If the sick person is not yet established and known to all as ill, one should not refer to him as “sick” in his requests.
Sources and Explanations
Piskei Teshuvot (siman 116, se’if 2) writes, in the name of the sefer Darkei Chaim VeShalom (ot 220), that one should not say in a prayer “May He bless and heal the sick person,” so as not to establish him in the status of a sick person. Similarly, we find in the Shulchan Aruch (Yoreh De’ah 335:1) that although visiting the sick is a mitzvah, those who are distant should not enter to visit him until the third day. The Taz there writes in the name of the Bach: “The reason is so that his mazal (fortune) not be weakened by placing upon him the label of a sick person, as we say in Nedarim (40a): Rava, on the first day that he fell ill, would say, ‘Do not reveal it to people, so that my mazal not be weakened,’ etc. But with relatives and friends who constantly enter his home, it is not so noticeable.” Therefore, when one makes a request for the sick person, he should ask only that Hakadosh Baruch Hu (the Holy One, blessed be He) strengthen him with robust health, etc., and he may conclude as the Shulchan Aruch rules (Yoreh De’ah 335:6): “May the Omnipresent have mercy on you among the sick of Israel.”
Regarding prayer for a sick person, Ohr LeTzion (vol. 2, p. 76) writes that if the sick person is a member of his household, he may pray for him in the berachah of “Refa’enu,” and if he is not a member of his household, he should pray for him in “Shomea Tefillah.” If the sick person is a Torah scholar, even though he is not his relative, he should pray for him in the berachah of “Refa’enu.” He explained this based on the ruling of the Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chaim 119), which states: “If one wishes to add in each of the middle berachot something relevant to that berachah, he may add. How so? If he had a sick person, he requests mercy for him in the berachah of Refa’enu; if he needed livelihood, he requests it in the berachah of the years. And in Shomea Tefillah he may ask for all his needs, for it includes all requests.”
It appears that when one prays for someone who is not a member of his household, this is considered like the needs of the public, and he should pray for him only in Shomea Tefillah. And it appears that a sick Torah scholar is considered like a member of one’s household, as stated in the Gemara (Shabbat 105b): when a scholar dies, everyone is his relative. Therefore one may pray for him in Refa’enu.
The Mishnah Berurah (se’if katan 3) adds that one may pray for sick people in “Refa’enu,” saying: “Please heal so-and-so the son/daughter of so-and-so with a complete healing among the other sick of Israel.”
From the sefer “Shaf Veyativ – Laws of Saying Tehillim” by Rabbi Shay Tahan, Chapter 9: Saying Tehillim for the Sick, Halacha 1 (p. 137 in the print edition). Translated from the Hebrew original.
