Do you want to know how you can say Tehillim the way it was meant to be said? Please read on.
This week’s parsha closes a chapter in our history with the death of Yaakov Avinu and the haftarah does the same with Dovid HaMelech’s death.
What is Dovid HaMelech’s greatest legacy to us?
It is difficult for us to evaluate, but surely his authoring Sefer Tehillim is at the top of the list.
Let’s learn how to say Tehillim properly.
Rabbi Abraham Twerski tells the story of a couple married for many years who had not yet merited to have children.
The husband visited the Steipler Gaon who, according to the man’s description, “promised” him a child and, around nine months later, his wife indeed gave birth to a healthy baby.
The man told the story to Rav Eliezer Shach who mentioned it the next time he visited with the Steipler. “I was under the impression that it is not our practice and tradition to ‘perform miracles.’ How could you have promised that a child would be born?” Rav Shach asked.
The Gaon replied, “Let me share with you what happened. The man pleaded with me for a child and I gave him a blessing. But he said that receiving a bracha was not good enough and he wanted a promise. I told him that I am not G-d and there’s no way I could ever guarantee and promise him that he would have a child. But he was stubborn and would not leave. I was getting perturbed because I wanted to return to my regular learning sessions, so just to make him leave I finally gave in and promised him a child.
“Later, I regretted what I had done. How could I have promised him a child? So I said Tehillim for him. Lo and behold, Hashem answered my tefillos and a child was born!”
Rav Shach seemed relieved and smiled, saying, “Oh, now I understand. You said Tehillim. That’s not a miracle!”
Has this ever happened to you? You are in shul and the minyan just finished davening. You hear a klap on the bima and someone beginning a perek of Tehillim but you don’t exactly know why. You assume it is because someone is very sick or having a surgery that day. Then again, with the craziness of the world we live in today, it could, rachmanah l’tzlan, be a terror attack in Eretz Yisrael or somewhere else in the world.
The bottom line is that you really don’t know why you are saying Tehillim but you sincerely and dutifully have in mind that whatever the need is, Hakadosh Baruch Hu should send the healing and salvation.
Is this the ideal way to say Tehillim, not knowing why you are saying it?
This scenario is actually discussed by Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach (Halichos Shlomo, Tefilah, Perek 8:17:22). He writes that before reciting Tehillim on behalf of a sick person, the name of the person should be announced so that the tzibur is able to focus and have sincere kavana while davening for him or her. Knowing whom we are davening for and possibly being able to picture the person will always have a much bigger impact on our prayers than saying Tehillim without knowing why.
Rav Shlomo Zalman goes so far as to say that if the people do not know for whom they are davening and the Tehillim is said without the name being announced, merits are created, but the great benefit of a tefillas rabim for a choleh, a public prayer for a sick person, is not really generated.
In addition, there is another vital point that needs fixing, according to Rav Shlomo Zalman. Not everyone stays for the recitation of Tehillim (and some do need to leave for legitimate reasons), but even among those who do stay, many leave before the mishabeirach for the choleh is said. Rav Shlomo Zalman wrote that this is a big mistake. People don’t realize how the merit and zechus of Tehillim works.
When we recite Tehillim, we create zechuyos by saying the words of Dovid HaMelech and by connecting with the holy verses. The more we connect, the more feelings of closeness we will engender toward Hashem Yisborach, which creates merits for the choleh. The mishabeirach “seals the deal,” so to speak. After we say the Tehillim and create the zechus, we then need to daven for the choleh to get well, in the merit of the zechus. It is only when the tzibur answers Amein that tefilas rabim, public prayer for the person, is accomplished. So, whenever possible, please stay for the extra thirty seconds it takes to make the mishabeirach.
How can we say Tehillim with more meaning? The following is from Lekutei Maharan:
“Regarding the saying of Tehillim, Rebbe Nachman told a student that the main thing is to say the verses directed to one’s own life, to apply the messages of the verses to one’s own experiences. He further explained that in all the wars which Dovid HaMelech asked Hashem to grant him success, a person should interpret it as relating to his own wars with the yetzer hara. The student then asked Rebbe Nachman how one can relate to himself all of the phrases in which Dovid HaMelech praises himself, such as ‘Guard my soul for I am pious, ki chasid ani’ (Tehillim 86:2), and other similar passages?
“Rebbe Nachman answered that even in these cases, a person needs to interpret the verses as referring to himself, for a person should judge himself favorably and find in himself some merit and good point within one area in which that particular area he is a pious chasid, and so on.
“Concerning King Yehoshaphat it is written: ‘And he raised up his heart in the ways of Hashem’ (Divrei Hayamim II: 17:6), meaning that in the service of Hashem, he was somewhat prideful. The meaning is as we explained that a person needs to feel good and positive about himself in order to be able to have a drive to serve Hashem. In the morning, at first we say, ‘Ma anu, meh chayeinu, what are we, what is our life?’ etc., and we severely reduce ourselves and our accomplishments. But afterwards we say, ‘But we are Your People, the Children of Your Covenant.’ Here we strengthen ourselves and pronounce our greatness, that we are Hashem’s People and the children of Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov. One needs to live this way in the service of Hashem: to diminish oneself so as not to become arrogant but to also find the chasid point and area that each of us does possess” (Tinyana, os 125, translated loosely).
Tehillim has to talk to us and relate to our lives. We are not simply reciting the words of Dovid HaMelech and reading how he faced his challenges. We are not simply creating zechuyos and merits by saying ancient words. Rather, we are saying verses that need to be specifically relevant and applicable to our lives and situations.
This is the legacy of Dovid HaMelech.
