What are the Parameters for Healing on Shabbat?

Parashat Vayakhel, Pekudei
What are the Parameters for Healing on Shabbat? 

On Shabbat, we Enjoy Rather than Improve Reality
Working hard the entire week, we look forward to Shabbat when our computers and cellphones get a respite to recharge. Shabbat is a day of rest when reality returns to its intended perfection. Just like Hashem rested from creating on the very first Shabbat, so are we instructed to emulate Him, and rest from the thirty-nine kinds of creative work through which the Mishkan (Tabernacle) is built. The holiness of Shabbat overrides even the building of the holy Mishkan and Temple because on Shabbat we are supposed to enjoy the world rather than improve it. Conversely, during the six days of creation, Hashem empowered us to work in partnership with Him to improve the world, for He created the world with the desire that human beings continue His creation as it states,

בראשית פרק ב פסוק ג

:וַיְבָרֶךְ אֱלֹהִים אֶת יוֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִי וַיְקַדֵּשׁ אֹתוֹ כִּי בוֹ שָׁבַת מִכָּל מְלַאכְתּוֹ אֲשֶׁר בָּרָא אֱלֹהִים לַעֲשׂוֹת

“Then G-d completed on the seventh day His work that He did, and He abstained on the seventh day from all His work that He had created to do” (Bereishit 2:3).

“He had created to do,” refers to Hashem’s intention for us to complete and improve His work of the six days of creation. Yet, on the seventh day, G-d – and we with Him – abstain from completing the world, as on every Shabbat everything is already complete. On this day of rest, rather than work to complete and improve the world, we accept and open ourselves to receive the sanctity imbued in the holy Shabbat and enjoy this divine gift of weekly perfection. Therefore, when we visit a sick person on Shabbat, we don’t bless him with the usual, “May you have refuah sheleima (complete healing)! This would imply a prayer for improving his state of health, but we aren’t supposed to improve anything on Shabbat. Rather, the Shabbat blessing for the sick is tapping into what is already happening on Shabbat, saying: שַׁבָּת הִיא מִלִּזְעֹק - וּרְפוּאָה קְרוֹבָה לָבוֹא/Shabbat hi m’la’azok, v’refuah kerova lavo! – “On Shabbat, we don’t cry out, but complete healing is soon to come.” We pray that the sick person will open herself up to receive the blessings of healing already encoded within the holy Shabbat. 

What are Some Principles of Performing Healing on Shabbat?
Parashat Vayakhel opens with the mitzvah for the entire community to keep Shabbat:

ספר שמות פרק לה פסוק ב
שֵׁשֶׁת יָמִים תֵּעָשֶׂה מְלָאכָה וּבַיּוֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִי יִהְיֶה לָכֶם קֹדֶשׁ שַׁבַּת שַׁבָּתוֹן לַהָשֵׁם כָּל הָעֹשֶׂה בוֹ מְלָאכָה יוּמָת:
“Six days work may be done, but on the seventh day you shall have sanctity, a day of complete rest to Hashem; whoever performs work thereon [on this day] shall be put to death” (Shemot 35:2).

Due to the sanctity and perfection of Shabbat, there are many limitations on creative works that aim to change reality on Shabbat. This includes healing on Shabbat, safe for the exceptions such as Pikuach Nefesh – when life is endangered, as we are supposed to live by the Torah, and not, G-d forbid, cause death by keeping the mitzvot of the Torah (See Vayikra 18:5). This concept is extended to permitting healing even for illnesses which are not life threatening, such as for a person who is bedridden, or who experiences severe pain causing weakness and difficulty functioning. For minor illnesses and discomforts – such as mild toothaches, sore throats, coughs, and colds – the exceptions are because healing for such minor ailments will not change reality greatly. Nevertheless, for most of those minor ailments, it is prohibited to take medicine, unless the person began taking it before Shabbat. Rather, she may ingest food – which healthy people also eat – such as spirulina and any kinds of superfoods, lemons, olive oil, flax seeds, tincture similar to liquor that people drink for enjoyment, and more. 

