“I lift my eyes to the hills; from where will my help come? My help comes from Hashem who made heaven and earth.” These words of Dovid HaMelech have often brought me comfort. No matter what the event – whether sad or happy, comforting or frightening, tense or peaceful – there is a psalm to match every occasion.
In recent years there has been a sprouting of Tehillim groups throughout the world. Davening Tehillim on one’s own is good, but completing Sefer Tehillim with a group is far superior. Concerning the latter, Rebbetzin Shaindy Gross described it as laser treatment. Loads of energy is focused on a spot and miracles can occur and do occur.
Chaya from South America was visiting Israel and attended a Tehillim group in Har Nof. She was so impressed with the idea that she decided to start one in her community. The next day a little boy was run over by a school van. He was taken to Hadassah Hospital for examination, and the doctors could not find any injuries. The young boy was Chaya’s son.
While traveling to and from Kever Rachel with friends I have heard some amazing Tehillim stories. Sara did not have an easy childhood. As an adult in Israel she became religious. Boruch Hashem, she married a religious man. She was married for several years before becoming pregnant. Her medical problems during pregnancy would fill a medical journal.
On Ta’anit Esther, Sara was rushed to Sharei Tzedek Hospital with a life-threatening medical emergency. When my friend Miriam arrived at the hospital, she waited outside of the intensive care unit for news of Sara’s condition. An announcement was made over the public address system which caused a large group of medical staff to run to the ICU.
While this was occurring, Miriam waited in the waiting room and davened Tehillim. A few men came over to Miriam to ask for Sara’s name. More men suddenly appeared out of nowhere and all of them davened Tehillim.
A while later, a large group of medical personnel exited the ICU. The men who were davening Tehillim for Sara disappeared as quickly as they had come. Sara had pulled through.
But she still had another 3 and a 1/2 months until the end of her pregnancy. Would it end safely and happily? Boruch HaShem Sara gave birth to a healthy baby boy.
J., another friend in the group that traveled to Kever Rachel each week, told me this account. She has a Tehillim group in her home several times a week. One Shabbat the group davened for a girlfriend of one of her daughters. Her daughter’s friend was critically ill following a Caesarian section.
When Shabbat ended, my friend’s daughter received the news that her friend had recovered – despite the fact that she had previously been pronounced brain dead! G-d willing more people will realize that prayer is a powerful spiritual drug.
The following story, which happened to a former neighbor attests to the power of Tehillim. One night Rose could not sleep. She was concerned about a school issue with one of her children. She decided to get up and daven Tehillim.
Earlier that evening, her oldest child Boruch had taken the car to visit a friend in a yeshiva outside of Yerushalayim. On his way back he fell asleep at the wheel. The car crashed into a pole on the side of the highway. The car was totaled. Miraculously, he received only a small cut on his face. An Arab driving by noticed the accident and stopped. The cell phone was extricated from the car to call for help.
At the time that his mother could not sleep, she assumed that her son had returned home and was asleep in his bed. When she found out about the car accident, she realized that when she had risen to daven Tehillim for one child’s success, it was the time of her oldest child’s accident.
The story does not end here. Not too long afterwards, her son was sitting with a friend on a park bench overlooking the Jerusalem forest. As they spoke, from down below there was a sudden screech of brakes, a crash, a scream and then silence. Boruch quickly dialed HaChovesh, the local ambulance service. He told them the approximate location of the car accident.
He and his friend rushed down to the forest road and searched for victims. They found the injured driver, who had been thrown by the impact, into the forest. Had Boruch not heard the accident and sprung into action, the man would probably not have survived the night due to the cold exposure and his injuries. It is interesting to note that Rose is a volunteer for HaChovesh.
One Elul, I attended an evening of shiurim regarding Tehillim groups. One of the rebbetzins who spoke told the following story:
In her Tehillim group there is a woman who is a regular attendee. Usually she is very quiet, but one week she overcame her shyness because she felt that she had to tell the group what had occurred.
The participant said that on the way to the Tehillim group the previous week, she suddenly remembered that it was the yahrzeit of an aunt of hers. At the Tehillim group she quietly dedicated the saying of the book of Tehillim for an ilui neshama of her aunt.
That night her aunt came to her niece in a dream. She told her niece, “You can’t imagine what your Tehillim did in shemayim!”
I started a Tehillim group for women when we moved to our community in Gush Etzion. Due to this, a neighbor started one for men which takes place on Shabbat after mincha, wherein they complete two books of Tehillim.
Recently a neighbor, who splits her time between our community and her home in another city, came to hear her daughter give a shiur on Shabbat. I approached both of them and asked if they would like to join our small group and daven Tehillim. They acquiesced. Afterwards the mother told me that she now plans to have the women, who gather in her neighborhood for a Shabbat shiur, recite Tehillim.
