Prayer for a Terminally Ill Patient

Already in the words of the prophets, we find cases where prayers were made for a sick person to die. This is seen in the case of Elijah the Prophet (1 Kings 19) who said, "Enough now, O Hashem, take my life." Similarly, Jonah the Prophet said, "And now, O Hashem, please take my life." Among the words of our sages, we find this as well, like in the Talmud Tractate Ta'anit (23a) regarding Honi HaMe'agel, who asked for mercy from Hashem to take his soul, and Hashem heard his prayer and took his soul, and more.

Our master the Ran in Tractate Nedarim (page 40) wrote that there are cases where the situation of the patient is terminal, and extending his life only adds to his suffering and pain. In such a case, although suffering has great merit and benefit for the purification of a person, nonetheless, it is not right for the patient to continue suffering. Instead, it is proper to pray to Hashem, in His abundant mercy, to relieve the person from suffering through his death and later bestow upon him great goodness and blessing. This is also written by our earlier sages.

And our master Rabbi Ovadia Yosef Shlit"a wrote that although it is certainly a grave prohibition from the Torah to cause the death of a person, even if he is in a very difficult situation, nevertheless, since we are not doing any actual deed, but merely speaking with our mouths requesting Hashem to let the patient die, there is no hint of prohibition in this.

In his book on the laws of mourning, Maran Shlit"a brought that as the Ran said many of our later sages ruled, and therefore, ostensibly, we should rule this in practice.

However, the great Rabbi Shmuel Halevi Wosner Shlit"a, in his book Shut Shevet HaLevi (Ch. 10 Section 293:3), wrote that it is not practical for the entire world to act according to the words of the Ran, because discerning when a patient has reached the point that it is appropriate to pray for his death is very difficult. Sometimes it seems as if the death of the patient is better than his life, but in truth, it is not so, and extending his life may bring him great benefit.

In practice, Maran Shlit"a ruled that when it is seen that the patient is terminally ill, and extending his life only brings him great sorrow, then one should pray to Hashem, that He might have mercy to do as is good in His eyes whatever will be best for the patient, for we do not know what lies ahead. They should say in their prayer for Hashem to have compassion and mercy on the patient to restore him to health, and if the decree upon him has already been sealed, that He might remove the suffering from him, and let His will be done.

Here we will mention an event from several years ago, where a man lay like a stone for many years, and his young wife was in great distress, feeling her life was being wasted because her husband could not recover, and she would lose all her days without starting a family. When Maran Rabbi Ovadia Yosef Shlit"a heard this, he himself went to the patient's home and performed a special correction brought by the Kabbalists, together with ten men, and immediately after the correction, the patient passed away peacefully, and it was miraculous.

The rulings of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef Shlit"a courtesy of the "Halacha Yomit" website