Tehillim
Saying Tehillim is wonderful every day of the year, and Klal Yisrael says more Tehillim than usual during the yomim nora’im. Throughout Rosh Hashanah, the Baal HaTanya zy'a was occupied either with his machzor or his Tehillim. The Brisker Rav zt'l also used every spare moment of Rosh Hashanah to recite Tehillim.
The Emek HaMelech zt’l writes the following story:
A simple person lived in a village near Leport. He only knew Tanach. He was niftar at an old age. Thirty days after his passing, he came in a dream to the chacham of the city, holding an old, worn Tehillim under his arm. The chacham asked, "Aren’t you the person we buried recently?”
“Yes, it is I.”
“What’s that sefer under your arm?”
“It’s a Tehillim. I came to warn you and the townspeople to escape immediately. When I was alive, I recited the entire Tehillim daily. I did this for years, and the Tehillim I said protected the entire town, but now you no longer have that protection."
In the morning, the chacham gathered the entire town and told them his dream. Those who took the dream seriously escaped and survived, and those who remained perished.
The Emek HaMelech concludes, "From the day my father heard this story, he would say the entire Tehillim each week. Whoever says Tehillim regularly saves himself, his family, and his generation from all kinds of sorrow and distress and draws down from heaven brachos and hatzlachos. Fortunate is the one who [says Tehillim], which benefits himself and his community."
The Noam Elimelech writes:
"Some people ask: How does tefillah help? How can a tzaddik pray for a sick person, and the sick person gets better? The answer is that man is connected to all worlds. When he sins, he becomes detached from his connection above, resulting in him getting sick, rachmana litzlan. When the tzaddik davens, he reconnects the person to his source, to where he was before. Automatically, he becomes healed. However, sometimes, the tzaddik's tefillah doesn’t help, chalilah, because there is a kitrug [prosecuting angels who prevent the person from becoming reconnected to his source in heaven]. When that occurs, he needs to become attached to the תהלה הנקרא הגדול עולם, to the great world called 'Tehillah' because in this world there is a great light and the kitrug can't prevent him from reconnecting to his source. In that world, there is solely compassion, and everything is rectified. This is the reason Dovid Hamelech’s songs are called תהלים because when one says Tehillim, he becomes attached to the world of Tehillah, where there is no Satan and no problems."
These amazing words give us a glimpse into the wonders of Tehillim. When we say Tehillim, we become connected to a compassionate world. Therefore, through Tehillim, we can attain all our needs.
Segulah of Saying Tehillim Twice on Rosh Hashanah Night
39. The Shlah's version of this story is that he would finish Tehillim once weekly.
40. There is a segulah to complete the entire Tehillim twice on the first night of Rosh Hashanah.
One year, on the night of Rosh Hashanah, the magid, Reb Ben Tzion Yadler zt’l, gathered a group of older bachurim, and together they said the entire Tehillim twice. All of them were engaged shortly after that. There’s an askan in Eretz Yisrael who had two boys and a girl in shidduchim, and nothing was progressing. The phones were quiet. They did this segulah, and the three children were engaged that year.
Another person had the privilege of marrying off all his children but had three couples who were childless. The father did this segulah; he said Tehillim twice on Rosh Hashanah night. That year, all three were blessed with children.
I’ve heard several other stories of people who witnessed salvations with this segulah. This is a very hard segulah to do. However, a family can divide up the Tehillim between themselves, so they say the entire Tehillim twice collectively.
A few years ago, I met a rav. He said, "You know I am not the type to run after segulos. It isn't my way. But, twenty years ago, I didn't have children after twenty-two years of marriage, and someone put into my mailbox an article that discusses the segulah of saying Tehillim twice on the night of Rosh Hashanah. I did this segulah, and nine and a half months later, I had my first and only child." He told me that this daughter is a kallah.
He also told me that he taught this segulah to a class of thirty older bachurim. On Chanukah, he received a phone call from one of the bachurim, who said he was the 29th bachur of the grade to get engaged.
Menachem Holzberg from Miami didn't have children for twenty years. He told me he heard about the segulah and said Tehillim twice on Rosh Hashanah night. When he felt tired, he went outside to wake up. Nine months later, he made a bris. He says that they went to many doctors, but nothing helped. But twice Tehillim on Rosh Hashanah night was his salvation, and the child was born naturally.
There's a yungerman who lives in Bnei Brak. One Rosh Hashanah, he awoke at 2:00 am and said twice Tehillim. His wife would often need to go to the hospital, but the year he did this segulah, she didn't need to be hospitalized.
I don't know how these things work and why specifically Tehillim twice, but I found an excellent source from the Dubno Magid zt'l.
The Dubno Magid tells a mashal of a Yid who lived among goyim. The goyim caused him much suffering. When the king came to his city, he wanted to tell the king what he was going through, but the goyim were there too, and they would convince the king to ignore his accusations,
The Yid sought counsel from a friend. The friend said, "The goyim are present during the day. They aren't with the king at nighttime. Go to the king at nighttime and tell him what you are going through."
The Yid followed this counsel, and the king helped him.
The Dubno Magid says that the same is true with Rosh Hashanah. Rosh Hashanah, by day, there is a great judgment, and mikatrigim speak against us. But the court didn’t begin at nighttime, and the mikatrigim aren't present. Now is the time to plead before Hakadosh Baruch Hu, and your tefillos will be answered. He writes that the kadmonim (gedolim of generations ago) advise that it is good to daven Rosh Hashanah at night before the mikatrigim arrive.
The Dubno Magid writes that this is alluded to in the pasuk (Eichah 2:19) לבך כמים שפכי ,אשמורות לראש בלילה רני קומי 'ה פני נכח, "Arise, cry out in the night, at the beginning of the watches! Pour out your heart like water before the presence of Hashem." 'ה פני נכח means that you are alone with Hashem. It is an excellent time to pour out your heart before Hashem, and your tefillos will be answered.
Stories of Salvation
Here are some more stories of salvations that were had in the merit of saying Tehillim twice on Rosh Hashanah night.
Erev Rosh Hashanah, the night of the selichos (called Zechor Bris), I received a call moments before I arrived at the Dushinsky beis medresh, where I was scheduled to give a drashah. The person on the line was a famous lawyer from Eretz Yisrael. I explained that I didn’t have time to take the call, but he insisted it would only take a minute.
He told me that his daughter is forty, and they are now going to break the dish for the shidduch that just occurred. Just a year before, he did the segulah of saying Tehillim twice on Rosh Hashanah evening. When I came to the beis medresh, I began the drashah with his story.
A yungerman from Beitar had four children in shidduchim, ages 23-28. He wanted to say sefer Tehillim twice on Rosh Hashanah night, but after the Rosh Hashanah seudah, he realized that it wasn’t going to happen. So, he divided the Tehillim among his family. Each member would say about fifty chapters. They said the Tehillim with hislahavus for about forty minutes, and in this way, they finished the entire sefer Tehillim more than two times. All four children got engaged and were married that year!
Year 5780, a yungerman from Montreal wrote me, "I have eight children, four of them are married, and I have nachas from them. But the last chasunah I made was in the year 5773. I now have two bachurim, one is thirty and one is twenty-seven, and I have two girls, ages twenty-five and twenty-two. I did the segulah together with my children. Each of us took some chapters to say, and collectively, we finished Tehillim twice. That year, three of my children were engaged. I plan to say Tehillim this year as well, and hopefully, my twenty-seven year old son will also become a chasan."
He added in the letter, "I am not a wealthy person, but I was able to marry them off without borrowing a penny."
