December, 2019
Several years ago, a member of my previous shul was in a horrible accident. Although she was not frum, she was a modestly wealthy woman who paid dues to many of the shuls in our small community, including the Conservative and Reform temples, and divided her time among all of them. So when the news of her misfortune spread, the entire Jewish community was deeply distraught.
My shul decided to invite everyone in town to our beis haknesses for a night of Tehillim. In addition to Chabad and the other Orthodox shuls, we invited the non-frum denominations to announce the program. We would come together as Jews and pray for this woman’s recovery ina respectful manner. That night was a tremendous kiddush Hashem.
In anticipation of the evening, I prepared what I hoped would be a short and inspiring introductory drashah about the power of tefillah in general and Tehillim in particular. I asked my wife for advice about what I could share that would speak to Jews of such differing backgrounds and levels of observance.
Her response was magnificent!
She reminded me that everyone in attendance used a specific siddur and nusach, and it was likely that with Sefardim, Ashkenazim, and Chabad—not to mention, l’havdil, the altered prayer books of the other denominations—in the room, there would be few people, if any, who recited the same Shemoneh Esrei.
In addition, she continued, few shared the same minhagim for Kiddush,forthe type of matzahor Haggadah they used on Pesach or the daled minim they used on Sukkos. However, the one thing they all shared—and that all Jews share—was an identical Sefer Tehillim.
A mystic in eighteenth-century Egypt and a child in the Warsaw Ghetto recited the same Tehillim. The Psalms have never changed; they have been the same for all people throughout the ages, the tears shed over their pages inestimable.
What a wonderful way to preface that evening’s tefillos and to remind people of the power and unifying force of Tehillim.
(See the new addition to Emes L’Yaakov on the second half of nach regaring why it is not called ‘Tehillos’; see however Malbim inter alia who indeed call it by that feminine name)
I open with this story so that reader knows where I stand, and that the forthcoming is only l’hagdil Torah u’l’haadirah.
A few months ago, someone in my shul shared with me an article he had read online, a well-researched halachah paper discussing the efficacy, and even the permissibility, of reciting Tehillim for those who are ill, limiting it to very specific times. He was shocked by the article’s strict conclusions and asked for my opinion.
This touches on last week’s column as well, which mentioned some interesting segulos related to Chanukah and other occasions when reciting certain kapitlach of Tehillim are said to ward off tragedy. In fact, there are many references to special perakim of Tehillim that one can recite for a variety of situations and times.
While this is a minhag Yisrael, it is not an easy one to understand. The Gemarateaches that it is forbidden to use pesukim to heal oneself, and that at times, doing so can diminish one’s share in Olam Haba (Shavuos 15b).
While the Gemara concludes that one may recite pesukim to prevent danger or tragedy, our common practice is to say Tehillim for a refuah or yeshuah for something that already exists.
How is this allowed?
The Rambam writes, “Should someone recite a pasuk as an incantation for a wound, or so that a child should stop crying, or he places tefillin next to a child so that he will sleep, not only is he in violation of the [prohibition against] forbidden incantations, but he is a denier of the Torah, for he makes the Torah into a healer of bodies when it is there to mend souls… However, a healthy person may recite pesukim or Tehillim to protect against future sufferings and prevent them from arising” (Hilchos Ovdei Kochavim 11:12).
Rav Moshe Sternbuch posits that the answer must be that when we recite Tehillim for someone who is ill, we are asking Hashem to heal that person in the zechus of our Torah study, not simply because of the power of the pesukim (Shu”t Teshuvos V’hanhagos 1:121). For this reason, he explains, one should omit the line in the Yehi Ratzon stating, “In the merit of Tehillim, of the verses, words and letters” and say instead, “In the zechus of our davening to You through Tehillim, its pesukim, words and letters”; this way, we clarify that our intent is not to use the pesukim as a “magic potion.”
Similarly, the Tzitz Eliezer (17:30) writes that one may learn Torah or daven for the benefit of his soul, even if he also wishes to heal a physical condition.
We can add that the Midrash Tehillim famously teaches that Dovid Hamelechprayed that the recital of Tehillim should be equal to learning nega’im v’ohalos—the most difficult portions of Shas! Perhaps he too was concerned that people might use Tehillim as a type of “magical” segulah and he wanted to emphasize that we recite Tehillim as Torah study—and in that merit people would be healed.
The last line in the Tzitz Eliezer is the one that is most critical. “Hanach lahen l’Yisrael, im ein nev’iim heim, bnei nevi’im heim—leave bnei Yisrael as they are, for if they are not prophets, then they are at least the children of prophets.”
As I explained to the congregant who showed me the online halachah article about Tehillim, this line from the Tzitz Eliezer is the key. Mesorah is our greatest value, and we rarely question a mesorah of our gedolim,including a practice that they did not protest. This includes the practice of reciting Tehillim for an existing situation of need.
The Debrecziner Rav was once asked if it is permissible to make eggs and onions on Shabbos, a common staple in my and many others’ homes, (Shu”t Be’er Moshe 5:44). The shoel’s concern was one of lush. His answer is illustrative of the way psak halachah often works.
“It is mutar, and we may ignore the agitation raised by some who claim that making this dish violates the melachah of lush [kneading]. For have our forefathers not told us how they used to make this dish in front of gedoleiolam [on Shabbos]? And indeed, that was the custom of my sainted father and grandfather. Therefore, the matter is simple; it is allowed without any reservation.”
Only after saying this did he go into the halachic particulars.
If a practice was sanctioned by gedolim before us and is now widespread, it is rarely our place to call it into question. (For example, see a letter from Rav Gifter to Rav Henkin – in the recently published first volume of Rav Henkin’s teshuvos -questioning how the latter could forbid making Kiddush before tekias shofar when so many yeshivos did just that. See ibid. Rav Henkin’s response.)
While the question of the recital of Tehillim is a fascinating one, we walk on dangerous ground should we even consider doing away with a practice that has been in use for generations.
For further research on this topic, see also the yarchon ‘Ohr Yisroel’ #15, Rav Greenwald, for how long the Jewish people have been reciting Tehillim for the sick and as a zechus.
May the zechus of abiding by our mesorah bring refuos and yeshuos to all in need.
Leave a Reply