Should Jews Pray for Trump’s Recovery From COVID-19?

Religious Israelis turn to rabbis for guidance on how to respond to Trump’s illness

By Israel Today Staff | | Topics: Trump, Coronavirus
Trump taken to Walter Reed Hospital after contracting COVID-19.
Photo: EPA-EFE

US President Donald Trump has been infected with COVID-19, and according to some reports is suffering from shortness of breath. That has caused not a few American media outlets to speculate on what might happen should Trump be unable to continue as president.

Israeli Jews, as is their wont, are looking less at what comes tomorrow, and more at what they can and should do today.

The White House has asked for prayers for the president and his wife, First Lady Melania Trump, who was also infected. One Israeli turned to Rabbi Baruch Efrati wondering if a Jew can and should answer that call.

Rabbi Efrati, who heads Derekh Emunah, a movement of young Orthodox Jewish rabbis, responded that Jews should recite the prayer known as “Mi Shebeirach” (literally “The One Who Blessed” – the traditional Jewish prayer for the sick) on Trump’s behalf.

The rabbi included in his response the specific prayer modified for Donald Trump:

May He who blessed our fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Moses and Aaron, David and Solomon, may He bless and heal Donald son of Fred. May the Blessed Holy One be filled with compassion for his health to be restored and his strength to be revived, and swiftly send him from heaven a complete renewal of body and spirit, speedily and without delay. And they all said: Amen.

מִי שֶׁבֵּרַךְ אֲבוֹתֵינוּ אַבְרָהָם יִצְחָק וְיַעֲקֹב מֹשֶׁה וְאַהֲרֹן דָּוִד וּשְׁלֹמֹה הוּא יְבָרֵךְ וִירַפֵּא אֶת דונלד בן פרד, הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא יִמָּלֵּא רַחֲמִים עָלָיו לְהַחֲלִימוֹ וּלְרַפְּאֹתוֹ וּלְהַחֲזִיקוֹ וּלְהַחֲיוֹתוֹ, וְיִשְׁלַח לוֹ מְהֵרָה רְפוּאָה שְׁלֵמָה מִן הַשָּׁמַיִם לְרַמַ”ח אֵבָרָיו וּשְׁסָ”ה גִּידָיו, רְפוּאַת הַנֶּפֶשׁ וּרְפוּאַת הַגּוּף, הַשְׁתָּא בַּעֲגָלָא וּבִזְמַן קָרִיב. וְנֹאמַר אָמֵן.

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