Tehillim Tools: The Three Weeks: 106:4-5

“Remember me, God, when You favor Your people, be mindful of me with Your deliverance. To behold the good fortune of Your chosen, to rejoice in the rejoicing of Your nation, to glory with Your inheritance (Psalms 106:4-5).”

When a person prays only for himself, it is possible to stir accusations against him for there is no person who is righteous without any sin. However, if he includes his prayers for himself with prayers for the community, then his prayers will definitely be heard. When the community prays for a single person to be saved, then too, the person can claim in his prayer that although he does not necessarily merit a miracle, he can rely on the prayers of the many. This then, is what King David meant when he said, “Remember me, God, when You favor Your people, be mindful of me with Your deliverance.” (Rabbi Chaim Elazar Shapira of Minkatch; Ma’amar haLikkutim)

During the Three Weeks, when the entire community is focused on the community’s suffering, if we too are connecting to the pain of the Three Weeks, each prayer, even one for ourselves, is considered a prayer that can rely on the merit of the community.

“To behold the good fortune of Your chosen,” is our plea that in the merit of, “You’re chosen,” which refers to the patriarch Jacob, the choicest of the Patriarchs, we should be privileged to witness the construction of the Third Temple. (Eretz haChaim).

To recite this verse with this intention, we must be connected to Jacob, meaning connected to all his children, the entire nation.

By praying for the entire nation we are rectifying the sin of baseless hatred that led to the distraction of the Second Temple.