Praying or Saying Tehillim in a Crisis: Superstition?
When the three Israeli boys, Gil'Ad Shaar, Eyal Yifrach and Naftali Fraenkel were kidnapped, everyone went into a frenzy. They (we all) needed to "do something." This is very normal. Most of us, far removed from the situation--even those in Israel who are not connected by family or close friends to the victims--felt helpless in the face of this atrocity. So I can understand the call to prayer or to say Tehillim. For people who don't have any other option, it's better than sitting and doing nothing. I, for one, called my congressperson, in addition to saying Tehillim. I wrote about it in a blog post and sent it out to everybody. But do I really believe that saying Tehillim or praying specific tefillot from a siddur will bring them back? Doubtful. There have been "studies" - not controlled, double-blind scientific ones however - which seem to indicate that mass prayer often helps to alleviate a situation, such as helping to heal someone. We say ...