Reader-submitted: Two years ago, a revolutionary online project changed the way that we pray together for a particular purpose. TehilimYahad.com (site can be switched to English) was created so that hundreds of thousands of Jews could connect via online media to participate in saying Tehilim for the refu’a of various people.
Never before have we seen a project that has the power to reach so many people…
What is the rationale for Tehilim Yahad?
It is well known that praying together is the key to unlocking powerful prayer. Tehilim Yahad is a tool that allows Jews from all over the world to come together and participate in prayer: Links to read a portion of Tehillim are allocated via online media platforms and hundreds of thousands of people have already participated in saying Tehilim together.
The Story Behind the Project:
When my uncle was hospitalized and taken into surgery, we arrived at the hospital to find that we had not remembered to bring our booklets of the divided Tehilim. We tried to share the prayers between us, but as more and more family members and friends arrived, it became far too complicated. In that moment, the idea came to me and Tehilim Yahad was born.
The Concept in Practice: positively transforming the way we access prayer
Two weeks ago, a young woman and mother of two small children, was due to have very serious brain surgery.. Her husband, who had heard about our site, opened a new campaign of Tefila for her and shared the link with his family and friends. After a few days, he sent us an email to express his amazement with the response he had received, stating that in less than 24 hours, more than 2000 people from all over the world (including Israel, the United States, London, Paris, Italy and Russia) were praying for the health of his wife, and more than 300 of them have taken it upon themselves to perform a good deed (donating blood, giving food for the needy, helping the elderly, etc.), and all in the merit of the health of his wife.
He said that knowing this made them all feel better – as if the whole of Israel was standing behind them providing support.
Translating the success of Tehilim Yahad: what is the impact?
In two and half years of activity, the TehilimYahad site, which is a non-profit and no-ads site, has made a significant impact: a staggering 7.5 million of Prakim (chapters) have been read and Jews from all over the world (over 70 countries) have connected to actively participate in this initiative. It’s an incredible display of the unity of the Jewish people.
In addition to prayer, another positive contribution of the project is that over 100,000 people have taken it upon themselves to perform good deeds…and the numbers continue to rise every day, as dozens of new links for reading tehilim are opened: for refu’a shleima, for zivug, etc. Thousands of chapters are being read everyday and more and more good deeds are being performed.
With those results in mind, it’s difficult not to acknowledge the power of 50,000 people from different sectors, communities and countries all saying tehilim together!
And in an era where technology usually separates people, this site actually increases the mutual responsibility and empathy between Jews all over the world.
So what next for Tehillim Yachad?
After Israel, the US has the most users on the site. However, I would like to reach as many people as possible with this service so that it becomes widely available for everyone to use.
On Memorial Day, we opened a special campaign where each of the fallen soldiers was allocated one perek of tehilim that was read for his zchut – leilui nishmat. I believe it is our duty and our zechut as the Jewish Nation to pray Leilui Nishmatam. Within two days, more than 100,000 prakim were read and more than 3000 good deeds were done, by about 50,000 people.
I wish the whole of Israel that we will B”H Nizke to say tehilim only from joy and good health.
I know that we have great power and strength as a Jewish Nation and our unity can only have a positive effect in the world.Tehilim Yahad is one way that we can achieve this together.