One of my family members was injured on the job and has had multiple spine surgeries since. He is partially paralyzed and this has affected him not only physically but mentally as well. He is depressed and has been taking a lot of sleeping pills, pain pills and muscle relaxants every night. I am very worried about his health but don’t know how to approach the situation. I want to make sure the outcome is him getting help, not getting upset. Do you have any advice how to approach this situation?

We know that prayer has the power to alter negative situations. For instance, if a person is very ill, through the power of prayer they can be healed. The question is, how to pray?

Now, before I answer this, it is essential that we understand that prayer deserves a lengthy discussion. Obviously, there are many rules to this concept. For instance, we know that prayer does not always guarantee that the outcome the person desires will necessarily occur, and this can be for a myriad of reasons.

Having said that, we can gain great insight by turning to the words of the great 18th century kabbalist, Rav Elimelech of Lizensk. He writes,

“When a tzadik [the righteous part inside each one of us] prays for another person, he includes and invests in his prayers his entire being, all of his 248 limbs and 365 sinews, thinking of nothing else but desiring to help the other person in need. He bonds that person for which he is praying to his own 248 limbs, and he thereby makes him holy, and therefore, he is answered in his prayers.

For why does a person lack? Certainly, it is because he has done a negative action with one of his 248 limbs. And when the tzadik embraces him and envelopes him with himself, then the limbs of that person become one with the limbs of the tzadik. Through this he is healed and mended from the negativity that he had brought upon himself. And being as his negative action is corrected, then the cleansing that he was supposed to go through is eliminated.”

Rav Elimelech gives us a beautiful understanding of the power of praying for others. He explains that when a person prays for somebody else, he must have in mind to spiritually embrace the person in need, thereby making him one with himself. By doing this he changes the other person and makes him as complete as himself.

We understand now how deep and strong a person’s thoughts must be when he prays for others. For if he is simply mouthing a prayer, there is not much chance that his prayer will be answered. Only when he includes his whole body, his whole soul and essence in his prayer, will he be able to achieve what has been explained above. For when we pray for others, we are actually embracing them and giving them of our completeness.

What a beautiful way to understand prayer!

We now have a true insight into the power of prayer. Hopefully, after understanding this lesson we will invest more of our being into the prayers that we pray for others. For as explained above, in order to truly influence positive change in another person, we must invest our entire being into the prayer, thereby completely enveloping and healing them.