27 May 2022
‘Come healing of the body,
Come healing of the mind’
Patrick Comerford
I have been waiting for some time now to hear back about my referral from the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford to the National Centre for Stereotactic Radiosurgery in Sheffield, following my stroke over two months ago (18 March 2022) and my discharge from hospital in Oxford (1 April 2022). I hear from Oxford this week that my case was being discussed by the multidisciplinary team in Sheffield this morning (27 May 2022).
Anyone who has waited like this knows the anxiety it may cause, and I have been back in touch this week with the hospitals in both Oxford and Sheffield, with a number of phone calls.
A recent report from the World Health Organisation (WHO) shows that for every 100 people admitted to hospital in the UK with an ischaemic stroke in 2019, on average 12.0 died within 30 days – ranking the UK worst out of nine comparable countries; the average was 9.5. The same report shows that for every 100 people admitted to hospital with an haemorrhagic stroke in 2019 in the UK, on average 41.7 died within 30 days – ranking the UK worst out of nine comparable countries; the average was seven.
In my reflections and prayers this Friday evening, I am reflecting on one of the central Jewish prayers for those who are ill or recovering from illness or accidents, the Mi Sheberach.
The name of this prayer comes from its first two Hebrew words. With a holistic view of humanity, it prays for physical cure as well as spiritual healing, asking for blessing, compassion, restoration, and strength, within the community of others facing illness as well as all for Jews and for all human beings.
Traditionally, the Mi Sheberach is said in synagogues when the Torah is read. If the patients themselves are not present, close relatives or friends may be called up to the Torah for an honour, and whoever is leading the service offers this prayer, filling in the name of the one who is ill and her or his parents.
Increasingly, the Mi Sheberach has moved into other settings. Chaplains, doctors, nurses and social workers are now joining patients and those close to them in saying the Mi Sheberach at different times, such as before and after surgery, during treatments, on admission or discharge, on the anniversary of diagnosis, and more.
The words of this traditional prayer are reflected in Leonard Cohen’s song, ‘Come Healing,’ which I heard him sing ten years ago at his concert in the Royal Hospital, Kilmainham, Dublin (11 September 2012).
After my stroke, I am more than conscious of some of the lines in this song:
O, longing of the arteries
To purify the blood
And let the heavens hear it
The penitential hymn
Come healing of the spirit
Come healing of the limb
Mi Sheberach (English translation):
May the One who blessed our ancestors —
Patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob,
Matriarchs Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and Leah —
bless and heal the one who is ill, …
son/daughter of …
May the Holy Blessed One
overflow with compassion upon him/her,
to restore him/her,
to heal him/her,
to strengthen him/her,
to enliven him/her.
The One will send him/her, speedily,
a complete healing —
healing of the soul and healing of the body —
along with all the ill,
among the people of Israel and all humankind,
soon,
speedily,
without delay,
and let us all say: Amen!
Come Healing (Leonard Cohen)
O, gather up the brokenness
Bring it to me now
The fragrance of those promises
You never dared to vow
The splinters that you carried
The cross you left behind
Come healing of the body
Come healing of the mind
And let the heavens hear it
The penitential hymn
Come healing of the spirit
Come healing of the limb
Behold the gates of mercy
In arbitrary space
And none of us deserving
Of cruelty or the grace
O, solitude of longing
Where love has been confined
Come healing of the body
Come healing of the mind
O, see the darkness yielding
That tore the light apart
Come healing of the reason
Come healing of the heart
O, troubledness concealing
An undivided love
The heart beneath is teaching
To the broken heart above
And let the heavens falter
Let the earth proclaim
Come healing of the altar
Come healing of the name
O, longing of the branches
To lift the little bud
O, longing of the arteries
To purify the blood
And let the heavens hear it
The penitential hymn
Come healing of the spirit
Come healing of the limb
O let the heavens hear it
The penitential hymn
Come healing of the spirit
Come healing of the limb
Shabbat Shalom
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