Weekly Jewish Wisdom: Praying for Atheists?

by Dr. Erica Brown

"May it be Your will, Lord, our God and the God of our ancestors, that you swiftly send a complete recovery from the heavens, healing for the soul and healing for the body..."

Traditional Jewish Prayerbook

A few weeks ago, journalist Jeffrey Goldberg, of the Atlantic, posed a fascinating theological question on his blog. Christopher Hitchens, the well-known atheist and author of God is Not Good, was sadly diagnosed with a serious form of cancer. Is it appropriate, Goldberg asked, for people to pray to God on his behalf, knowing that Hitchens himself is not a believer?
To answer, Goldberg turned to a mutual friend of theirs, Rabbi David Wolpe, to ask him this very question. Rabbi Wolpe's response is illuminating, and the debate was of such interest that these remarks made it into a recent New York Times Review of Books:
 

"I would say it is appropriate and even mandatory to do what one can for another who is sick; and if you believe that praying helps, to pray.  It is in any case an expression of one's deep hopes.  So yes, I will pray for him, but I will not insult him by asking or implying that he should be grateful for my prayers."
 

In part, this answer suggests that when we pray for another person's return to health, we do so to assuage our own anxieties. The sickness of others often precipitates hopelessness in friends and family who do not know what to do to help. Prayer goes some distance to resolve that tension because it gives the rest of us something to do. But is that its only function?
            For decades there have been medical studies about the efficacy of intercessory prayer on patients. These are prayers that are said on behalf of a patient regardless of whether or not that patient knows that he is being prayed for by a stranger. The outcomes have generally been positive although many of the research methods have been questioned. It would seem that there is some scientific evidence that supports the benefit of prayer to those who are sick.
            We need not turn to science to answer this question as much as to the world of theology and psychology. People in desperate straits will resort to any number of "irrational" methods in search of healing. Prayer can easily fall into this category. Within the Jewish tradition, however, we believe that prayer does indeed bring healing but maybe not for the typical reasons often given.
            Rabbi Moses Feinstein, an influential Jewish legal decisor of the last century, was asked if one could visit the sick, a mitzvah from the Torah, via the telephone. Had he been asked today, the question might have been different. Can we text-message, e-mail or Skype the sick in fulfillment of this mitzvah?
Rabbi Feinstein answered that only under very limited conditions, such as distance or the embarrassment of the patient, would a telephone call take the place of a visit. He writes that one of the reasons that we visit the sick is to pray on their behalf. It is near impossible to understand the situation of a sick person without the visual intake that triggers our compassion nerve. We only really take in the pain and isolation of sickness when we see the person in his or her totality.
The traditional Jewish prayer above for healing is recited three times daily, with a special place to add names of the sick. Some people who are ill find it patronizing or uncomfortable to be included in such prayer lists. But many feel a deep connection to friends and the community when they know that people - often world over - are praying for them, even total strangers. It is one way we signal to individuals that they are highly valued and that their absence or their anguish is ours as well.
If you look carefully at the words of the prayer, we ask first for a healing of the soul and then for a healing of the body. We know that being sick, especially chronically or seriously is not only physically troubling. It has many spiritual and social side-effects, including the distance we feel from others and our normal, productive lives. Most of us lack the tools to help the sick heal physically. We all have the tools to help people heal spiritually and feel less isolated. Prayer is one way, a small but significant way, to accomplish that soul healing. And as to the question of whether atheists believe in the soul, I don't know. Christopher Hitchens, refuah shelema, a complete healing to you.
 
Shabbat Shalom