The particular formulation of this prayer is very significant. Here within the wording of our request, we address God by His essential name for the first time: “Heal us, YHVH, and we will be healed.” We are actually calling to God using His personal name. Equate this to calling your mother or father by their first name! The use of YHVH in our request indicates that we have taken another step up in our self-confidence and are now standing even straighter in the presence of God. The wording of this request requires some clarification. Why do we say, “Heal us, YHVH, and we will be healed, save us and we will be saved” instead of simply saying, “Heal us and save us, YHVH”? What do the words, “and we will be healed … and we will be saved” add to the request? Before offering an answer, we need to remember the lesson from Chapter 1—when someone is forced to accept help, his self-worth is diminished. As noted, this idea is reflected in the laws of giving charity (tzedakah), which state that the ideal way to help someone is to give him a job. Earning his own livelihood empowers the person and helps restore his confidence and self-esteem. The same goes for healing. Being healed, especially in cases of life and death, leaves the patient with diminished self-worth and in tremendous debt to the doctor. This concept reminds me of an episode of I Love Lucy, in which Lucy saves a man’s life. According to his tradition, he is obligated from then on to be Lucy’s slave—his life belongs to her. The skit, although exaggerated, accurately portrays human nature. God, however, heals and saves us completely, without diminishing us. As we saw in the first blessing, God helps us, saves us and also shields us from the harmful affects that His help and salvation can have on our self-worth. When we recite the words—“Heal us, YHVH, and we will be healed, save us and we will be saved”—we acknowledge that God, in His great kindness, completely heals us and saves us without damaging our self-worth in the least. In addition, we acknowledge that only if God heals us, will we be healed, and only if God saves us, will we be saved. Some people think that modern medicine will heal them and save their life. This is incorrect. God is the only source of healing and salvation. Of course, God has many agents and instruments through which He works. But it is not the pen that writes the poem, but the poet who wields the pen. The poem was written through the pen, but not by the pen. We never put our faith in the doctor or in the medicine but in God, the Master of all healing. Of course, we must seek the best medical practitioners and experts in their field, however, we must never forget that only God heals, and any expert is merely a channel for God’s healing power.