The Power of Prayer: Why Tefillah Is the Greatest Healing Tool According to Jewish Wisdom

Praying to the Creator of the world for the health of the body and soul is of the utmost importance. There are countless stories of people who were saved solely through prayer.

During the time of the Tanach, King Chizkiyahu of Israel (who carried the root of the soul of Mashiach) hid the Book of Remedies — a book containing a cure for every illness, because he saw with his holy spirit that if a person fell ill and simply looked up his cure in the book, he would not turn to his Creator and would forget to pray.

In our generation many of us rush to various forms of natural medicine and conventional medicine (and I do not disparage doctors or practitioners, Heaven forbid), and along the way we pray only a little, seeking our salvation mainly through healers and physicians. We must reverse the order — invest more in prayer and hitbodedut (personal prayer), and less in spending our money on therapists and doctors.

Rabbi Nachman of Breslov teaches: “When prayer is redeemed, all medicines fall away… for healing comes through the word of God. Then all doctors will be ashamed of their remedies, for they will have no power at all, since all healing herbs return their power into prayer—which is the word of God, their higher root.”
(Likutei Moharan II:1:11)

When a person prays to the Creator for healing, this is the greatest and most powerful remedy in the world. If people could truly see with the eyes of their soul (which is concealed beneath the physical body) the immense spiritual power of prayer, they would spend their entire day praying instead of running from one doctor to another in search of a cure. God says: “I am Hashem, your Healer.”

Then all doctors would be humbled, seeing how small their knowledge is compared to the infinite power of the Holy One. With God’s help, this future is not far, and Mashiach will reveal these truths: Prayer, prayer, and more prayer. This will be his “weapon,” with which he will conquer the world.

Preventing Suffering: Healing Before Illness Appears

As Jews, we should walk a path of preventing suffering as much as possible — “You shall safeguard your lives” — by healing the soul before illness manifests physically.

Rabbi Nachman of Breslov writes: “At the very beginning of a sickness, before it develops and becomes visible, it could easily be cured — except that at that stage it is hidden from all eyes, known only to God. But when one cleaves to the ‘word of God,’ which is prayer, then he receives healing from everything in the world — even from bread and water… ‘I am Hashem, your Healer’… and he will not come to illness at all, for he is healed before it even begins to sprout.” (Likutei Moharan II:3)

If a person has a hidden illness that has not yet shown signs in the body, it can still be completely healed through prayer before it develops. Prayer stands above all medicine and is stronger than any remedy. Even when a disease is severe, if one grasps the “word of God” and prays with full heart and faith, believing that only He can save — then healing arrives through anything in the world, even simple water or bread. One can even be healed before the illness emerges in the body. Through prayer, one can be healed completely.