Prayer for the Sick and Dying

When Each Breath Feels Like It Could Be the Last

There are no words for this moment. The room is quiet except for breathing, and every breath feels heavy with meaning. You sit at the bedside of someone you love, caught between desperate hope that a miracle will come and the growing realization that it may not. You are not here because you have given up. You are here because even now, even at the very edge, there is something sacred you can do.

The Vidui is the jewish prayer for sick and dying that the Shulchan Aruch (Yoreh De’ah 338) prescribes for this moment. It is a confession, but not the kind most people imagine. It is the neshamah speaking directly to Hashem, asking for healing if healing is still possible, and asking for mercy if it is time to go. The Shulchan Aruch itself says: “Many have confessed and not died, and many who did not confess have died.” The Vidui is not a death sentence. It is a spiritual cleansing.

If your loved one can say it, they say it themselves. If they cannot, you can say it on their behalf. Either way, these words have been spoken at Jewish bedsides for centuries. They carry the weight of generations and the tenderness of a neshamah preparing to meet its Maker.

Before You Say This Tefillah

This is a sacred and heavy moment. If the person can understand you, approach gently. The Shulchan Aruch warns not to frighten the sick person. You can say: “Many people have said the Vidui and recovered.” This is not a lie. It is true. And it gives the person permission to say these words without feeling that saying them means giving up.

If you wish, say this short personal prayer first, in your own heart:

Master of the Universe, the soul before me is going and returning to You – and I sit between hope and fear. If healing is possible – send it now. And if it is his time – receive his soul with mercy, and grant him proper rest. God of Meir, answer me.

If giving tzedakah, add:

In the merit of the tzedakah I give in the merit of Rabbi Meir – whose soul ascended in holiness – so may You receive this soul with mercy. Ribbono Shel Olam, I care for Your children – please care for my beloved.

Vidui: The Full Prayer

This vidui for a critically ill person frames death not as an end, but as the soul’s passage from this world to the next stage of its existence before Hashem. It begins by acknowledging that both healing and death are in His hands, asks first for a full recovery, and, if death is to come, asks that it serve as atonement. It includes confession and repentance, accepts Hashem’s justice, asks for a share in Gan Eden and Olam HaBa, and closes with clear declarations of faith through Shema Yisrael, Baruch Shem, and Hashem Hu HaElokim.

What These Words Mean for You

Sherf’uosi b’yodcho umisosi b’yodcho “My healing is in Your hand and my death is in Your hand”

This is the most honest line a person can say. Both life and death belong to Hashem.

Neither the doctors nor the illness have the final word. Only He does. When your loved one says these words, or when you say them on their behalf, you are placing everything in Hashem’s hands. Not as resignation, but as the deepest kind of emunah. Whatever happens, it is in His hands. That is not a statement of defeat. It is a statement of trust.

T’hei misosi kaporoh “May my death be an atonement”

The Shulchan Aruch includes these words in the seder vidui itself. Our poskim teach that when a person says these words with sincerity, they carry tremendous atonement power – transforming even a lifetime of sin into a final act of teshuvah.

This is not about guilt or punishment. It is about cleansing. The neshamah is preparing to return to Hashem, and it wants to arrive pure. Even in the final moments, the jewish prayer for sick and dying gives a person the ability to transform their suffering into something that brings them closer to their Creator.

V’sein chelki b’Gan Eiden “Grant my portion in the Garden of Eden”

The tefillah does not end with confession. It ends with hope.

Even as it acknowledges the possibility of death, it asks for a place in Gan Eden, for a share in the Oilom Habo that is reserved for the tzaddikim. This is not arrogance. It is the prayer of a neshamah that has done teshuvah and trusts that Hashem’s mercy is bigger than any sin. For the family at the bedside, these words are a source of comfort: your loved one’s neshamah is asking to go to a place of light and peace. A related tefillah that speaks to this same yearning is the prayer for eye pain.

Shetirpo’eini r’fu’oh sh’leimoh “That You heal me with a complete healing”

Even within the Vidui, there is a request for healing. The prayer asks first: heal me completely.

Only then does it say: and if not, let my death be a kaparah. This structure matters. It tells us that even at the final hour, we do not give up on refuah. We ask for it. We daven for it. And we leave the answer in Hashem’s hands. As long as a person breathes, there is hope. The Vidui holds both realities at once: the hope for healing and the acceptance of Hashem’s will.

How to Say This Prayer

The Vidui is ideally said by the sick person themselves, even if they can only whisper it. If they cannot speak at all, a family member or a rav says it on their behalf. The Shulchan Aruch teaches that we should approach gently and reassure the person that saying the Vidui does not mean they are giving up. Many people have said these words and recovered.

There is no required posture. If the person is lying in bed, they can say it lying down. If they are able to sit, they may sit. What matters is kavanah, that the words come from the heart. Before saying the Vidui, one may say the Shema and add personal words to Hashem. Hashem, I am sitting here torn between hope and fear. If healing is possible, send it now. If it is time, receive this neshamah with mercy.

When tefillah and tzedakah are paired together, they carry a unique weight. The Gemara in Bava Basra (10a) teaches that tzedakah can sweeten a harsh decree. When you give in the zechus of Rabbi Meir Baal Haness, you are asking Hashem to hear your cry in the merit of a tzaddik whose life was one long act of rescue. Elokah d’Meir aneni!. The jewish prayer for mental healing speaks to this same longing from a place of deep emunah.

Give Tzedakah in the Zechus of Rabbi Meir Baal Haness

The Gemara in Avodah Zarah (18a-18b) tells how Bruria, the wife of Rabbi Meir, asked him to rescue her sister who had been condemned by the Romans to a house of shame. Rabbi Meir took a purse of money and went to the guard. He approached the guard with a bribe, teaching him to say “Eloka d’Meir aneni!” – “God of Meir, answer me!” – if he was ever in danger. The guard asked for proof that the words would protect him. Rabbi Meir threw a clod of earth at nearby man-eating dogs – they lunged to devour him – and when he called out the phrase, the dogs turned away. Convinced, the guard released Bruria’s sister. Later, when the Romans discovered what happened, the guard was sentenced to hang – but he said “Eloka d’Meir aneni!” and was saved. By davening to Hashem with these words, you are asking Hashem to hear your prayer in the merit of a great tzaddik whose name became linked in the Gemara with a yeshuah in a time of danger.

For over two centuries, Jewish families have given tzedakah through Rabbi Meir Baal Haness Charities, founded in 1799, at the most difficult moments of their lives. The talmidei chachamim in Tiberias daven for those who give, by name, with kavanah. The charity supports talmidei chachamim and families in need in Eretz Yisrael. In this hour, when you feel the most helpless, giving tzedakah is something real you can do. It pairs your tefillah with action and connects your pain to something holy. You may find additional comfort in the prayer for terminal illness, a tefillah that speaks from the same place.

Give Tzedakah in the Zechus of Rabbi Meir Baal Haness

A Blessing in This Darkest Hour

May Hashem hold your loved one in His mercy, whether that means healing or peace. May the neshamah that is preparing to return to its Source feel no fear, only the warmth of the Shechinah. May you, the one sitting at the bedside, feel the strength of Hashem holding you too. And may the zechus of your tefillah and your tzedakah open gates of rachamim that you cannot see from here.

You can submit a prayer request to the scholars of Tiberias at no cost – they will daven for your loved one by name through Rabbi Meir Baal Haness Charities. And if you would like to give tzedakah in Rabbi Meir’s zechus as well, your kindness will rise together with your prayer.