When facing life’s myriad challenges, which pasuk of Tehillim have you made your own? 

The words of Tehillim have accompanied us on our long journey through the centuries. Spoken, sung, shouted, whispered, they have come alive on the lips of our People in all situations, giving expression to every human emotion, as the purity of Dovid Hamelech’s song continues to fan the flames in our own souls.

When facing life’s myriad challenges, which pasuk of Tehillim have you made your own?

Rabbi Sholom Mordechai Rubashkin

No Place for Despair

“Hashleich al Hashem yehavcha vehu yechalkelecha — Cast your burden upon Hashem and He will sustain you” (Tehillim 55:23).

On the first of Teves two years ago, in the middle of Chanukah, I got the letter from the appeals court telling me that our final appeal was refused, and the legal process was over. All our hishtadlus had failed. It seemed that I had no way out, and the realization hit me that I would be spending 27 years in jail. Yi’ush, despair, rolled over me.

I fought the despair with the message of this pasuk, which I heard from the Rebbe years ago, when I was a bochur. The Rebbe spoke about the difficulty with the pasuk’s wording, as people have many kinds of burdens besides lack of sustenance. They suffer from sickness, poverty, childlessness, jail terms, so why the words “Vehu yechalkelecha — He will sustain you” as the answer to all burdens which are thrown upon Hashem? The Rebbe answered that the word yechalkelecha, besides its simple meaning, also relates to the root kaf-lamed-yud — kli, a vessel. In other words, “He will provide a vessel for you.”

Ordinarily, in life, our hishtadlus is our vessel for Hashem’s blessing. Hashem provides everything, but wants us to provide a kli. We go to work to create a vessel for Him to provide parnassah, we go to doctors to create a vessel for Him to heal us. But there are times when our efforts to create a vessel are stymied, when we try our best but all hishtadlus fails. And then, we have to ramp up our bitachon and realize that Hu yechalkelecha — Hashem will provide the vessel too.

On that day I told myself to focus on the fact that the only reason we were making those efforts in court was to provide a vessel for Hashem to send salvation, to free me. Now we were left with no vessel, only trust in Him.

On the very next day, the eighth day of Chanukah, Hashem made the kli Himself, with a presidential pardon.

My dear brothers, things are feeling very tight now. So many livelihoods have been destroyed. It’s so hard when you don’t know how you’ll buy food for next week, but let’s remember the basics: The only reason you went to work was to make a kli for Hashem to send the parnassah through. If you now have no kli He will create it for you. Just throw your burden on Hashem.

Sholom Mordechai Rubashkin, former CEO of Agriprocessors meatpacking plant, spent eight years in prison before his sentence was commuted in December 2017. His messages of faith and hope during those years ignited hearts around the world.

Mrs. Esther Wein

Lost and Found

“Achas sha’alti me’eis Hashem, osah avakeish… — One thing I ask of Hashem, that I seek (to find again): to live in the house of Hashem all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of Hashem, to frequent His temple” (Tehillim 27:4).

The word “bakeish” means to search for something that I used to have, but that I have now lost, as in Yosef’s words, “Es achai anochi mevakeish — I am searching for my brothers.” Yosef knew that the brotherly relationship of his youth was now gone, and he was searching for reconnection.

I find this poignant expression to be so encouraging, as I always recall how Rav Yechiel Perr (of Yeshiva of Far Rockaway) explained it years ago. If we are seeking what we used to desire, if what we miss most is the sincerity of our purer years, then we are still becoming that person we once hoped to be.

We all know that sinking feeling, when we realize that instead of handling a situation in an uplifting way consistent with our spiritual development, we’ve just reacted to a trigger and have fallen into an old, unwelcome habit. The good news is that the discomfort itself means our dreams are still alive. That sting of disappointment is actually a victory, and not a defeat. It is reminding us of our true aspirations and prodding us forward. And this is what we pray for — to never lose that desire to become who we always knew we could be.

Mrs. Esther Wein has been educating women across the spectrum of Jewish knowledge and observance for 35 years. She teaches regular classes in the New York area.

Rabbi Dr. Asher Wade

No False Gods

“Al tivtechu binedivim, b’ven adam she’ein lo teshuash — don’t believe in princes, in the son of man who has no salvation” (Tehillim 146:3).

As a child, Psalm 100 was my favorite, as it mentions coming before the L-rd “with joyful noise.” Back then I played piano, and now I play violin, so I’m always happy to serve in that way — even if it may not strictly be called music, it definitely qualifies as “come before Him with joyful noise.”

But the beginning of perek 146 is now very meaningful to me. It emphasizes the foolishness of avodah zarah, and coming from my background, I can identify with that total dismissal of the possibility of believing in the salvation of a human being. The foolishness of those who believe G-d can be embodied in “a son of man” is something I’ve personally lived through.

Asher Wade is an international lecturer, college instructor, and psychotherapist. Dr. Wade was a Methodist minister before converting to Judaism and later becoming a rabbi.