[JudyKayTee]

I recently had a situation where a Cantor from one Temple came into the hospital to pray with/for a person in a coma. Don't know who called the Cantor, person in coma had not been affiliated (or in) a Temple for over 20 years.

There was heavy, heavy criticism for allowing the Cantor to pray/chant/sing because the Cantor was not from a Temple the unconscious person had ever belonged to/attended.

I am not Jewish but I thought one Clergyman is pretty much the same as another as long as the religion is the same - is this not the case with Judaism?

Also lots and lots of questions about Hebrew name of unconscious person - told prayers would not be as "effective" without the Hebrew name because the Hebrew name contains the mother's Hebrew name and the mother would be considered the caretaker.

I don't understand this.

Can anyone explain?

[ScottGem]

In most large religions, the clergy are assigned by and report to a larger organization that the church belongs to. In Judiasm, the rabbi and cantor are employees of a specific temple, under contract to that temple. They can, however, officiate for people not of their temple.

I'm not sure what the critisicm was here. It would seem to me that the cantor was just perfoming a mitzvah (good deed) by what he did. I think the key would be who called him in.

And yes, jewish prayers include the person's hebrew name if known. Any rabbi's first question would be what is the hebrew name. But Hebrew names do not contain the mother's name, but the father's. In judiasm, if your mother is jewish, then you are also, but I've never heard of this caretake thing. Fortunately we have members more knowledgeable about this who may be able to shed some light.

[ETWolverine]

Hello Judy,

First of all, in Judaism, Cantor is not a clergy position. I happen to be a Cantor. We lead prayer services, some of us give classes in reading Hebrew, saying the prayers or bar mitzvah lessons, but we are NOT clergy. The only clergy in modern Judaism are Rabbis, and they have to be ordained. In older times, the Kohanim (preistly class) could be considered clergy, but that is not true today. Cantors most certainly are not considered clergy.

Second, the reason that some might have had a problem with a Cantor visiting the patient and praying for him could have something to do with the specific sect of the Cantor. If the patient was Orthodox and the Cantor was Conservative or Reform, that might cause consternation. Or vice-versa. Or if the patuient was ardently anti-religion, a visit from ANY religious figure might cause a problem.

As for names: Jewish people are given a Jewish name when they are born. For oy babies, this occurs at their Bris (circumcission - usually on the 8th day) and for girls it occurs at the first available opportunity to read the Torah (usually Monday, Thursday and Saturday).

Names take the for of "person's name son/daughter of father's name" in most instances. But sometimes it is "person's name son/daughter of MOTHER's name".

When we pray for a person, we use their Hebrew name... their "REAL" name as far as Judaism is concerned. The sages essentially believed that the prayers were indeed more effective using the Hebrew name as opposed to their "common" name. (Something about focusing the mind or the energy toward a specific goal. I don't know how G-d does what he does, so this sort of thing is beyond my understanding. But that is the basic concept.)

For prayers having to do with healing, the "mother's name" version is used when known. It is felt that by stressing the mother's name instead of the father's, we hope that this will bring about G-d's greater mercy for the MOTHER/WOMAN and that this will cause him to heal the patient more quickly.

Hope this helps.

Elliot

[rosends]

Well, anyone who criticzes any clergy member for going in and trying to help is being shortsighted and closed-minded. A pulpit rabbi from one congregation, if asked, can certainly go and visit someone from another. Do people think that a comatoise patient would only have an unconscious link towards healing if the clergy member were familiar? That's silly. In fact, in Judaism, we encourage ALL people to visit and pray for the sick, whether we know the sick person or not. Visiting the sick (stranger or friend) is an incredibly important commandment incumben t on ALL Jews, so a clergy member from one synagogue SHOULD visit.

Also, the prayer for the sick includes the sick person's name and the MOTHER'S name because we are invoking mercy so we bring out the maternal, not the paternal element. However, if one does not know the name of the mother, one can say the English name (and there is a catch all phrase which we throw in at the end which includes all sick people, just in case).

Judaism does not see prayer as a type of "intercession" -- it isn't that we have to recite a formula and this effects healing. We are asking for god to restore health and show mercy (sometimes, sickness can be a punishment that is deserved and sometimes is just part of Go'd plan for that person and the world... I said sometimes, though, and we don't try to interpret when it is or isn't or why it is).

[BABRAM]

Hi JudyKayTee-

Not much to add that hasn't already been mentioned. Mostly the Reform, Reconstructionist, and sometimes the Conservative movement, refer to synagogue as "Temple." My guess is that person could had been raised Orthodox (although non-practicing) and to that person's family and friends having an Orthodox adherent participating in the prayer may had been important. The misheberakh (speedy prayer for recovery) in synagogue can be done by rabbi or cantor, so I don't why there would be an offence to the cantor at the hospital. The prayer for sick would include the mother's name. As a side note in my case, because my mother is Jewish and my father is not, in Reform services, being called for one of seven aliyot (called to the bimah to recite Torah blessing) I've had the rabbi and sometime gabbai (rabbi asst) refer to my Hebrew name, then as replacement use "son of Avraham" and at other times they've have used my mother's Hebrew name "Chanah."



Bobby