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Tuesday Sept 16
the children Yosef and Rahel
are still ill
Oh, Creator of worlds, bring
them back to health
Avraham Zvi bar-Yosef, the Cohen
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Matt's Notes
Another day, another prayer for the health of Papa's terribly ill niece and nephew. He's written both of their names in Hebrew, and concluded this passage with the same Hebrew phrase he used yesterday. Thanks to our friend Inbar, we now know it's a formal signature of sorts that reads "Avraham Zvi bar-Yosef, the Cohen," or Abraham Zvi, son of Joseph, the Cohen. (Papa was a Cohen, or member of Judaism's high priest caste, so perhaps he used this signature as a matter of course.)
At a neighborhood shul, where they pray for anyone in the congregation who's ill, they always ask for the full Hebrew name (thus his putting the children's names in Hebrew). I can see he was a learned man.
ReplyDeleteCaring for the sick is a female job: you may have heard, "G-d of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob," but for these prayers, it's "G-d of Sarah, Rebekah, Leah and Rachel."