• New York Jewish Healing Center
• National Center for Jewish Healing
• Rabbi Isaac N. Trainin Bikur Cholim Coordinating Council
• The Shira Ruskay Center: Providing Comfort and Support for the Seriously Ill
• JACS (Jewish Alcoholics, Chemically Dependent Persons and Significant Others)
• Community Care and Support Programs
• Support Programs for Single-Parents and the Recently Divorced
• UJA-Federation of NY’s Connect to Care

• About Jewish Connections
• Publications and Articles
• Spirituality Notes
• Resources for Jewish Organizations and Congregations
• Events Calendar
• Home

December 2008

By Rabbi Simkha Y. Weintraub, LCSW

Blessing and Extending the Light

The below is an excerpt from the National Center for Jewish Healing’s publication The Outstretched Arm, A Counting of Hallel for Hanukkah.

Hanukkah comes at the darkest moments of the year — close to the winter solstice with its shortest day and longest night; at the point in the month when the moon is obscured. Our response is to light candles in an effort to draw light into the world and to appreciate even the humblest, tiniest flickers of as a blessing. For those who are struggling with illness or other serious life challenges, sitting with this darkness and meditating upon the light can provide comfort, inspiration and perspective.

Even if we ourselves and those near and dear to us are fortunate not to be suffering, Jewish tradition urges us to be mindful of all of those who are ill by praying with and for them. Our daily prayers include hope for physical cure and spiritual healing for our loved ones, as well as for those we do not know. Jewish healing is thus an ongoing communal enterprise, potent in its concern for anyone dealing with illness, rich in its influence on the pray-er, and valuable in its ability to encourage "horizontal", interpersonal support even divine, "vertical" intervention seem alien or remote.

Our thoughts and prayers, of course, may be all the more effective when they are tied to the particular needs and hopes of those who are suffering. But how can this be practical, when the kinds of afflictions are numerous; the personalities, challenges and resources of those who are ill so diverse; and the courses and prognoses of disease so shifting and unpredictable?

One way is to seek to step into the experience of people who are ill, to empathetically explore the physical, emotional, psychological, and spiritual passages they travel…

We suggest that each night of Hanukkah, just before lighting the candles, we all pray for those who are ill, focusing on a particular juncture in the journey. Trying to imagine what the experience might be like, recite or chant the verse from Psalms (or, if you are able/inclined, utilize the entire Psalm). And then offer your own prayer for those living with illness and in need of spiritual strength.

The great "Hanukkah gift" is light. May our prayers, tz’dakah, and deeds of loving-kindness spark hope and strength, and illumine the lives with renewed meaning and direction.

These "Spirituality Notes" are excerpts from our monthly E-newsletter. Articles are © JBFCS Rita J. Kaplan Jewish Connections Programs and may be reprinted free of charge as long as this credit line is included.

©2011 Jewish Board of Family and Children's Services
135 West 50th Street, 6th Floor · New York, NY 10020
Phone: (212) 632-4500 · Fax: (212) 399-2475 ·