Perek of Prayer for Our People: Beginning our Third Cycle with Zechut Avot and Imahot

Tomorrow, we will conclude the second round of learning Tehilim in the hopes of peace in Israel, safety on our borders, protection for our soldiers and a return of our hostages. 

When this project began, it was on day 74 of this crisis, in December of last year. In those days, it was not imaginable that we would be heading to day 300, but here we are.

I have been thinking a lot about beginning the next round of learning and different ways to frame it. In this search, I have been heavily influenced by R. Shimshon Raphael Hirsch’s commentary on Tehilim and, most recently, Walter Brueggerman’s Spirituality of the Psalms.

However, in this coming round, I want to call upon the zchut Avot or more accurately zchut Imahot. This term literally means “the merit of our ancestors”, the idea that the positive actions of those who came before us can have influence on our lives and our destiny.

Hashem refers to the Avot throughout the Torah, and most famously when saving Am Yisrael from Egypt, and the concept is referred to often in our mesorah. And of course, it continues daily as we refer to it in our Amida and Birkat HaMazon.

It is with this lens that I open this learning of Perek of Prayer. My grandmother, Anne Machlis Reich z’l, learned Tehilim daily as so many people around the world have been doing for centuries. I still remember the image of coming into her home, with the large print sefer on her lap, reciting the daily Perek with emunah and kavanah.

With her passing almost 30 years ago, my mother passed her sefer to us. It is a standard sefer, with a one line introduction to each Perek. The author of the introductions is unknown, but the approach of the author is one of a simple, honest and faith-laden reading of the Perek.

As we begin with Perek Alef on Friday, each introduction sent will be the translation of the introduction in this version of Sefer Tehilim. A photo of the cover page is below. 

In the meantime, we will be finishing on Thursday and starting again on Erev Shabbat. 

The special Tefila for finishing the Sefer can be found here in both Hebrew and English.

There is a short passage that introduces it that speaks to each of us in these days, especially as we take on the challenge to start anew with strength, while our souls are weary.

It could have been written today. It reads as follows:

מִי יִתֵּן מִצִּיּוֹן יְשׁוּעֻת יִשְׂרָאֵל, בְּשׁוּב יְהוָה שְׁבוּת עַמּוֹ, יָגֵל יַעֲקֹב יִשְׂמַח יִשְׂרָאֵל..

O’ that out of Zion will come the salvation of Israel, 

When Hashem returns the captives of God’s people, Jacob and Israel will rejoice.

וּתְשׁוּעַת צַדִּיקִים מֵיְיָ מָעוּזָּם בְּעֵת צָרָה.

The salvation of the righteous is from Hashem, a stronghold in times of trouble.

וַיַּעְזְרֵם יְיָ וַיְפַלְּטֵם, יְפַלְּטֵם מֵרְשָׁעִים 

וְיוֹשִׁיעֵם כִּי חָסוּ בוֹ

God helped them and caused them to escape. 

God will help them and deliver them, deliver them from the wicked and save them because they took refuge in him.

May God fulfill this hope so our Prayers, through our Pereks, come to life for us, for our people and for the entire world.

If you would like to be on the daily whatsapp of our Perek of Prayer group, please email me at franka@ramaz.org and I will send you the link. Looking forward to learning together.