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Is there a correct or preferred point (aliyah) during the Shabbat Torah reading at which the traditional "mi shebeirach lecholim" prayer for the sick should be recited by the gabbai?

If such a preferred point in the Torah reading exists, what is the reason for the mishebeirach lecholim prayer to be recited at this particular position?

My experience is that in many shuls the custom is for the mishebeirach lecholim to be recited immediately following the mishebeirach for the 6th aliyah. However, I am unable to find a reason or source for this practice.

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    If the people being prayed for are deathly ill, why wouldn’t you pray for them as early as possible?
    – Joel K
    Feb 16, 2021 at 10:59
  • Fair point. However, during the Shabbat morning service there is a communal prayer , customarily recited while the Torah scroll is on the bimah, when the names of the sick are read out together.
    – LawrenceN
    Feb 16, 2021 at 11:23
  • Shabbat is not generally an appropriate time to pray for sick people (or other personal physical needs). As such, any anomalous urgent prayer for emergent situations wouldn't have a traditional set place in the service.
    – Double AA ♦
    Feb 16, 2021 at 13:54
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    DoubleAA, you are theoretically correct concerning praying for personal needs. Still, the custom to pray on Shabbat for the recovery from sickness of others is not classified as a personal request and the practice is virtually universally accepted amongst all congregations and communities; moreover, there is a special "mishebeirach" for this purpose
    – LawrenceN
    Feb 17, 2021 at 14:22
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    I was not asking about an ordinary mishebeirach (i.e., weekday) but specifically the one for Shabbat. The version of the Shabbat mishebeirach lecholim recited in my shul (and at all other shuls I have ever attended) employs the formula "שבת היא מלזעוק ורפואה קרובה לבוא ". Therefore, I suppose we're covered.
    – LawrenceN
    Feb 17, 2021 at 16:17

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This question intrigued me, as in the I Shul I Daven in, they say it after Maftir.

Yes, per the Mishna Berura 288:28 one may make a Mi Sheberach for a sick person on Shabbos, so long as you say שבת היא מלזעוק ורפואה קרובה לבוא.

Although I have not been able to find a source for doing this after Shishi, I have found a interesting tidbit in Sefer Shaarei Yemei HaPurim - Chapter 2:5 - Page 19. In discussing a situation where there is a need for three Sifrei Torah, and the Shul only has two. He says that in a Shul where they say Mi Sheberach for the sick, it should be said at this point (I think he means after Shishi) and roll the Sefer Torah at the same time, in order to avoid טירחא דציבורא later, when you need to use the first Sefer Torah again.

Perhaps, due to this it became the preferred time to say a Mi Sheberach for the sick, after Shishi in many Shuls.

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    R' Hershel Schachter wrote that interrupting between Maftir and Haftara as your shul does is incorrect yutorah.org/lectures/lecture.cfm/957153/rabbi-hershel-schachter/… (and he has a good proof from that we don't allow you to say kaddish then; if you said a kaddish after maftir you have to repeat maftir aliyah because of the interruption).
    – Double AA ♦
    Feb 18, 2021 at 16:15
  • @DoubleAA I will show to my Rabbi. Thanks.
    – Gershon Gold
    Feb 18, 2021 at 16:17
  • @DoubleAA We say Kaddish after the seventh aliya. Never saw them say Kaddish after Maftir.
    – Gershon Gold
    Feb 18, 2021 at 16:21
  • Bedieved the seventh aliya is a maftir. It's quite rare so you've probably never seen it (I've never seen it), but the halacha is if you find a mistake in the torah after shvi'i before kaddish then you let the seventh oleh read haftara and delay kaddish till after haftara so as to not have to take out another torah for a maftir. If you found the mistake after kaddish then you have to take out a new torah since you now need to read a maftir. See OC 282:5
    – Double AA ♦
    Feb 18, 2021 at 16:23
  • This almost happened to me last shabbat. There was a smudge in a letter in the last pasuk of the parsha that stopped the reader, but it was deemed still kosher. So close!
    – Double AA ♦
    Jun 15, 2022 at 18:52

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