Tehillim-When to Stop
Question
Hi, I say Tehillim every day and I have a list of people to Daven for. Over time, people have asked me to Daven for people, and now with social media, people ask me to Daven. There are people that I cannot track back and see how they are doing. Some have been on my list for a few years already (with cancer etc), but I really don’t know how they are doing. Should I still Daven for them? For how long?
I have a very long list. I suppose I feel if I stop, I would feel badly and if I continue, they might not be sick anymore or C’V worse. I am more careful now and organized when I take on names, but for the list that I have been davening for that I don’t know about , I am struggling with.
Answers
I truly empathize with your question as I think that it is something that we all grapple with in our own personal lives.
In general, if there is a reason to think that it may not be necessary to keep davening for that person, you can remove them from the list. Otherwise, it is meritorious to continue davening for them. For the future, I think that perhaps the best approach is to accept upon yourself to recite Tehillim for a specific amount of time. For example, when a new name is given to you for a Refuah Shelaymah (or the like), you accept upon yourself to recite Tehillim for them for two weeks. And then, after two weeks, if you have not heard anything and there is no way of finding out how they are, you can then feel less stressed about stopping to say Tehillim for them.
Best wishes from the AskTheRabbi.org Team