How Reading Tehillim Changes Our Lives

The story of a woman whose life was changed by reading Tehillim.

"I always found it difficult to relate to the Psalms: ‘G-d is my Shepherd’—phrases like that always evoked associations with Christianity. I could not understand those women who stood at the Kotel in all kinds of weather, weeping over their worn-out books of Psalms. ‘I lift my eyes to the mountains; from where will my help come?’ What did all this have to do with me? The words seemed lifeless and abstract, and their meaning remained a mystery. And what about King David’s trials? We all enjoy learning about the problems faced by great people, but what could I draw from them for my own life? I am not fighting for a throne, making decisions of state, or struggling with children who have betrayed me. And although we all like to imagine our homes as palaces, these things left me unmoved. I recited the Psalms only out of necessity, and not from the heart. That was before the Gulf War—before the moment when I personally felt endangered. When everything around me ceased to feel stable. When I felt that my life and my family’s lives hung by a thread. At that time, a rabbi explained the importance of reading David’s Psalms: ‘The entire Jewish people must recite the three prescribed Psalms each day!’ I did not want to be an outsider. The situation seemed critical, and no possible means could be rejected. I resolved to read along with everyone else. I read the prescribed Psalms every day—in rain, heat, snow, and slush. Every day, no matter what, for two long months. And skeptical as I was, they began to have an effect. The Psalms found their place in my soul. Although they are highly poetic, they are not merely poetry. Despite the fact that every line contains great wisdom, the essential thing is to know how to feel it. One must learn to feel the Psalms, reflect upon them, and make them part of oneself. This is not achieved in a single sitting, but daily practice gradually reveals to a person the power of the words he or she recites. Thank G-d, the war ended. But life brought new trials. And I turned to a trusted friend, a source of comfort and strength. Seventeen years have passed since then. Every day I read these three Psalms. Sometimes I want to add others—to pray for the well-being of my husband, my children, and my people. In a certain sense, I have become like those women at the Kotel who shed tears over their small, worn-out booklets. They feel safe. Sometimes I do not manage to eat breakfast in the morning, but that does not prevent me from having a wonderful day. Yet if I forget my Psalms, I feel a kind of loss, as though something important has been left undone. Life continues to place new trials before me. Rav Pliskin once said: ‘We should pray not so much for a life without trials as for the strength to endure those trials and grow through them.’ Just as water gradually seeps through stone, the words of the Psalms gradually wash away my selfishness. I know that I cannot manage on my own. And when I lift my eyes, I recognize the true Source of my help." (based on a story by Emuna Braverman)