Tehillim

Once upon a time, there were Jews known as Tehillim Yidden, “Psalm Jews.”  They were called by that name because they were passionately devoted to the words of the books of Psalms. 

Those passages were forever on their tongues, in their hearts and hands. A teacher of mine was once asked a series of questions by his disciples, “What do you do when death is imminent?”  “What do we do when someone comes to us with psychic pain that torments them?”  “How do you comfort a nervous bride?”  “What words do we utter when Israel is in danger?”

The master simply replied, “Recite Psalms” to each of the questions.

People read Psalms for different reasons and for different ends. Some read it for scholarly nuance that reveals origin and authorship.  Some scan the words for hidden meanings, allusions and rhythms.  Those who in need or pain read for entirely different reasons. They are in search of comfort and hope. In wars and pressure-laden moments Jews recite tehillim daily in the hope that danger across the miles, or in our backyard, would be averted.

Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel told of a woman who approached him after a lecture.  She said, “Isn’t it a shame that we do not have in our Bible beautiful poems like the psalms?”  

How embarrassing for us all to not know that the treasure is in our Tanakh, our Bible!  It is a vast and rich repository of knowledge and faith in our homes and we never see it.

We recite tehillim every day as a part of our davenning.  They form the backbone of our daily prayers.  Further, we use them for specific needs.  When we need protection from danger psalm 11 is recited; for healing we say psalm 20, success psalm 17, strength to maintain integrity, psalm 38, etc.

A legend:

The angels on high sing praise to the Lord, God. What do they sing? Psalms.

Another legend:

It is said that the king David crafted the Psalms. He was the author. If one looks closely at the words, threads of a lifetime begin to emerge. We can see youthful vigor, unconquerable strength. There are the places we witness a deep sense of dread, even terror. Thankfulness gushes at times and other moments, venom or zeal.  Every kind of emotional state can be found in the books of Tehillim. No wonder they recited the beginning of every morning service. No wonder we savor them and sing them at grace after meals or weddings or funerals. We sing Psalm 29 when feel a storm raging about us with God in the center. Read it. I bet you will not recognize it in the English, despite the fact that we sing it every Sabbath, Friday and Saturday.

Rebbe Nachman of Bratslav believed that tehillim has the power to bring about refuat ha-nefesh, healing of the soul, and refuat ha-guf, healing of the body.  Reciting them causes connections vertically and horizontally. It connects us to God, the universe and one another.

Maybe you are one of the Tehillim Yidden.

On Abortion

Halakha means “law” specifically Jewish law.  Halakha governs the way we approach God, how our courts function, rules of relations, what we wear, commerce and how to tie tzitzit.  The basic Jewish viewpoint is either nothing matters or everything matters.  Needless to say, we take the second opinion.

Halakha is the practical application of the Written Word.  Now, mind you, we do not rest solely on what is written in the Torah.  We “turn it over and over for everything is in it,” as a second century scholar said. So centuries of erudite scholars examining each nuance of the Torah find halakhot that deal with every practical subject you can imagine.

Through America, especially in the south, we are engaged in determining what the civil law should state about abortion.  Right and left-wingers have stated their polar positions.  

What is the Jewish halakha on abortion?

We believe that therapeutic (as opposed to spontaneous) abortion is never good and sometimes is wrong.  For example, having an abortion because of the sex of the child is incorrect.

The Torah itself is quite clear.  Where the fetus represents a danger to the mother, the mother’s life takes precedence. Termed a “rodef” the fetus is viewed as a pursuer threatening a life much as a would-be murderer chases after a potential victim.

The expansion of this thought is where the mental wellbeing of the mother is concerned.  If the mother experiences immeasurable emotional trauma as a result of the birth that also constitutes a reason for allowing abortion. In that instance the birth would cause emotional wreckage that is not too dissimilar from a “rodef.”

Elsewhere in the Torah (Exodus 21) a pregnant woman has an abortion as a result of being pushed or punched.  In that cited case, the halakha determines that there must be a monetary fine. In other words, an unborn child is a life “in potential,” not a fully realized life.  Otherwise it would have been rendered a capital case. In no instance in Jewish law is abortion murder. 

In arguing for civil law to make concrete legislation banning abortion there are many side issues that arise that make the argument for more complex than the presenters argue.  For example, terminating a pregnancy that is non-viable takes time and may well exceed the so-called six week window, let alone earlier.  Often a woman will not even recognize that she is pregnant before six weeks. And in the instance where there is rape or incest court cases can years.  This presents an unfair burden on the victim.

I hope that clearer minds and visions will prevail among the states that like Alabama are moving toward a virtual outlawing of abortion.  Abortion is not a black and white issue.  It has lots of gray, as the halakha teaches us.