Reading Tehillim — Connecting with the Almighty

The Story of a Person Who Connected Her Life with Tehillim

I took Tehillim into my hands while listening to Ezra Howkin’s lectures on Tanya. Now it seems to me that those lectures prepared me to read Tehillim. I already had a copy of Tehillim at home which, in addition to a Russian translation and detailed commentaries, included a transliteration of every Psalm, making it possible to read them aloud in Hebrew with confidence. I already knew something about the special power of this extraordinary book, created more than 3,000 years ago by David, a king, sage, and warrior. I knew how Jews turned to it in difficult times, reading all 150 Psalms together, after fasting beforehand. I knew that our Sages said that reading Tehillim for half an hour every day for 40 days significantly elevates a person’s spiritual level. Despite this, to be honest, I was still not truly acquainted with it. As I reflect now on what this book has revealed to me over the years, I understand that even today it remains full of mysteries and wonders for me, although I already know much about it. When I purchase Tehillim, I know that the true value of this book cannot be expressed in money. It is like the magic lamp from the fairy tale I loved to read as a child, constantly performing miracles. But this magic turned out to be completely different from that of the fairy tale. When you read Tehillim, you do not ask anyone else to perform miracles; by filling yourself with spiritual energy, you perform them yourself, and in time its extraordinary power is revealed to you—the power about which the Tzemach Tzedek writes: “If only you knew what power is contained in the verses of the Psalms and what effect they have in the higher heavens, you would read them constantly. Know that the Psalms shatter all barriers.” As you delve into the reading of these holy Psalms, you eventually discover that this book is alive. It guides your heart as to what you should pray for now, fills you with the confidence that you are not alone in this complex and contradictory world, and that the world is full of goodness and love and knows better than I do what I and my loved ones need. It helps, reveals the world around you in a new way, and warns you of dangers and mistakes you are making... It is like a reliable, wise friend and teacher who is constantly with you, even when you are not reading it. Life becomes filled with new meaning, and everything around you takes on new colors, as if you had moved from a black-and-white world into a world of color. Now you understand that you hold an extraordinary spiritual power in your hands: you need only give thanks and take it up again, replenishing yourself with the bright energy that fills all its living pages. That is why I love giving this book as a gift—a book that opens a magical gateway to a world that teaches truth and justice. Although I must admit that to this day I have not managed to share my love for this holy book with those to whom I gave copies. Perhaps that is why I decided to undertake this work: to describe in greater detail everything that has been revealed to me over the years of reading Tehillim than I had done previously. As I read Tehillim, I felt my hands taking in the energy emanating from the pages filled with Hebrew. “As if I were connecting to a charged battery,” the thought flashed through my mind. And this began to happen every time I read the book daily. Working with Tehillim, I realized that I was dealing with an entirely new kind of energy, which I called spiritual energy. The movement of my hands took place unconsciously: from the way my hands moved, I understood where and to whom this energy was then directed... Over time, I began to understand that it was not accidental that this spiritual energy was being revealed to me in this particular way—that it was meant to encourage me to compare this unusual form of energy with what is known to physics. Reading alternately in Hebrew and Russian, increasingly sensing the immense spiritual charge emanating from every page of this truly magical book, I no longer had any doubt that a special energy emanated from the Psalms in Hebrew. It was the language of emotions and sensations evoked by the spiritual energy of the Names of the Almighty, of individual words and expressions, and, of course, of the content of the Psalm itself. I became convinced that energy emanated from the closed book in every direction—upward and downward and in all directions from its edges—as if the letters, the Names, and the entire text within it possessed a spiritual charge that released energy in all directions. Then I came to understand that by reading “Tehillim,” we connect to the powerful spiritual channel of the author of these Psalms himself, King David, who connects us to the Life Force of the Creator, One with His Names, which fill this holy book. The lowest of the spiritual Sefirot of creation is Malchut, as Kabbalah teaches, and it is associated with David. By connecting to it, one gains the possibility of ascending higher... And