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Amidah: 8th Blessing: Attaching to Others |
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 This selection was written by the Baruch She’amar. This is the same commentary as the Torah Temimah on the Torah. Since he would be exhausted after working all day at a bank, he would write by putting a lit candle
directly in front of his head. If he would fall asleep, he would singe his head, and wake up.
The formula for this blessing is standard. And even if someone is completely healthy, and doesn’t need any healing, all the Jewish people are considered one large family. Like a large family, we should worry for each other, rejoice in each other’s happiness, and suffer each other’s suffering. As the Midrash says on the Songs of Songs, “I went to the garden of the nuts,” the egoz are the Jewish people as the Jewish people are compared to nuts. If you have a pile of peanuts, and you move one, they all move a little bit, so too the nation of Israel. If one of the Jewish nation suffers, we should all feel their suffering. Just as if all the limbs of the body suffer if one of them is ill. Therefore this is true too in prayer, when a person is attaching himself to others, and suffering their pain, and asking for compassion. {Where?}
This is an incredible thing to do in prayer. Because in the middle of praying for yourself, you attach yourself to others, and your prayer becomes that much more powerful. This way, it is less centered in one place, and it is less limited. The blessing of refa’enu takes you far beyond yourself. By doing so, it empowers your prayer and heals you. Most of our psychological pain is created by being stuck in ourselves, our own limitations, and our own inhibitions. That’s why the minute we say, “Heal us,” we are healed. We are no longer praying as individuals. We go beyond ourselves.
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