by David Hornestay

Created on: July 11, 2011

Refuah shlema means, literally, a complete cure in both ancient and modern Hebrew.  It is a phrase included in the prayers of supplication recited three times daily by Orthodox and other traditional Jews in a formulation going back more than 2,000 years.  It is also the essence of the personal wishes directed to the ailing and their near and dear ones, and has endured through the centuries in both Hebrew and Yiddish with only a slight variation in pronunciation.

Associated as it is with stressful and potentially tragic episodes in life, the wish for a refuah shlema is often one of the most heartfelt sentiments expressed by humans.  It can be traced back to Moses's prayer for his sister Miriam, suddenly stricken with disease.  The great lawgiver's simple but urgent petition for a Divine cure was:  "Eil na refah na lah, Please God heal her (Numbers 12:13)."  In his plea, Moses used the verb for healing, refah, without the adjective for complete, shlema.  The latter, connoting both completeness and perfection, was added to seek the restoration of the wholeness which preceded the illness or injury, free to the greatest extent of complications or lingering aftereffects.

While the prayer for a refuah shlema presupposes a caring Deity who intervenes in ordinary lives, the wish expressed directly to the ailing and their families can be heard from Hebrew and Yiddish speakers who are essentially secular and rarely, if ever, turn to a Supreme Being.  In fact, it has retained such meaning that it is routinely used by Jews whose only familiarity with Yiddish or Hebrew is in a few scattered traditional phrases like this one.  In their minds, it may be a hope for Divine intervention or medical success, or merely an expression of solidarity.

For the most part, refuah shlema is used to respond to physical afflictions, including those of a psychological nature.  It should be noted, however, that King David's Psalms, perhaps 3,000 years old, include a plea for a healing of what appears to be a spiritual malady.  Psalm 41, verse 5, pleads, "...refaah nafshi ki chatasi lach, Heal my soul for I have sinned against You."  Whether in prayer or purely human sentiment, the longing for refuah shlema is as relevant to humankind's spiritual dimension as to the physical.            

     

    

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