unexpectedly, while reading one of the Psalms, the revelation of the Creator takes place, bringing indescribably beautiful feelings of love and happiness—feelings that are difficult to compare with anything in our ordinary experience, yet impossible to mistake for anything else. I came to understand why, whenever he pronounced the Name of the Almighty, the author of Tanya invariably added: “Blessed be His Name.” I not only understood, but felt with my heart, soul, and mind why Torah and Tehillim had been the Jews’ principal spiritual weapons for thousands of years—weapons that protected and saved them and led them along the path marked out by the Torah toward the ultimate goal of Creation: Geulah, the Redemption of the world from the forces of evil. Our own era is helping to reveal all the secrets of the Torah and of creation. I am convinced that this is what helps me advance in my spiritual practice. Why did I undertake the study of “Tehillim” in particular? It was shortly after my article about the Lubavitcher Rebbe had been published, and I was still deeply impressed by this extraordinary personality. In one of the Rebbe’s writings, I read that reading Tehillim hastens the revelation of the Geulah, for which the Rebbe recommended collective reading of this extraordinary book. Perhaps this prompted my decision. To this day, the fact remains incomprehensible to me: unexpectedly, I found myself joining a “marathon” of Tehillim reading. At first I read it according to the way the Psalms are divided by days of the month in the book. The next time, I read all 150 Psalms over the course of a week, again following the division indicated in the book. But then I began reading all 150 Psalms every day, and soon moved to reading them twice a day... It would be more accurate to say twice in a 24-hour period, because I discovered that working at night was easier and more productive, and so, when I woke during the night, I would take Tehillim into my hands... This marathon continued for almost two years. Without missing a day, regardless of how I felt, I read all the Psalms twice a day, with the feeling that I had never before undertaken work so important. I read aloud and silently. I read slowly, pronouncing every word. I read quickly, letting my eyes glide over the text while silently reciting each Psalm in my mind. I read in Hebrew and periodically in Russian; I listened to the music of the verse, sometimes catching on phrases whose meaning stirred something within me, and read their commentaries. During the Second Lebanon War, reading Tehillim gave me an extraordinary feeling of calm. As exploding rockets fell, I retained an inner certainty that what I was doing helped protect against the rockets, even though, at the insistence of my family, I went to the miklat (bomb shelter) during alerts. It was then that I began considering the connection between the spiritual laws of the Torah and physics. I began imagining how protection could be built with spiritual energy and how it might alter a rocket’s trajectory so as to cause minimal damage. And when I heard journalists report that a rocket had narrowly missed some target, I was already surprised that they did not say in such cases: “Baruch Hashem,” because it was already obvious to me that this was the protection afforded to those who study Torah, read Tehillim, and pray to the Almighty, asking Him for help. Standing in the corner of the miklat and reading Tehillim, I was already certain that it was the best remedy for rockets and for the psychological anxiety that inevitably arises in life-threatening situations. I remember the intense emotion that suddenly arose from the phrase “the time has come” in one of the Psalms, or how my heart grew heavy to the point of tears at the words: “If I forget you, O Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill!” from the well-known Psalm 137. The expression “al te’acher!” (“do not delay!”), appearing at the end of one of the Psalms, could evoke the same emotion. There are countless such examples. I soon became convinced that reading Tehillim turns into a form of meditation that helps reveal a person’s inner world, with its intellect and emotions. At the same time, the senses undergo a miraculous transformation, through which the surrounding world reveals itself anew, with its beauty and vitality. Nature and its creations are alive, not lifeless bodies. The sun, the moon, the sea, and the stones—not to mention plants—all reveal themselves to you as kind friends whom you need only wave to, confident that they understand everything in your heart. I recalled how the Baal Shem Tov, the sage, tzadik, and miracle-worker who knew the Divine Names, understood the language of trees, as recounted in one of the stories in a book about the founder of Hasidism. I understood why the central principle of his teaching became “live with joy, love everyone.” Reading Tehillim opened before me the possibility of praying through images. It was enough to see or imagine a particular image that had previously evoked fervent prayer while reading Tehillim for the