Years ago, when Rav Mordechai Friedman, the Rosh Kollel of the Tehilim Kollel, was just a young boy, he was learning the Sefer of the Sh”lah Ha’kadosh, and he saw a story that changed his life.
The Sh”lah tells of a town where a very simple man recited Tehilim every day. The people didn’t recognize this as greatness, and they didn’t think that saying Tehilim was any type of remarkable endeavor. When this simple man passed away, he came to the Rav of the town in a dream, and he had a very urgent warning.
He said, “Rebbi, you must evacuate the town! Tomorrow night, there will be a massacre here. Robbers will come and burglarize all the homes and kill everyone they find. Since I have been saying Tehilim every day, I have provided the town with protection, but now that I am gone, the townspeople are in great danger!”
The Rav took this dream very seriously. He gathered his community the next morning, and told them to pack up their belongings and run to a safe place. Many people listened, but there were some who didn’t, and they thought that such a simple man couldn’t have possibly protected their town like that, and that the message couldn’t be true.
Sadly, those who stayed behind were killed that night. Rav Mordechai was astounded by this story and the clear power of Tehilim that it represented. He immediately took it upon himself to say Tehilim every single day, and he continued for over 25 years without missing!
Reprinted from the Parshas Tzav 5784 email of Rabbi Yehuda Winzelberg’s Torah U’Tefilah.
