I AM NOT A RABBI and I don’t play one on tv.
I AM a “hutzpan” who, knowing the most of the prayers in the sedur are rabbinical and, knowing that even with in my (Moroccan) sedurim (prayer books) there are slight differences in the prayer, I have the (c)hutzpah to make a couple of minor “tweeks.”
A good hutzpan never apologizes, especially if he also is a curmudgeon.
SINCE WE DON’T OWN SLAVES anymore, not males and not females, the prayer זבחי שלמי צבור (The communal peace offerings and guilt offerings1) mentions אשם שפחה (abusing a female slave2). Since most “western” nations abolished slavery, female slaves are “history.”
שפחה then, שיחה now
ON THE OTHER HAND, we DO have the sin of our words; in conversation, a שיחה. The two words even sound, to my ears, at least similar.
The rabbis tell us that the Temple was destroyed because of unwarranted hatred; in other words, “bad mouthing” those with whom we disagree. (Can that be applied to America today?)
For me, changing שפחה (female slave) to שיחה (conversation) makes sense. Psalm 34, V. 14 supports this: נְצֹר לְשׁוֹנְךָ מֵרָע; וּשְׂפָתֶיךָ, מִדַּבֵּר מִרְמָה (Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile3) This also from the morning prayers.
רפאנו " ונרפא
In the daily “18” we ask HaShem to רפאנו " ונרפא “heal us and we will be healed.” At he end of this paragraph we say ברוך אתה "רפוא חולי עמו ישראל (Blessed are you, Lord, who heals the sick of his people Israel).
To that, in light of the recurring pandemics from China, I have started adding ואת העולם כלו (and all the world).
Given that pandemics can spread at the speed of flight, and that we are surrounded by non-Jews even in Israel, I believe we need to pray for the health of all mankind.
Chauvinism may be OK in some things, but not when it comes to health.
Israel can close its borders, but asymptomatic incubation periods will cause us all to pay a high price, so, please, HaShem, heal us all, even if we don’t realize we need healing.
Sources
1. English from Chabad Siddur Tehillat Hashem unless otherwise noted.
2. Megiddo Modern Dictionary Hebrew-English 1972
3: Psalm 34: https://tinyurl.com/ycgedary
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