also understand the “cup” both as a reminder taste of what death may be like.
Jewish tradition
emun I
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Rabbi Lori Klein serves as
interfaith chaplain for the three
oncology units of the Stanford
University Medical Center. She
also serves as the board chair
for ALEPH: Alliance for Jewish
Renewal.
Rachel Gurevitz is associate
rabbi at Congregation B’nai
Israel in Bridgeport, Conn., and a
rabbinic fellow in Rabbis Without
Borders, an initiative of CLAL:
The National Jewish Center for
Learning and Leadership. She
blogs at http://shmakoleinu-
hearourvoices.blogspot.com and
tweets @RabbiGurevitz.
Marjorie Sokoll is director of
the Jewish Life and Healing
program at the Jewish Family
and Children’s Service of Greater
Boston and founder and director
of the agency’s Jewish Healing
Connection. At JFCS, she leads
staff healing circles to promote
self-care. Sokoll is a partner at
the Kalsman Institute on
Judaism and Health at HUC–JIR.
Stuart I. Forman is a doctoral
student in Jewish studies at the
Spertus Institute of Jewish
Studies in Chicago. A fellow of
the American College of
Healthcare Executives, he is a
retired health care executive,
former medical educator, and
psychologist.
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[18] JUNE 2011 | SIVAN 5771
to be grateful for abundance, and also as a offers a comforting daily practice as we enter the
source of strength from which to draw when I scary places that can be evoked by darkness and
feel most depleted. The cup is a reminder that uncertainty. At bedtime we recite the Sh’ma, the
there is a constant flow of divine presence that prayer we also say just before death; upon aris-
can replenish my soul ing in the morning, we
energy. At times, I need
to shift my perspective
“You prepare a table for me in recite Modeh/Modah
Ani, a prayer of thanks-
to find it. It’s a little like the full presence of my enemies; giving: “I thank You,
standing shivering in the You anointed my head with oil; God for returning my
corner of the shower; if soul to me.” By reciting
I just moved slightly, I my cup overflows.” this prayer of gratitude,
would find myself under Psalm 23: 5 we affirm that even in
the flow of warm water the face of illness and
raining down. when we face other
Our cup can be re-
filled by others. Some-
W
choose
hen I visit hospital patients, they sometimes
request that we pray together. They often
Psalm 23, which is also recited in mourning
challenges, we may ex-
perience our “cup over-
times, we find unexpect- flowing with divinity.”
ed strength when we rituals. The image of God accompanying them —Marjorie Sokoll
reach out to offer a kind- through the valley of death’s shadow brings comfort.
ness to another. The mes- How do they muster — with sincerity — the words, salm 23 is popular
sianic reference to being “my cup overflows”? While some people who P
have as a psalm of com-
anointed with oil brings a sophisticated gratitude practice find the phrase fort. Sensing God’s
to mind a Hassidic teach- meaningful, most people find it puzzling and jarring. beneficence can be of
ing about moshiach con- An alternate reading of “my cup overflows,” or help to people who are
sciousness that expresses “cosi revayah,” might inspire a petitionary prayer suffering illness. But the
this: If you always as- more congruent with a patient’s feelings. “Spirit of phrase “my cup over-
sume that the person sit- Life, my cup is full to overflowing. I can’t take in any flows” may be disso-
ting next to you is the more. You, who sustain me through challenges that nant with the actual ex-
messiah waiting for some feel like enemies, help me bear my burdens and perience of suffering.
simple human kindness, sorrows. Make of me a bigger vessel, so I can face Rabbi Meir tells us in
you will soon come to my challenges with grace.” Pirke Avot, “Do not look
weigh your words and The Baal Shem Tov added Psalm 23 to the at the vessel, but what is
watch your hands. And if liturgy just before the end of the Maariv (evening) in it…” Our “cup” may
the messiah then choos- service. The Besht, a healer himself, taught the cen- well be full of experi-
es not to appear in your trality of feeling God’s presence permeating and sur- ences that give us a sense
time, it will not matter. rounding all worlds. Perhaps he wanted us to enter of awe and thankfulness.
—Rachel Gurevitz For someone in a termi-
the night embracing a “cup” overflowing with divin-
nal state, however, the
ity. When our cup is too full with sorrow, we can pray
n his book, The Lord “cup” may be overflow-
I is My Shepherd: Heal-
ing Wisdom of the
to make conscious space in our neshama/soul ves-
sel for God’s presence.
ing with trepidation.
This is why, if shar-
—Lori Klein
Twenty-Third Psalm, ing this psalm, we
Rabbi Harold Kushner notes that the psalmist should be sensitive when counseling the sick.
refers differently to God — depending on For those with terminal illnesses, perhaps the
whether we are being told about God, early in phrase, “Into Your hands I commend my spirit”
Psalm 23, or whether we are encountering God, may be more consistent with the peaceful ac-
later in the text. When we encounter God, we ceptance necessary to help transition from life
speak directly to “You” but when the psalmist to death. For those facing less serious illnesses,
speaks about God, he uses the third person. reflecting on “my cup overflows” may indeed
The Baal Shem Tov included Psalm 23 at the provide awe, thankfulness, and hope. The ef-
end of the evening service — perhaps hoping fective use of literature depends on the stage
that we would encounter God’s healing pres- of illness and the emotional and spiritual ma-
ence as night descends. The Talmud teaches turity of the patient.
that sleep is 1/60 of death — that is, it is a small —Stuart I. Forman