Q&A: Prayer for a Sick Person
Prayer for a Sick Person
Question
Assuming I understood your view on everything related to “God has abandoned the land.” What is the meaning of praying for a sick person to recover, and what is the benefit of prayer or performing a commandment for the merit of someone who has passed away? Thank you.
Answer
Prayer for a sick person probably does not help. But I cannot rule out the possibility that there may be some kind of involvement at some time and place. So I cannot determine that it is a vain prayer. But it is clear to me that there is no point in praying except in desperate cases where there is no other chance.
Regarding a person who has passed away, I think these things can stand to his merit if he caused them. It does not really matter whether you say his exact name out loud and the like. Presumably, the Holy One, blessed be He, knows.
Discussion on Answer
Why does it matter whether he caused them or not? What matters is whether he tried to cause them, or at least whether his personality had an influence. God does not need visible proof that he actually succeeded in causing it.
That already brings us into the question of consequentialism. I think that just as there is punishment for causation that succeeded, and a lesser punishment for causation that did not succeed, so too with reward. In one of my columns I distinguished between guilt and responsibility. I think that is true on the side of reward as well.
Thank you.