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TEHILLIM / PSALMS

Over the past month, all of the regular prayer sessions in our synagogue have been concluded with the recitation of three chapters of Tehillim – Psalms. The time honored Jewish custom has always been that at times of danger and duress, whether for an individual or for the Jewish people collectively, the recitation of Tehillim in order to ameliorate the situation is in order. The purpose, naturally, of this recitation of Tehillim, is to beseech God to intervene on behalf of the person endangered or the people of Israel when they are threatened.

 

The recitation of Tehillim was always seen as a major weapon of Israel in its struggle to survive in a very hostile world. Since God and His ways are inscrutable, we almost never have any accurate measure as to the effect that our recitation of Tehillim has in any one given situation. Jews nevertheless believe that the recitation of Tehillim in times of trouble is a necessary and effective means of reaching out to the Lord for help when apparently all else has failed to redress the situation.

 

However, the benefit of the recitation of Tehillim is not restricted to the improvement of the situation itself. It is also, and perhaps even primarily so, of benefit psychologically and spiritually to those that are reciting the Tehillim themselves. It gives the otherwise helpless bystander an opportunity to do something positive for the cause and to feel productive in the hour of need that one faces. One should never underestimate the need for such an outlet in times of stress and trouble.

 

Tehillim is not only comforting, it is prescient as well. In our synagogue, we recite the eighty-third psalm daily now. That psalm, written well over two millennia ago, details for us by name all of our current enemies. The Palestinians are mentioned, as are the dwellers of Tyre in Lebanon. Present day Syria also merits oblique reference in the psalm. Our ancient, seemingly indestructible, enemy Amalek is also included in this psalm. Amalek takes on different guises in the world and in Jewish history. In the story of Purim, Haman is portrayed as being a descendant of Amalek. That Amalek was a leader of Persia, the forerunner to present day Iran. Haman has worthy successors in the Iran of today.

 

Thus, the entire set of main characters in our current drama is described to us in the “playbill” of the eighty-third psalm. I find it to be oddly comforting that this psalm reads like current events and not like ancient history. It reinforces my belief as to the effectiveness and relevance of reciting Tehillim at a time such as this. It also buttresses my faith that just like the ancient enemies of Israel were defeated and relegated to the ash heap of history, so too will their current successors meet the same fate at the hands of the people and the God of Israel. Tehillim is most comforting in its sense of the reality of the situation and its optimism in seeing victory at the end of the day.

 

An old Jewish joke has a Jew running away in despair from a potentially disastrous occurrence shouting: "We can no longer rely on miracles. Therefore, let us now begin to recite Tehillim!" Jews see the recitation of Tehillim as a natural reaction to a troubled time and not necessarily as purely an appeal for miracles. No matter, how the situation unfolds there are appropriate psalms present in Tehillim to help us somehow cope with the events and trauma of the time. The rabbis of the Talmud elevated the recitation of Tehillim to the level of Torah study itself.

 

The recitation of Tehillim is a daily event for countless numbers of Jews the world over. The psalms of Tehillim are an important facet in the context of our daily prayer. Tehillim is recited at all occasions and at the life cycle events in Judaism’s practice and ritual. Tehillim is joyous and song-filled; it is also sober and realistic. It comes to comfort us in our hour of need and to console us in the midst of our sense of loss, pain and grief.

 

Tehillim is present with us under the wedding canopy and at the gravesite, in our homes and in our synagogue, in the hospital and in the doctor’s waiting room. It is perhaps the most ubiquitous book in the Jewish library, for it accompanies us everywhere on our life’s journey. In Temple times the words of Tehillim were the lyrics for the music of the Levites. In our times, the words of Tehillim are the balm for our souls and the comfort for our broken hearts.

 

Shabat shalom.

Berel Wein