There's a big gap between blog posts due to being busy with Pesach time and especially the cooking for the whole family.

Also, yesterday, my husband's oldest sister, her oldest son and his two little daughters, and my mother-in-law came for a visit and it was really pleasant, yet action-packed. Also, it's always special to be among four generations. (My mother-in-law is a great-grandmother and her great-grandchildren are the same age or older than some of her grandchildren, may she reap a lot of nachat from all her descendents.)

Fortunately, between my older kids' individual plans, we've been spending an unusual amount of family time together. And even more fortunate, much of that family time has actually been enjoyable!

For example, I have 2 kids who like to kick each other or pretend to run into the other or smack the other somewhere on the head (supposedly "by accident") when merely passing between the kitchen and the living room. I know that's pretty normal for their gender and their age, and probably many of you either remember doing that with your brother or have kids who do that too, but I still get exasperated from it.

Yet despite spending copious amounts of time together in the kitchen-living room area, the ratio of kicking and smacking isn't as bad as it should be, yet another example of Hashem's profound kindness and compassion in action. 

And with that, here is a nice blog post for the holiday:
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The following contains a continuation of the list of uses/segulot for each Tehillim as per the Chida, apparently.

However, the PDF download contains almost all the segulot up-to-date (except for 119 at this time). Eventually, all of them will appear together in just one post. Right now, I'm doing them gradually because it ends up being close to 180 if you include the 20-something perakim within Chapter 119.

I'm skipping 119 for now because it's a bit complicated to set up for those who don't know the Hebrew alphabet or who only understand the English translation, but it is in process.

For the first 20, please see HERE (or press the button below to download all 150 sans 119).
For 21-64, please see HERE.
For Tehillim/Psalms ailment list, please see HERE.
For more on the source of these segulot/uses, please see HERE.
To download all 150 (minus 119) as a 3-page PDF, please press the blue button:

65 -- if you want something from another person
66 -- for whoever has a "mood," a ruach (like a depression or a particularly black mood)
67 -- for a chronic kedachat (fever)
68 -- for a bad spirit/dark mood (ruach ra)
69 -- for one who is covetous and lecherous
70 -- for war
71 -- to find favor (limtzo chen)
72 -- to find favor & loving-kindness (limtzo chen v'chessed)
73 -- to be saved from fear
74 -- if you have haters
75 -- to humble one's pride
76 -- to be saved from fire and water
77 -- so as not to fall in a day of trouble
78 -- to find favor & loving-kindness (chen v'chessed) in the eyes of the government/authorities/rulership
79 -- to subjugate one's haters
80 -- to prevent one from idolatry/occult worship/heresy
81 -- also to prevent one from idolatry/occult worship/heresy
82 -- to succeed in your mission/errand
83 -- for war
84 -- for one whose body has become thin from illness
85 -- to appease/satisfy a friend
86 -- to be saved from a bad spirit (ruach ra)
87 -- good for providing salvation to the city
88 -- also good for providing salvation to the city
89 -- for one who is losing his limbs (i.e., leprosy, amputation, gangrene, frostbite)
90 -- for a lion
91 -- for a bad spirit/dark mood (ruach ra)
92 -- to see great miracles
93 -- to be victorious against one who is suing
94 -- if your haters are persecuting you
95 -- to prevent one's fellow citizens from leading one astray
96 -- to gladden one's family members
97 -- also to gladden one's family members
98 -- to place peace between one person and another
99 -- to be genuinely pious (chasid)
100 -- to be victorious over one's enemies
101 -- for a bad spirit/dark mood (ruach ra)
102 -- for a barren woman
103 -- also for a barren woman
104 -- to distance one who causes harm
105 -- for a fourth kedachat
106 -- for a third kedachat
107 -- for a chronic kedachat
108 -- for success
109 -- if your haters have been oppressing you
110 -- for your haters to make peace with you
111 -- to increase the amount of people who love you (i.e., to multiply friends)
112 -- to increase your strength
113 -- for heresy
114 -- for one who is zavin and mezavin
115 -- to debate/argue with heretics
116 -- so as not to die a strange death
117 -- for one who has been slandered baselessly (i.e. unfounded accusations, etc)
118 -- to give an answer to an apikorus (a heretic, a skeptic)
120 -- to make peace
121 -- to go out alone at night
122 -- for a slave who ran away
123 -- to travel by ship
124 -- to travel by ship
125 -- for enemies
126 -- for a woman whose children have died
127 -- for a newborn
128 -- for a pregnant lady
129 -- for something connect to a mitzvah
130 -- if one wants to travel by ship
131 -- for one who is prideful
132 -- to break a vow
133 -- to cultivate love from those whom you love (l'kiyum ahavat ahuvim)
134 -- to say before learning
135 -- for one who has thoughts of idolatry/occult worship
136 -- to admit to intentional, calculated sins
137 -- to remove hatred
138 -- to remove pride/arrogance
139 -- to place love between a man and his wife
140 -- for hatred that is between a man and his wife (the Hebrew wording seems to imply that this is more for a couple in which the hatred is coming specifically from the husband toward his wife -- bein ish l'ishto -- rather than mutual hatred or hatred coming from the wife)
141 -- for heart pain
142 -- for illness/suffering/pain in one's thighs/calves
143 -- for illness/suffering/pain in one's arm
144 -- for a broken hand/arm
145 -- for fear
146 -- for being struck with a sword (or with any sharp instrument, I'd guess)
147 -- for a snake bite
148 -- for a fire
149 -- to prevent a fire from spreading
150 -- to praise the Holy One Blessed be He for everything He does and has done