same feeling of turning to the Almighty to arise automatically. Thus, looking at a clock lying on a table could evoke the feeling inspired by the Psalm’s prayer containing the words: “The time has come!” In time, this form of prayer became almost my primary one... I cannot fail to mention an open miracle connected with Tehillim. A close relative of mine suffered a tragedy involving her granddaughter: a benign but very large cyst was removed from the girl’s head. The worried grandmother called me and asked me to pray for her granddaughter. The next day, while reading “Tehillim,” I noticed that my free hand literally became attached to my head, and this continued for quite some time. The position became uncomfortable, and I repeatedly found myself wondering when I would finally be able to lower my hand. I was aware that I was reading the Psalms for this girl and sending her spiritual energy together with a prayer for her health. I understood that you are no longer free in your movements: your hand remains in the necessary place, as if glued there, for as long as needed. Similar situations involving other cases occurred more than once. And once, while visiting close relatives, I heard my sister’s son complaining about his knee, which had swollen and was making it difficult for him to walk. He was planning to see a doctor. When he returned to the subject once again, complaining of pain, I suddenly and unexpectedly placed my hand on his knee and held it there silently for a couple of minutes. A few minutes later, Gena came over to me, extremely surprised, and said: “If it had not happened to me, I would never have believed it. It’s all gone.” He demonstrated by moving his leg that it was moving freely. The swelling and redness had disappeared... I already knew that while reading Tehillim, you are somehow guided as to whom you should pray for and what specific help you are asking for that person. You simply experience the same suffering on their behalf, and this naturally leads you to pray sincerely for their health and well-being. The incident with the knee revealed to me that the spiritual energy of Tehillim is always with me and ready to help. More than once thereafter, in critical situations involving my loved ones, I worked with my hands, feeling that I was battling negative energy and driving it out of the house; afterward, I always felt a strong desire to immediately pour water over my hands and face... Is this not a magical book? Why then should we be surprised that King David wrote his Psalms, each one addressing the Creator of the Universe and using different Names, each of which opens new possibilities before us? When we sincerely read David’s Psalms, we follow him in calling the Almighty by His Names, calling out to Him and asking for help, thereby connecting to the spiritual treasures that are our most powerful weapon. I began to understand many more stories about the miraculous effects of Tehillim—stories of the salvation of those for whom they were recited. Jews still turn to this magical book, called Tehillim in honor of praising G-d, in difficult situations. And every Shabbat of the new month, worshippers in the synagogue read all the Psalms. Reading Tehillim in Russian revealed information with which I was already familiar from the Torah. I was amazed by the poetic and concise style of the Psalms, which introduce us to the foundations of the Jewish worldview. Reading David’s Psalms in Russian also stirred emotions, but at the same time my eyes and hand drew spiritual energy from the facing page, where the Hebrew appeared. This happened every time I read Tehillim in Russian. For me, this confirms the truth of the Torah concerning the chosenness of us Jews as the people to whom this Holy Book was given in the Holy Language. All this helps us realize what spiritual power we possess—a spiritual power that all the nations of the world subconsciously sense. The thought that these Psalms were written more than 3,000 years ago filled me with awe. We Jews have much to be proud of today: our Torah, written in the Holy Language of the Almighty, and our Tehillim, the first worldwide bestseller, created by David and translated into every language in the world. The subject of Tehillim is extraordinarily complex. One of its teachers related that David wrote his Psalms while playing the harp and listening to the symphony of the worlds. That is why this book is so powerful: each of its 150 Psalms is connected to one of the 150 galaxies involved in governing our Universe. That is why, I thought, after working with Tehillim one is left with the feeling that this book is still full of mysteries and wonders. I am certain that if you take up the conversations of King David with the Almighty and open this magical book with sincere interest, it will not disappoint you. And by filling your soul with the Divine Light of the Creator through Tehillim, you will transform your Galut into Geulah and understand that you are already living in the time of Moshiach. (Bela Weisberg, http://berkovich-zametki.com/Forum2/viewtopic.php?f=41&t=1133)