Rabbeinu Chida's Prayer Against All Types of Fear

Rabbeinu Chida's Prayer Against All Types of Fear

We are living in an extremely challenging time known as "Chevlei Mashiach" (the birth pangs of Mashiach). The sages of the Talmud wrote that it would be better not to have been born than to live through this period. Wars, conflicts, crises, and epidemics follow one another. The human soul, tender by nature, is forced to live in the grip of various phobias. In the sefer «Kaf Achat» Rabbeinu Chida offers a Prayer Against All Types of Fear.  

Rabbeinu Chida's Prayer Against Fear

  1. Recite the following pasuk three times: יְהוָה הוֹשִׁיעָה הַמֶּלֶךְ יַעֲנֵנוּ בְיוֹם קָרְאֵנוּ - «Ad-nai hoshi'ah, Ha-Melekh ya'anenu veyom kor'einu» - (G-d, save us! May the King answer us when we call upon Him);   2. Take a Chumash (the Five Books of Moses), place your right hand on it, and read all of Psalm 53. When reciting the sixth pasuk: - «Sham pachadu pachad lo hayah pachad» - (there they will be seized by terror—terror such as they have never known)—when saying the words: «pachadu pachad», knock twice on the Chumash with your right hand. Then finish reading the entire psalm and recite Tehillim (41:4) three times: יְהוָה יִסְעָדֶנּוּ עַל עֶרֶשׂ דְּוָי כָּל מִשְׁכָּבוֹ הָפַכְתָּ בְחָלְיוֹ - «Ad-nai yis'adenu al eres devai kol mishkavo hafachta ve-cholyo» - (G-d will sustain him upon his sickbed; You will transform his entire bed in his illness).   3. Recite Tehillim (90:17)—the pasuk «Vihi Noam»—once in the regular order and once in reverse: - «Vihi noam Ad-nai Eloheinu aleinu, uma'aseh yadeinu konenah aleinu, uma'aseh yadeinu konenehu» – «konenehu yadeinu uma'aseh aleinu konenah yadeinu uma'aseh aleinu Eloheinu Ad-nai noam vihi» (May the favor of G-d, our G-d, rest upon us. Establish for us the work of our hands; establish the work of our hands.)   4. After this, recite Tehillim (91:11): כִּ֣י מַ֭לְאָכָיו יְצַוֶּה־לָּ֑ךְ לִ֝שְׁמָרְךָ֗ בְּכָל־דְּרָכֶֽיךָ - «Ki mal'akhav yitzaveh lach, lishmorcha bechol derachecha» - (for He will command His angels concerning you, to guard you on all your ways). At this point, have kavanah regarding the Holy Names encoded in this pasuk (look at them—do not pronounce them)— יוהכ כלכ 5. At the end of the Prayer, recite the eighth blessing of the Amidah: רְפָאֵנִי ה’ וְאֵרָפֵא הוֹשִׁיעֵנִי וְאִוָּשֵׁעָה כִּי תְהִלָּתִי אָתָּה - «Refa'einu Ad-nai venerafei, hoshi'einu venivashe'ah, ki tehilatenu Atah» - (heal me, G-d, and I will be healed; save me, and I will be saved, for You are my praise). In the abbreviated version, Rabbeinu Chida advises reciting Psalm 53 nine times.