Due to a reader comment and a reader email inquiring about source verification, I called the number in the Sefer Tehillim I have, the same one which lists the segulah/use for each perek Tehillim.

To clear up any confusion, I'd like to explain:
The sefer Tehillim with the segulot information is called Shaarei Rachamim and is published under the auspices of Zichron Rachamim by the rosh yeshivah Rav Aharon Zakai and distributed by Hasefer Hatov, which is located on Chagai Street in Yerushalayim.

(Rav Zakai heads the Ohr Yom Tov institutions and Talmud Torah Habayit Hayehudi, and has also published a multi-volume set on the Jewish home, among other books. To see the full list of his books, please click HERE. To see a list of his books with detailed descriptions, please click HERE.)

This Sefer Tehillim is titled: Sefer Tehillim: Shaar Harachamim im segulot v'tefillot haChida (with segulot and prayers of the Chida).

There are a lot of prayers and segulot from the Chida in the back of the book. The only reason why I wasn't 100% sure that the segulot mentioned with each perek were from the Chida is because in the back of the book, there is also the Tikkun Haklali of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov with the proper instructions and the usual verses of preface and conclusion-- except that it's not called Tikkun Haklali but "Tikkun Hakeri rachmana latzlan," AND it doesn't say anything about Rebbe Nachman. So it made me wonder whether ALL the segulot mentioned in the book are from the Chida or whether some are from another great sage, but the compilers simply didn't think to add the sage's name.

I hope that all made sense.

Anyway, the good man who answered the phone very nicely explained that if the book says that the segulot are from the Chida, then that means ALL the segulot within are from the Chida. He also explained that the Tikkun Haklali wasn't specifically credited to Rebbe Nachman because "everyone knows" it's Rebbe Nachman's Tikkun. He seemed  surprised that anyone might think it was put together by anyone else.

(To my mind, this is a particularly interesting cultural variation. Just like your average English-speaker knows that "To be or not to be" is Hamlet by Shakespeare or that any TV-watching American from my generation knows that "Where's the beef?" is a Wendy's commercial, so too a Sefardi Israeli interested in reciting Tehillim with the Chida's segulot would certainly know that the Tikkun on the last page is the famous Tikkun Haklali by Rebbe Nachman. This cultural assumption makes sense within their cultural framework, even though it doesn't within my cultural framework.)

The person with whom I spoke didn't know the exact source in the Chida's writings for each segulah, but gave me the number of Rav Zakai for more information. If I get up the gumption, I'll call the rav (or more preferably, convince my husband to do it) for further information.

Okay, I hope the above helps anyone with the same kind of inquiring mind!

Thanks very much to the astute readers who inquired in the first place.
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To view or download the lists of segulot/uses of each Tehillim (not completed as of yet), please see the following:
The Segulot/Uses for the First 20 Chapters of Tehillim
The Segulot/Uses of Tehillim/Psalms 21-64
UPDATED: A List of Specific Tehillim for Different Ailments of Body and Soul

This is a continuation of the list of uses/segulot for each Tehillim as per the Chida (I'm pretty sure).

However, the PDF download contains all 64 up-to-date. Eventually, all of them will appear together in just one post. Right now, I'm doing them gradually because it ends up being close to 180 if you include the 20-something perakim within Chapter 119.

