Traditionally, Jews say a number of blessings as part of daily prayer, blessings that I have never before entirely understood or appreciated.
These blessings have become particularly meaningful to me since Oct. 27, when my wife, native Milwaukeean Barbara Katz (nee Fedderly), was diagnosed with a malignant tumor in her left breast.
A month later she had a double mastectomy, and now is in chemotherapy, to be followed by radiation treatments and a regimen of care and checkups that will continue for the rest of her life.
The outpouring of care, support and love from family, friends and acquaintances, Jews and non-Jews, has helped me to understand that many of the things for which we bless G-d are blessings that the community brings us, acting as G-d’s agents.
Jewish blessings start with a formula: “Praised are You, Lord our G-d, King of the universe.” As part of the prayers Jews say on rising in the morning, we say a series of blessings that each start with this formula and conclude with specific topics of thanks.
One blessing states, “Praised are you … who with wisdom fashioned the human body, creating openings, arteries, glands and organs, marvelous in structure, intricate in design. Should but one of them, by being blocked or opened, fail to function, it would be impossible to exist. Praised are you, Lord, healer of all flesh, who sustains our bodies in wondrous ways.”
In the context of cancer, the blessing speaks for itself; but the “wondrous ways” also include the doctors, nurses, researchers and all of their support staffs who, seeking to preserve and improve human life, act as G-d’s agents.
Another blessing praises G-d “who clothes the naked.” After surgery, my wife couldn’t raise her arms, and so could only wear soft shirts that buttoned down the front, of which she had none. Family and friends sent her clothes that helped her get through the weeks after surgery in dignity and comfort.
Despair to hope
One blessing praises G-d “who provides for all my needs.” Once my wife came home, people brought us meals and fruit and sweets, books, magazines and games, offered to watch the kids or run errands, or simply visited and called to offer company and comfort.
We praise G-d “who raises the downtrodden” and “who restores vigor to the weary.” The comfort brought by doctors, friends and family have helped to bring us from despair (the diagnosis) to hope (the prognosis), and have helped set Barbara on the road to healing.
And we praise G-d “who guides us on our path.” The information provided by doctors, the grants for head coverings and prosthetics and all of the other resources provided by the Komen Foundation and the American Cancer Society, as well as the wisdom of friends who have survived breast cancer all have helped us to understand where we are and what we must do.
As part of the daily Amidah, the so-called “standing benedictions,” we ask G-d to “hear our voice. Have compassion on us, pity us, accept our prayer with loving favor. You listen to entreaty and prayer. … Praised are you, Lord who hears prayer.”
We may sometimes be inclined to think that G-d only listens to the prayers of our faith or denomination. But we have come to feel that, as we live in a diverse community, diversity in prayer and thought can have power.
We therefore feel blessed and comforted to know that we have been in the prayers and thoughts of Jews, Christians, Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists, of congregations, prayer groups and individuals, of people we know and people we have never met.
It is a great support to find so many people with so many differences brought together in the common cause of including my wife in their daily prayers and hopes, focusing their effort and caring on her healing.
A Yiddish proverb says, “Life is with people.” I have learned that one reason we praise and bless G-d in all these ways is to thank G-d for the gift of community: All of these blessings relate to what we, as a community, do for each other.
And I have realized that we say these blessings to G-d every day because the blessing of community happens every day — not just for my wife and our family, but for others all around us.
What we as a community do becomes most clear in times of crisis, when the community comes together to provide comfort, strength, and hope for those most in need. But there are crises every day, people in need, and people who answer those needs.
We are deeply grateful for our community and all it has done for us. But more: We are grateful for our new awareness of what blessings we all bring, and can bring, to each other every day.
Seth Katz, Ph.D., is a member of Congregation Anshai Emeth, Peoria, and a professor of English at Bradley University. This article was originally published in the Peoria Journal Star and is reprinted with permission.
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