged form in Rabbeinu Yeruḥam’s 14th-century work “Sefer Toldot Adam v-Ḥava,” but is almost certainly substantially older than that considering he credits it to the Geonim. Rabbeinu Yeruḥam doesn’t include the text in its entirety, assuming familiarity with the “מְצָלְאִין אֲנַֽחְנָא” opening to prayers. This text is not, to my knowledge, commonly used in any modern rites, but I found a 15th-century Italian siddur here with a prayer that begins with the same formula in full.

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Well-being, health, and caregiving

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geonic period, Geonic prayers, Healing, naming ceremonies

Contributor(s):

Yeruḥam ben Meshullam, Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (transcription & naqdanut) and Isaac Gantwerk Mayer (translation)

אֱלִי, רְפָאֵנִי וְאֵרָפֵא | Eli Refa’eni v’Erafé, the personal physician’s prayer of Rabbi Dr. Yehudah haLevi (ca. early 12th c.)

The physician’s prayer of Rabbi Dr. Yehudah ben Shmuel haLevi in the 12th century CE.

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Well-being, health, and caregiving

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12th century C.E., 49th century A.M., prayers of health care workers, Prayers of Primary Caregivers, professional intention

Contributor(s):

Nina Davis Salaman (translation), the Ben Yehuda Project (transcription), Yehudah ben Shmuel haLevi and Aharon N. Varady (translation)

Prayer upon the completion of a tome of medical knowledge, by Dr. Abraham Zacuto Ⅳ (1642)

This prayer concludes the second volume of the late Renaissance medical tome Opera Omnia by Abraham Zacutus Lusitanus (Abraham Zacuto Ⅳ), published posthumously in 1644. While his Peroratio (Conclusion) is addressed to the critical reader, I think it is crucial to read it in the context of his life as a “New Christian,” i.e., a Portuguese-Jewish physician and converso, ever vulnerable to the attention of the Inquisition or from others who might profit or take petty pleasure in his downfall.

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Well-being, health, and caregiving

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17th century C.E., 55th century A.M., conversos, Latin vernacular, Portuguese Jewry, prayers of health care workers, Prayers of Primary Caregivers, prophylactic, the Inquisition, wards against slander

Contributor(s):

Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Aharon N. Varady (translation) and Abraham Zacuto Ⅳ

תְּפִלָּה הָרוֹפְאִים | The Physicians’ Prayer of Yaaqov ben Yitsḥaq Tsahalon (1665)

In Margaliyot Tovot (“Precious Pearls,” 1665), Yaaqov ben Yitsḥaq Tsahalon abridged Baḥya ibn Paquda’s Ḥovot ha-Levavot (“Duties of the Heart,” ca. 1080) and interspersed it with prayers including this prayer for healers (Tefilat ha-Rof’im) which he recommended should be recited by physicians at least once every week.

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Well-being, health, and caregiving

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17th century C.E., 55th century A.M., Needing Vocalization, prayers of health care workers, Prayers of Primary Caregivers, professional intention

Contributor(s):

Aharon N. Varady (transcription), Harry Friedenwald (English translation) and Yaaqov ben Yitsḥaq Tsahalon

תפלה לרופא | A Physician’s Prayer, by Markus Herz (1783)

A prayer of a physician from Markus Herz in German with its Hebrew and English translations.

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Well-being, health, and caregiving

Tags:

18th century C.E., 56th century A.M., the Enlightenment, German Jewry, German vernacular prayer, Hebrew translation, Magyar translation, prayers of health care workers, Prayers of Primary Caregivers, professional intention

Contributor(s):

Chana Deutsch (Magyar translation), Harry Friedenwald (English translation), Isaac Abraham Eüchel (Hebrew translation), Markus Herz and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

תחנה שערי דמעות | Tkhine of the Gate of Tears

The “Tkhine of the Gate of Tears” by an unknown author presented here derives from the Vilna, 1848 edition. I have transcribed it without any changes from The Merit of Our Mothers בזכות אמהות A Bilingual Anthology of Jewish Women’s Prayers, compiled by Rabbi Tracy Guren Klirs, Cincinnati: Hebrew Union College Press, 1992. shgiyot mi yavin, ministarot nakeni. If you can scan an image of the page from the edition this was copied from, please share it with us.

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Well-being, health, and caregiving, Repenting, Resetting, and Reconciliation

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19th century C.E., 56th century A.M., Jewish Women's Prayers, תחינות tkhines, Yiddish vernacular prayer

Contributor(s):

Refoyl Finkl (translation), Unknown and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

Gebet für einen Kranken [auf den Begräbnißplatz] | Prayer [at a gravesite] for a sick person, a teḥinah by Yehoshua Heshil Miro (1835)

“Gebet für einen Kranken” was translated/adapted by Yehoshua Heshil Miro and published in his anthology of teḥinot, בית יעקב (Beit Yaaqov) Allgemeines Gebetbuch für gebildete Frauen mosaischer Religion. It first appears in the 1835 edition as teḥinah №128 on pp. 241-244.

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Well-being, health, and caregiving

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19th century C.E., 56th century A.M., cemetery prayers, German Jewry, German vernacular prayer, Jewish Women's Prayers, prayers for the ill, תחינות teḥinot

Contributor(s):

Andreas Rusterholz (transcription), Yehoshua Heshil Miro and Aharon N. Varady (translation)

Prayer in Times of Bodily Suffering, by Grace Aguilar (ca. 1830s)

“Prayer in times of bodily suffering” by Grace Aguilar was published posthumously by her mother Sarah Aguilar in Essays and Miscellanies (1853), in the section “Sacred Communings,” pp. 204-207.

