Tehillim said by children thank G-d for sparing our lives during Sandy

Yeshiva Shor Yoshuv in Lawrence, a hub of aid after Sandy to those devastated by the hurricane, filled with an overflow crowd of more than 2,000 men, women and children this past Sunday for a Tehillim (psalms) rally to thank G-d for surviving the storm.

“The power of Tefila (prayer) from tinokos shel bais Raban (Torah-learning children) is very special,” explained Achiezer’s Eli Weiss, who organized the event. “The schools and shuls did a tremendous job of promoting and encouraging attendance and involvement and we owe them a great debt of gratitude for contributing to the success that B’H it was.”

Men and women, seated separately since it was a prayer rally, and many children filled the cavernous rooms on the main floor of Shor Yoshuv, 1 Cedarlawn Ave. Lawrence, with the crowd spilling into the entrance hall where video screens were set up to enable the crowd to see the speakers and read along as chapters of Tehillim were displayed.

As people entered for the hour-long event, they were handed colored markers for the children and a book of Tehillim for the adults. Each seat had a bottle of water and either a bag of cookies or pretzels. A feeling of achdus (unity) and the intensity of a gathering to pray, electrified the packed spacious sunlit room.

Achiezer President Rabbi Boruch Ber Bender spoke first, acknowledging the more than 50 rabbanim seated at the dais. He said that in Sandy’s wake, Shor Yoshuv opened its building to the community even though it had no electricity, serving as a center of the chesed and assistance that flowed to those in need in the nearby flooded and damaged areas.

The rooms that offered warm meals to those who had none and racks and tables and boxes of clothing for those who had lost so much now held rows of grateful attendees saying Tehillim.

Rabbi Bender said that the gathering was spearheaded by women “with the idea that one year post Sandy we wanted to collectively express our Hakaros Hatov (gratitude) to Hashem that, despite everything we as a community went through — and for many, continue to go through — there was, incredibly, no loss of life within our community.”

He recalled a meeting with Assemblyman Phil Goldfeder and community activists, “huddled to come up with the best plan of action, facing an epic tragedy, overcome with fear and trepidation. Chasdei (mercies of) Hashem, there was no loss of life. At the peak of the storm, Hatzalah, the Shomrim, and other volunteers helped and so many were miraculously saved that night. That is why we are here, to thank Hakodosh Baruch Hu (G-d) for saving us and keeping us alive and the koach (strength) and achdus.”

At the rally, rabbis from across the communities — from Bayswater, Far Rockaway, Long Beach, Lawrence, Inwood, Belle Harbor— were called upon to recite a chapter of Tehillim.

The audience listened attentively to noted speaker and author Rabbi Fischel Schachter explain that our lives are in Hashem’s hands.

He recounted the story of a woman who survived a terrorist attack, the Divine Providence in her actions and the occurrences that day. At the moment when she thought she would die, she said that she “never had such menuchas hanefesh (inner peace)” as she had then, how all her daily worries faded away and she thought, “my life is in Hashem’s hands. I felt a certain peace not only then but for the rest of my life.”

“Our entire life is now on a different level,” said Rabbi Schachter, and he thanked the gathering for “giving me the zechut (merit) to be with you today.”

Gavriel Weberman, a boy from Far Rockaway, spoke of his family’s ordeal and his gratitude to Achiezer and other volunteers. He recounted that his house filled with two feet of water and they lived by his relatives, how the “plumbers worked 24/6” and he received “toys and presents from so many people and organizations.” He said that his father and his siblings now volunteer for Achiezer.

Three more Tehilllim were recited, line by line, and singers Boruch Levine on the piano and Eitan Katz on the guitar accompanied by a violinist sang songs of gratitude, a song with a stanza composed for the rally, Katz’s Lmaancha and vzakaini. That was followed by Rav Shlomo Carlebach’s Tov Lehodos and other lively tunes that brought the rabbis at the dais to their feet, holding hands and dancing in place and culminating in a rousing Bshana haba Biyerushaliyim Habnuyah.

After the rally, Adina Weberman, mother of the boy who spoke, told The Jewish Star that they live on “one of the streets that was hit worst in Far Rockaway. We were flooded and without power for two weeks. I came to show Hakaras Hatov to Hakodosh Baruch Hu — we’ve built back and better than before. We have a lot to be grateful for boruch Hashem.”

Sara Psaty of Cedarhurst told the Star that her garage and kitchen were flooded by the storm. “I lost an 18 year-old son (years ago),” she said. “I can challenge this. It was bad but it wasn’t so bad. The more challenges you have in life the stronger you become.”