Tehillim 6 During a Brit Milah – Rabbanit Batsheva Kanievsky's Segula for Refuah Shleimah

Tehillim 6 During a Brit Milah – Rabbanit Batsheva Kanievsky's Segula for Refuah Shleimah

Those close to Rabbanit Batsheva Kanievsky recall the special reverence with which she regarded a Brit Milah: “How fortunate we are that we can attend a brit. We have merited the presence of Eliyahu HaNavi, and we can use this opportunity to pray and ease the many difficulties faced by Klal Yisrael,” she would say. She would recite Tehillim 6, as a segula for people who were ill. She urged them to do the same at other britot. The book “Zer Zahav” (“The Golden Crown”) speaks of the power of a child's cry during circumcision. This is hinted at by the words of Tehillim (6:19): “Suru mimeni kol po'alei aven, ki shama Ado-nai kol bikh'i” — (Depart from me, all you evildoers, for the L-rd has heard the voice of my weeping.) “The voice of my weeping” refers to the infant's cry after circumcision, which has the power to ascend On High without any interference from the kelipot. This is a time of Et Ratzon (a time of Divine favor). A person's prayer that he adds to this cry will be accepted. This segula is also cited in the books “Brit Avot” (“The Covenant of the Fathers”) and “Olelot Efraim” (“The Infants of Efraim”). Rabbi Eliyahu Gutmacher writes in his Perush on Shabbat (130a) that at a brit, when the circumcised child cries, it is a time of Et Ratzon, when prayers ascend directly to Heaven, and that one should recite Tehillim 6. at that time. The following prayer is then recited immediately: “Yehi ratzon milfanecha, Ado-nai Elo-hai ve-Elohei avotai, she-nihiye ani u-vnei beiti bri'im va-chazakim, u-ve-parnasah, u-ve-hatzlachah, u-ve-shalom, u-ve-chol tov le-avdecha be-emet u-ve-yirah, u-ve-ahavah u-ve-simchah. Ve-yuchlal tefilati im bechiyat ha-yeled vi-kuyam bi ha-pasuk: ‘Shama Ado-nai techinati, Ado-nai tefilati yikach.’ Ve-yemale Ado-nai Yitbarach kol mish'alot libi le-tovah. Amen ve-amen!” Translation: (May it be Your will, O L-rd, my G-d and the G-d of my fathers, that I and my household be healthy and strong, with sustenance and success, peace and every good thing, so that we may serve You with truth and awe, love and joy. May my prayer be joined with the infant's cry, and may the words of the verse be fulfilled in me: “The L-rd has heard my supplication; the L-rd will accept my prayer.” May the Blessed L-rd fulfill all the requests of my heart for the good. Amen and amen!)   (From the book “Rabbanit Kanievsky – A Legendary Mother to All,” transliterated by Alexander Tzvi Sypkov)