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I am reading a book A Jewish Woman's Prayer Book, by Aliza Lavie. In it the author writes:

Freiha was an eighteenth-century Moroccan poet who wrote in Hebrew under the pen-name Bat Yosef. Respectfully referred to as Rabbanit, she was a Torah scholar and life a legacy of writings and poems, few of which have survived. Her extensive library, including kabbalistic works, testified to the breadth of her learning. Women in her community approached her as they would a saint, often invoking her name in times of distress.

What does it mean, "invoking her name in times of distress?"

kouty
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    Probably "may the God of Freiha save me!" – Shalom Jul 21 '16 at 17:24
  • What makes you say/think/know so? –  Jul 21 '16 at 17:46
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    A popular charity today is called "Rabbi Meir the Miracle Man." On the side of the box it says, "God of Meir, answer me!" That's about as close to sainthood that Orthodox Jews will go without getting really theologically murky. – Shalom Jul 21 '16 at 18:13
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    By the merit of Frecha (please) answer! – kouty Jul 21 '16 at 18:41
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    Have you tried asking Dr. Lavie? – msh210 Jul 21 '16 at 18:47
  • How would one ask her? –  Jul 21 '16 at 18:50
  • I found this that might relate: http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/761128/jewish/Why-Use-the-Mothers-Name-When-Praying-for-Someone.htm –  Jul 21 '16 at 18:52
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    A variety of activities were practices legitimately or not (IMAO generally not, but that makes no difference) that utilized a variety of media as intermediaries of some sort for prayers. See http://judaism.stackexchange.com/a/62647/8775 for one example and http://judaism.stackexchange.com/a/56559/5083 for another example. Thus any number of possibilities exist for the case in question. – mevaqesh Jul 21 '16 at 20:19
  • See here about the Yemenites adding a mention of the Rambam to Kaddish: http://judaism.stackexchange.com/questions/3595/what-do-we-know-about-the-yemenites-adding-deleting-maimonides-from-their-pra – Menachem Jul 21 '16 at 22:27

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It is a current practice, see this text from Selichot "Merciful, remember for us the alliance/ praying/ jealousy/ merit of..." in Aramean.

Or as cited by Shalom, see this Selicha ("Answer us, G-d of/.../by merit of/ answer us!"):

עֲנֵנוּ אֶלֹהֵי אַבְרָהָם עֲנֵנו:‏

עֲנֵנוּ וּפַחַד יִצְחָק עֲנֵנוּ:‏

עֲנֵנוּ אֲבִיר יַעֲקֹב עֲנֵנוּ:‏

עֲנֵנוּ מָגֵן דָּוִד עֲנֵנוּ:‏

עֲנֵנוּ הָעוֹנֶה בְּעֵת רָצוֹן עֲנֵנוּ:‏

עֲנֵנוּ הָעוֹנֶה בְּעֵת צָרָה עֲנֵנוּ:‏

עֲנֵנוּ הָעוֹנֶה בְּעֵת רַחֲמִים עֲנֵנוּ:‏

עֲנֵנוּ אֱלֹהֵי הַמֶּרְכָּבָה עֲנֵנוּ:‏

עֲנֵנוּ אֱלָהָא דְּמֵאִיר עֲנֵנוּ:‏

עננו בזכותיה דבר יוחאי עננו:‏

עננו משגב האמהות עננו:‏

עננו עזרת השבטים עננו:‏

עֲנֵנוּ רַחוּם וְחַנּוּן עֲנֵנוּ:‏

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kouty
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