I know it sounds silly to create a ritual for doctor’s visits, but if you think back, wasn’t it traumatizing when you knew you were going to get a shot? This ritual is intended to help kids to have a focal point firmly grounded in their faith on the day of their visit to the doctor.
The morning of the doctor’s visit we pick flowers out of the garden and take them to the local convalesence hospital. We ask the nurses who is or has been ill and doesn’t have many visitors and we give the flowers to that person. On the car ride to the doctor’s office we discuss how important it is to stay healthy and to be able to help and care for others. How can we be a blessing to the world if we are too sick to help anyone else?
Once we are at the doctor’s office the kids meditate and pray for the doctor’s wisdom to increase before it is their turn. Once we are in the office and the shot is about to come, we hold hands and sing Debbie Friedman’s Misheiberach while the shot is given:
Mi Shebeirakh avoteinu M’kor habrakhah l’imoteinu.Â
May the source of strength who blessed the ones before us.
Help us find the courage to make our lives a blessing, and let us say Amen.
Mi Shebeirakh imoteinu M’kor habrakhah la’avoteinu.Â
Bless those in need of healing with refuah sheleimah,
The renewal of body, the renewal of spirit, and let us say: Amen.
After the doctor’s visit we always stop by the local drug store and getA writ of divorce. Traditionally, only a man can grant his wife a get. Liberal Jews have amended this tradition, making divorce more egalitarian. an ice cream for the one who just got the shot and an extra bottle of children’s Tylenol that we drop off at the children’s home collection box.
The change from the ice cream and Tylenol goes into the pushkeCharity (tzedakah) box [Yiddish]. and will be given to someone else at a later date.
