I. Tehillim Fatigue

Is there a difference between providing physical and spiritual help to someone in need? One of the beautiful aspects of belonging to a religious community is that its members help each other when necessary. This is not just a chore but an act of love. We want to help others. When someone is sick, we help out in any way we can. When someone is in danger, we try to save them.

There is a biblical prohibition against ignoring someone in danger: “Lo sa’amod al dam rei’echa— You shall not stand aside while your fellow’s blood is shed” (Lev. 19:16). When someone is drowning, we are forbidden to ignore his desperate plight but must either try to save him ourselves or find someone who can. This applies to any kind of life danger. But what kind of life-saving treatment are we obligated to undertake? Are we biblically required to recite prayers and Tehillim for someone in danger? If we can do something more tangible, then we must. But if all we can do is something spiritual, like prayer, does that fall under the same obligation and therefore maintain the same urgency?

For over a year now, we have been reciting Tehillim for IDF soldiers protecting our friends and family in Israel. Some people do not recite Tehillim with the same intensity as they did when the war began. Particularly those who live far away from the danger might experience “Tehillim fatigue.” And yet we keep hearing heartbreaking news about soldiers tragically dying. It is important that we recognize the importance and the effectiveness of our prayers. That realization will counter any fatigue we might have. There are soldiers who are alive today because of the Tehillim we recite in Brooklyn, Teaneck, Lakewood and elsewhere.

II. Standing Idly By

Given that our Tehillim and prayers are effective, does the prohibition of “Lo sa’amod” obligate us in those efforts? Rav Simcha Yonah Klein (cont., England) quotes differing opinions on the matter (Piskei Ha-Mishpat 426:3). Rav Menashe Klein (21st c., U.S.) says that is is vital for a sick person to pray for his own healing but it is also important for others to pray for him, even rising to the level of a biblical obligation from “Lo sa’amod” (Mishneh Halachos 13:211). Rav Klein also quotes Rav Avraham Yeshayahu Karelitz (20th c., Israel), commonly known as the Chazon Ish, as saying that anyone who is unable to help physically and does not pray is as if he refuses to help (quoted from Kovetz Iggeros Chazon Ish 3:62).

It is not just prayer but also Torah study that can save lives. Rav Elchonon Wasserman, in a 1939 letter to the National Council of Young Israel, attributes the troubles overcoming the Jewish people at the time to the decrease in Torah study. Therefore, he argues, there is an urgent need to increase Torah study by building new schools and establishing informal classes. Those who help spread Torah are saving Jewish lives while those who refrain from helping violate “Lo sa’amod” (Kovetz Ma’amarim, 1991 edition, pp. 68-73).

On the other hand, Rav Nosson Gestetner (20th c., Israel) distinguishes between natural and supernatural ways of saving someone. Lo sa’amod requires us to take physical measures to save someone, but only the trait of mercy, and not the biblical commandment, directs us to pray for him (Le-Horos Nossan 2:44). Rav Simcha Yonah Klein also quotes Rav Chaim Kanievsky (21st c.,., Israel) as saying that prayer does not fall under the obligation of Lo Sa’amod (quoted in Mishnas Piku’ach Nefesh, p. 278).

III. Praying vs. Doing

Perhaps this connects to a related debate about the extent to which we go to pray for the sick. Rav Sholom Schwadron (Responsa Maharsham, vol. 3 no. 224) tells the following story: One time, the first Belzer Rebbe, Rav Sholom Rokeach (d. 1855), was away in Brody (Ukraine). On Shabbos, someone in Belz became deathly ill and the dayan permitted a gentile to write down the sick man’s name and send a telegram to Brody for the Belzer Rebbe to pray for the man’s recovery. The dayan’s logic is clear. Because the individual sincerely believed the Rebbe’s prayers could save the dying man, he should be allowed to violate a biblical prohibition. In this case, he merely violated a rabbinic prohibition. However, the rabbi of Brody, Rav Shlomo Kluger, was furious about this and insisted the dayan could no longer rule on halachic matters. First of all, we only violate Shabbos for this-worldly cures. Additionally, that type of action could lead to widespread disregard for Shabbos observance. Interestingly, many decades later, Rav Chaim Soloveitchik (20th c., Russia) reportedly permitted sending a telegram for a righteous person to pray on behalf of someone deathly ill (Rav Hershel Schachter, Nefesh Ha-Rav, p. 167).

Rav Soloveitchik’s logic is clear. Prayer and Torah study can save lives and therefore such life-saving efforts override Shabbos restrictions. If a telegram will lead to life-saving prayer, then we must send a telegram even on Shabbos. There might be public policy issues in how this is done, as Rav Kluger notes. But setting that aside, in theory, anything that can be done to save a life, even gathering for prayer and Torah study, must be done.

According to Rav Kluger, it seems that the Torah only obligates us to use natural, this-worldly means to save someone’s life. Prayer for someone else’s health is good and important but does not fall under the Torah’s normal obligations and therefore does not qualify as Shabbos-overriding, life-saving measures.

I suspect that this can be connected to an entirely different area. Rav Yaakov Ariel (cont., Israel) rules that a couple is not obligated to undergo fertility treatments in order to have children. We are only obligated to pursue this mitzvah in the natural way (Be-Ohalah Shel Torah 1:66; 6:4). According to this approach, the Torah’s obligations only apply to natural means. However, we are still encouraged to pray and use any means necessary, even beyond the basic obligation.

Rabbi Gil Student is the editor of TorahMusings.com. His latest book, Articles of Faith: Traditional Jewish Belief in the Internet Era, is available online and in bookstores near you.