Is EmunaHealing (Spiritual Healing from the Torah) Permitted on Shabbat?
Since EmunaHealing generally is not attempting to change reality but rather to open and release spiritual and emotional blocks that prevent us from receiving the healing that perpetually flows down to us, it is for the most permitted on Shabbat. This holy day is even a favorable time for EmunaHealing because both Shabbat and EmunaHealing are all about receiving Hashem’s Presence into our lives. Yet, on Shabbat, we don’t make petitions or pray for our personal or national needs. For this reason, the Amidah (silent prayer) on Shabbat eliminates all the ‘requests’ for knowledge, forgiveness, redemption, health, sustenance, the ingathering of exiles, the rule of justice, the rebuilding of Jerusalem, and the coming of the Mashiach. Also regarding EmunaHealing, there are some adaptations to make for Shabbat. We do not recite the parts of some of the EmunaHealing prayers that ask for forgiveness on Shabbat, since all sins are considered non-existent on Shabbat, for everything is already perfect then. Yet, opening the channels to receive answers from Hashem and connecting ourselves and those we treat with Divine Unconditional Love, Acceptance, and Infinite Light – which begins most of the EmuaHealing prayers – is certainly appropriate for Shabbat.

EmunaHealing Exercise for Receiving Divine Healing on Shabbat
1. Ahh it's Shabbat, what a delight! Let us take several deep breaths, inhaling the holiness of Shabbat and emptying our lungs completely on the exhale so that they will naturally refill with fresh oxygen and holy Shabbat air.
2. Now it is your time to let go. Let go, let go, let go of anything blocking you in any way from allowing Hashem’s life-giving light to enter every fiber of your being.
3. Breathe in deeply and breathe out to a loud ahhh sigh, as you let go of any tension you may feel in any part of your being! Ahhh! How good it feels to let go, so good, ahhh!!!!
4. Visualize the light of Shabbat like a crown of white light above your head. Thank Hashem for the light of Shabbat! Praise Hashem for the light of Shabbat.
5. Inhale deeply and smell the scent of Shabbat, exhale any weekday worries to enter the sacred space of Shabbat. Inhale once more, allowing the scent of Shabbat to enter you through your nostrils. Exhale all the negativity, tension, and worries – allowing them all to completely leave you.
6. Become aware of your forehead as you breathe the white Shabbat light into your temple. Keep breathing and inhaling the light. Notice how the Shabbat light radiates from your brow, mindfully let it shine!   
7. You are entering the sacred space of Shabbat beyond this world. Feel yourself levitating to the elevated Shabbat level. Your Neshama Yetera (extra soul) of Shabbat is carrying you on white dovish wings. Carrying you on the wings of peace. You are at peace right now as you sit here upright on your cushion, the grass, or your chair, so completely at peace.
8. Bring the white light of Shabbat into your heart, and let it illuminate it, gently and compassionately healing you and guiding you to let go of any pain, childhood wounds or traumas from your heart.
9. Keep breathing while focusing on any place in your body that needs healing. Is it a slight headache, lower back pain or a scratchy throat? Focus on the point of discomfort and guide the white light of Shabbat into that exact place, to open and release the pain.
10. Repeat guiding the white Shabbat light into any part of your body or emotional body that is in discomfort or even just slightly tense.
11. Release each point of pain wherever it can be felt, even faintly. Let the white healing Shabbat light of peace enter and transform your points of pain to become points of peace.
12. On Shabbat all is good, all is G-d. Let go of any resistance to allow the feeling of peace to enter every part of your being. As you breathe into each point of pain, imagine telling that body part, “Shabbat Shalom, Shabbat Shalom!” Greet your head, neck, and shoulder with Shabbat Shalom. Feel how the Shabbat Light of Peace has dissipated any trace of prior ailments.
13. Greet your diaphragm, lungs, and heart with “Shabbat Shalom,” and visualize the white Shabbat light shining through them. Allow yourself to welcome the healing, with each “Shabbat Shalom!”
14. Greet your arms, legs fingers, and toes with “Shabbat Shalom” accompanied by the white healing light of Shabbat. Feel how any tension melts away in the wake of the healing Shabbat light.
15. Turn your attention to your pelvic area, with their inner organs. Greet your pelvic area with “Shabbat Shalom” and allow any pain in that area to dissolve.
16. Here you are fully illuminated, fully aware, healthy, and strong, totally at peace with yourself, with Hashem, and with your environment. Since you have released all those points of pain, you are so open now, so relaxed, so whole, and connected! You keep breathing Hashem’s loving light into every part of your being. You are beloved!