San Diegans recite tehillim for 3 kidnapped Israeli teens

By Donald H. Harrison

SAN DIEGO – An overflow crowd exceeding 200 persons gathered in the study hall-sanctuary of Southern California Yeshiva (SCY) High on Sunday morning, June 22, to recite tehillim (psalms) for kidnapped Israeli teenagers Gilad Shaar, 16; Naftali Frenkel, 16; and Eyal Yifrach, 19, who have been missing since Thursday, June 12. They were last seen hitchhiking from a point near their yeshiva in the Hebron area to their homes to join their families for Shabbat.

Eight Orthodox institutions and the Jewish Federation of San Diego County sponsored the event which drew Jews from throughout San Diego County. Leading the services were Rabbis Avram Bogopulsky of Beth Jacob Congregation, Jeff Wohlgelernter of Congregation Adat Yeshurun and Moishe Leider of Chabad of University City.

The idea for the prayer service originated in the Orthodox community and was transmitted through the Jewish Federation of San Diego County and media, including San Diego Jewish World, to other Jewish residents of San Diego County. In the very crowded room, divided by a mehitza, it was difficult to say whether rabbis of any non-Orthodox congregations were present, but this reporter saw none. Michael Sonduck, the president and CEO of the Jewish Federation, was seated near the back of the room.

Besides the three congregations represented by Bogopulsky, Leider and Wohlgelernter, sponsoring Orthodox organizations included San Diego NCSY, Soille San Diego Hebrew Day School, Torah High School, Young Israel, and the host SCY High School, which is located at 3410 Mt. Acadia Blvd, in the Clairemont area of San Diego.

“We are all aware of the dire situation that faces the Jewish people and particularly the three boys who were taken hostages, but let us also not forget the soldiers of the Israeli forces who are constantly and continually trying to find them in a dangerous operation. We know that they are doing their best, and we have to do our best from here as well,” Rabbi Bogopulsky said.

Bogopulsky paraphrased the sages of the Talmud as saying that when the Jewish people are suffering, if someone neglects the anguish of his community “Hashem will not forgive him for his sin.” He said members of the community are obligated to share in the suffering of their brethren.

“Tehillim (Reading psalms) is something very unique; it is very powerful” Bogopulsky added. He likened it to the scientific labeling of a medicine bottle; “we don’t understand it necessarily, but if we take it religiously it helps us get better.”

Rabbi Wohlgelernter said whenever Jews are in sorrow or pain, “we turn to the Master of the Universe and we pour out our hearts, we pour out our feelings and we pour out our emotions and we understand that we have nothing else to rely on other than our Father in Heaven.”

He said the reason for the community coming together, rather than praying alone for the safe return of the three teens, is because “there is something transformative when we say tehillim as a group. … We actually become one entity and our tehillim today is joined with the tehillim of millions of Jews world wide.”

“The power of this is that when we become one, Gilad, Naftali and Eyal become our children,” Wohlgelernter added. “They are not just someone else’s pain and someone else’s problem, but they are actually our children because we have reaffirmed that we are connected and that we come as one.”

The impromptu congregation fervently chanted in Hebrew Psalms 20, 83, 121, 130 and 142 in a service that lasted perhaps a half hour. In translation from the Stone Edition of the Tanach, Psalm 83 reads, in part: “O God, do not hold Yourself silent; be not deaf and be not still, O God; For behold, Your foes are in uproar and those who hate You have raised their heads. Against Your people they plot deviously, they take counsel against those sheltered by You. They said ‘Come, let us cut them off from nationhood, so Israel’s name will not be remembered any longer!’ For they take counsel together unanimously, they strike a covenant against You….”

Rabbi Simcha Weiser of Soille San Diego Hebrew Day School greeted people outside after the services concluded. To this reporter, he expressed the hope that when this news article about the tehillim session appears, that at the very same time, if not before, news should arrive from Israel that the three boys have been safely returned.  May it be so!

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Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted at donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com