Tehillim Annulled the Decree:
An amazing story is told that one early morning, the Maharsha was walking to shul when he saw a strange cloud in the sky. He immediately ordered his attendant to quickly open the bais knesses for him, and to then announce throughout the streets of the city that every Jew - men, women, and children, and even those sick in bed – should gather immediately in the shul, and the doors to their houses should be left wide open without fear.
The shamash did as he was told, and he made the announcement in all the streets of the city. This created a mass panic and everyone hurried to gather in the bais knesses. The Maharsha commanded that everyone should recite Tehillim. He himself stood leaning on his walking stick behind the door, reciting Tehillim with tears in his eyes and in a broken and subdued voice.
After a short time, hundreds of armed gentiles came and attacked the Jewish neighborhood, but they were very surprised to see that there was no one there. When they approached the shul, they heard voices and sought to enter the bais knesses to riot against the Jews, but they found that they could not enter through either the doors or the windows. Therefore, they decided to burn down the shul, together with all those inside it, but they were unsuccessful, and all the arrows they shot at the shul immediately melted like wax.
The leader of the mob realized that the Jews must have amongst them a righteous man whose prayers were being accepted. He knocked on the door and said, “You don’t need to be afraid. Open the door and I will not do you any harm.”
The Maharsha then said that everyone could stop saying Tehillim, as the decree has passed and it had been annulled. He told his shamash that he could open the door.
The leader of the mob walked over to the Maharsha, kissed his hand and said, “I see that your prayers are valued in Heaven. I promise you that there will be no more riots here. I only want to ask you one thing. What deeds did you do that made your prayers so effective?”
The Maharsha answered, “We didn’t do anything. We just said Tehillim and prayed from the depths of our hearts. And a prayer from the depths of a broken heart is accepted by our Father in Heaven.”
This event created a tremendous Kiddush Hashem. May the memory of the tzadik be a source of blessing for Klal Yisroel.
