‘Bless the doctors’: Chief Rabbi unveils coronavirus prayer to recite at home

The chief rabbi has unveiled a coronavirus-themed prayer to recite at home as the pandemic continues to sweep the UK.

The total number of confirmed cases has surpassed 5,600, while the death toll has reached 281.

Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis, who ordered closed all synagogues under his auspices last week, took to Facebook on Friday to share his composition.

The prayer, which can be recited at any time, praises “doctors, nurses, all healthcare professionals and key workers, who tirelessly seek to heal and help those affecting, while in doing so put themselves at risk.”

It calls on members of the public to open their “hearts” and extend their “hands in generosity to guarantee that the physical distance this virus creates between us will be bridged with compassion and kindness.”

Meanwhile, Liberal Judaism’s Rabbi Elli Tikvah Sarah called for greater unity amid social distancing measures in a prayer written during the pandemic.

“As social distancing prevents us from experiencing the joys of life in community, may the need to withdraw and stay well be accompanied by the urge to reach out to others with compassion and care and to forge and renew connections, even in the absence of physical contact,” it says.

The prayer was shared on Twitter last Friday by the senior reform rabbi Laura Janner-Klausner.