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Well-being, health, and caregiving

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19th century C.E., 56th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, self-reflection, תחינות teḥinot, teḥinot in English

Contributor(s):

Grace Aguilar and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

Prayer for Guidance in Times of Indecision, by Grace Aguilar (ca. 1830s)

“Prayer for guidance in times of indecision” by Grace Aguilar was published posthumously by her mother Sarah Aguilar in Sabbath Thoughts and Sacred Communings (1853), pp. 126-128.

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Well-being, health, and caregiving

Tags:

19th century C.E., 56th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, תחינות teḥinot, teḥinot in English

Contributor(s):

Grace Aguilar and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

Prayer Before Mingling with the World, by Grace Aguilar (ca. 1830s)

“Prayer before mingling with the world” by Grace Aguilar was published posthumously by her mother Sarah Aguilar in Sabbath Thoughts and Sacred Communings (1853), pp. 73-74.

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Mixed Dancing, Well-being, health, and caregiving

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19th century C.E., 56th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, עין הרע predatory gaze (ill will/evil eye), social anxiety, תחינות teḥinot, teḥinot in English

Contributor(s):

Grace Aguilar and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

Morning prayer [in Illness] (Almighty and merciful Father), by Grace Aguilar (ca. 1830s)

“Morning prayer (Almighty and merciful Father)” [in Illness] by Grace Aguilar was published posthumously by her mother Sarah Aguilar in the UK edition of Sacred Communings, pp. 117-119. It is not found in the US edition.

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Well-being, health, and caregiving

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19th century C.E., 56th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, תחינות teḥinot, teḥinot in English

Contributor(s):

Grace Aguilar and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

Morning Hymn [in Illness] (Father of all), by Grace Aguilar (ca. 1830s)

“Morning hymn (Father all)” [in Illness] by Grace Aguilar was published posthumously by her mother Sarah Aguilar in the UK edition of Sacred Communings, pp. 116-117. It is not found in the US edition.

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Yotser Or, Well-being, health, and caregiving

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19th century C.E., 56th century A.M., blessings prior to the shema, English vernacular prayer, hymns of creation, paraliturgical teḥinot, paraliturgical yotser ohr, תחינות teḥinot, teḥinot in English

Contributor(s):

Grace Aguilar and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

Evening prayer [in illness], by Grace Aguilar (1837)

“Evening Prayer” by Grace Aguilar was posthumously published by her mother Sarah Aguilar in Sabbath Thoughts and Sacred Communings (1853) and included in the section “Prayers in Illness,” pp. 119-121. The prayer appears between one dated 31 December 1836 and another dated 14 January 1837, along with several other undated prayers.

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Well-being, health, and caregiving

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19th century C.E., 56th century A.M., English vernacular prayer, mortality, תחינות teḥinot, teḥinot in English

Contributor(s):

Grace Aguilar and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

Prayer for Strength Under Bodily Affliction, by Grace Aguilar (1837)

“Prayer for strength under bodily affliction” by Grace Aguilar was published posthumously by her mother Sarah Aguilar in Sabbath Thoughts and Sacred Communings (1853), and included in the section “Prayers in Illness,” pp. 121-123. The prayer appears between one dated 31 December 1836 and another dated 14 January 1837, along with several other undated prayers.

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Well-being, health, and caregiving

Tags:

19th century C.E., 56th century A.M., disabled bodies, English vernacular prayer, תחינות teḥinot, teḥinot in English

Contributor(s):

Grace Aguilar and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

Return, Oh Lord! and Let Me Be (Job 29), a hymn on “Charity” by Penina Moïse (Ḳ.Ḳ. Beth Elohim 1842)

“Return, oh Lord! and let me be (Job chap. XXIX),” by Penina Moïse, published in 1842, appears under the subject “Charity” as Hymn 38 in Hymns Written for the Service of the Hebrew Congregation Beth Elohim, South Carolina (Penina Moïse et al., Ḳ.Ḳ. Beth Elohim, 1842), pp. 41-42.

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Well-being, health, and caregiving

Tags:

19th century C.E., 57th century A.M., ABAB rhyming scheme, English vernacular prayer, hymns, integrity, South Carolina

Contributor(s):

Ḳahal Ḳadosh Beth Elohim (Charleston, South Carolina), Penina Moïse and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

When I Remember, My God! (Exodus 20:13), a hymn on “Filial Love” by Penina Moïse (Ḳ.Ḳ. Beth Elohim 1842)

“When I remember, my God! (Exodus chap. XX v. 13),” by Penina Moïse, published in 1842, appears under the subject “Filial Love” as Hymn 40 in Hymns Written for the Service of the Hebrew Congregation Beth Elohim, South Carolina (Penina Moïse et al., Ḳ.Ḳ. Beth Elohim, 1842), pp. 43-44.

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Well-being, health, and caregiving

Tags:

19th century C.E., 57th century A.M., ABAB rhyming scheme, English vernacular prayer, exhortation, hymns, prayers on behalf of parents, South Carolina, wisdom

Contributor(s):

Ḳahal Ḳadosh Beth Elohim (Charleston, South Carolina), Penina Moïse and Aharon N. Varady (transcription)

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ויהי נעם אדני אלהינו עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננה עלינו ומעשה ידינו כוננהו׃ (תהלים צ:יז) · "May the pleasantness of אדֹני our elo’ah be upon us; may our handiwork be established for us — our handiwork, may it be established." (Psalms 90:17)

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