Good Morning Yamon Ki Yesepar;

Numbers 12:13: “And Moses cried to Jehovah saying: “Oh, my God,  I beg you  give healing to her, I beseech you.”

Imagine the next time you pray for someone to be healed, you lay your hands on that person and say “Abracadabra.”    This is a term which has crossed over into English usage, picked up by showmen who observed rabbis performing healings who used this word as a sort of incantation.  The word “Abra-Kadabra is a Hebrew word and contains the word which is the second word of the Torah “bara” which means to create.  The remaining letters of the phrase add up to 26 which you learned from my last devotional to be the number of YHVH – The Name. You see the ancient Jews believed that healing came when you invoked the name of God. In fact healers where known as Baal Shems (Masters of the Name). But since the name was so sacred and no one knew it’s correct pronounciation, they could not invoke it but they devised a phrase which in it’s Gematria invokes the name of God.  The phrase literally means: “I will create as I speak.”  The rabbis of the past often recited these words in an attempt to emulate the creation through the speech of God.  It was believed this is the word that God spoke when he created the world.  (Now you are probably convinced I am making this stuff up, but it is in the kabbalah. God said: “Abracadabra” and the world was created).

Divine healing in Jewish history focused on two practices, often working jointly together.  The physicians who focused their  methods on diet and botanical preparations and those who practiced healing methods that addressed the spiritual.  You can take what you want from this devotional, but I do want to make one thing certain.  The tradition of divine healing, our Christian heritage of divine healing which was passed on to the church and corrupted, often involved physicians who helped with diet and medications.  Why do you think so many Jews enter the medical profession.  The majority of  the advances in medical science come from Jewish physicians.  To encourage someone to stop taking their medication or to not see a physician is, well, it is just not Biblical or is going against the procedure of Torah.

Physical ailments were thought to be only a manifestation on the physical level of an illness that is simultaneously taking place on other levels of the soul.  Once the soul is healed  the physical healing will follow, sometimes through the medical skills of a physican or sometimes spontaneously.   The important thing is that there must first be a healing of the soul.

Prayer has long been considered an important healing tool.  Having a tzaddik – righteous person, pray for the health of someone has been considered efficacious.    No, I am not quoting James 5:16, I am quoting the Talmud which was oral tradition at the time of James. He wrote this oral tradition down as the inspired Word of God.  Christians hate to admit it but some of Talmud or oral tradition crossed over into the inspired Word of God into the New Testament.   James was not sharing some new revelation, he was only confirming what had been taught for almost 3.000 years.

Even in the Shabbat prayer service, after the morning reading of Torah, a prayer is recited by the congregation on behalf of those who are ill and need healing.   From the dance of King David before the holy ark to the swaying and chanting of Orthodox Jews, ecstatic prayer is thought to bring one into alignment or harmony with God as a means of gaining  healing.   The enemy, as the great counterfeiter, brings this into his camp with the shamans. And believe me they do not recite or chant “His mercies endure forever”  over and over.  They recite something not at all related to Scripture.

Numbers 12:13 shows Moses as a righteous man praying for healing. What does he say?  The first thing, he did not say it, he “sa’ek”  or he invoked the name of God.  He then said “Na’ rapha’, Na rapha”  to God.  He literally chanted: “I pray healing, I pray healing.”   Miriam was not immediately healed, but she was “shut up” out of the camp for seven days.  This was seven days of repentance. During that time she was attended by the Levi priest who served as physicians  and she went through a process of repentance and only then was she healed.

Next time you pray for a healing, maybe pull a Moses, invoke the Name of God,  and just briefly chant “Na rapha,” (I pray healing, I pray healing).  Nothing magical in the chant, it is just a tool or a discipline to help you focus and concentrate on God, to bring the soul and body into alignment with your spirit. Include other Scriptures in your “chant” such as “His mercies endure forever, “ “By His stripes we are healed.”  Don’t yield to the temptation to start saying something that is not direct from  Scripture, from the mouth of God and may be of the flesh and put you on the level of a Shaman.  No not abra-kadabra, that is not Scripture but the principal is there. Jews thought they were repeating God’s words.  We can not be sure that God said “abra-kadabra to create the world, but we can be sure he said: “His mercies endure forever.”

Then do not be disappointed if the healing does not happen right away.  After all it took Miriam seven days and the ministry of physicians to get her healing.