For the first 20, please see HERE (or press the button below to download all 64 on 1 page).
For Tehillim/Psalms ailment list, please see HERE.
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21 -- for one who is going before a ruler
22 -- for every kind of trouble (tzaar)
23 -- to ask a question via a dream (she'alat chalom)
24 -- to be rescued from a flood of water
25 -- for every thing
26 -- for trouble and danger
27 -- for wild/dangerous animals
28 -- for prayer
29 -- for an evil spirit/dark mood
30 -- for every bad thing
31 -- for an evil eye (ayin hara)
32 -- to request mercy/compassion (rachamim)
33 -- for a woman whose children have died, may Hashem have mercy
34 -- to go on one's way (i.e. a journey, traveling)
35 -- if adversaries have risen up against you
36 -- to annihilate the evil ones
37 -- for a drunkard
38 -- if one has given you bad advice
39 -- for one who is fasting
40 -- to be rescued from an evil spirit/dark mood
41 -- if you have been fired from your employment
42 -- to build the Beit Hamikdash
43 -- to build the Beit Hamikdash
44 -- to be saved from the hand of an enemy
45 -- for one who has an evil wife (presumably, one could say this for an evil husband too)
46 -- if a person hates his wife (ditto)
47 -- for repentance (teshuvah)
48 -- so that one's haters will be afraid of him
49 -- for a kedachat (a type of fever, malaria)
50 -- to be saved from bandits
51 -- for one who is defiled with znut
52 -- to prevent one from speaking lashon hara
53 -- to frighten your haters
54 -- to take revenge on your enemies
55 -- for all evil
56 -- to one who is imprisoned in chains (presumably, this includes handcuffs, etc.)
57 -- for success
58 -- for a bad dog
59 -- for the evil inclination (l'yetzer hara)
60 -- for one who is going to war
61 -- if you fear to sit at home
62 -- to be said after Mincha and after Maariv
63 -- to succeed in trade, merchandise
64 -- to cross a river

Here is a list of the first 20 chapters of Tehillim/Psalms and what each chapter is specifically good for (though you can still say any of them for any situation and it will help).

I'm pretty sure that the source for all this is from the Chida.

I'll go through the whole Tehillim bit by bit.

A Tehillim list for different ailments is HERE.

Here are the first 20:

1 -- for a woman who miscarries (or tends to miscarry a pregnancy)
2 -- for a storm at sea
3 -- for shoulder pain and head pain
4 -- good for every need
5 -- for an evil spirit/mood
6 -- for eye illness
7 -- to make your haters go away
8 -- to find favor (limtzo chen)
9 -- for a sick child
10 -- for anyone who has haters
11 -- to get rid of enemies
12 -- to prevent weakness
13 -- to be saved from a strange death
14 -- for fear (paranoia?)
15 -- to slay a demon
16 -- to make known (l'farsem) a thief
17 -- to say out on the road
18 -- to be rescued from kings
19 -- for wisdom
20 -- good for judgement (din)

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To download as a PDF, please press blue button:

This series is about books that impacted me so much, they carved a permanent transformation within me.
 
The American public school I attended catered to a large Christian population of different sects. The differences between the varied groups didn't interest me and their exact theologies remained unknown to me, except to notice that Mormons represented a large minority among them.

They all seemed basically nice, although kind of wacky due to their insistence on referring to the all-too-human founder of Christianity as "my god" or "my lord" and I was wary of their ambivalent and subtle attitude toward Jews, in that they seemed fascinated by and appreciative of Jews, yet perplexed and frustrated by us at the same time.
 
It was in tenth or eleventh grade that my friend Denise was talking to me. Denise was a Pentecostal. I didn't know what that meant exactly, except that at her church, they "spoke in tongues" and rolled on the floor during prayer. And Denise once expressed her outrage regarding a curious classmate who had asked her if she would give a demonstration on the spot of speaking in tongues.

"How dare he ask me to speak in a language I reserve only for talking to my lord!" she huffed.

I just nodded. Yeah. Whatever, Denise.

Anyway, this time she was gushing about how much her religion helped her deal with life and with me only half-listening politely to what seemed certified weirdness. She wasn't trying to convert me, just expressing herself in much the same way teenage girls talk about their favorite TV show.

Suddenly, she said, "Psalms help me the most. I mean, it's like King David understood everything I'm going through as a teenage girl."

I perked up. King David? I knew he was one of ours.

"What did you say?" I said. "What are in the Psalms?"

She happily explained.

I'd had no idea there was literal text in Torah that could directly relate to a teenage girl in America's Eighties.

[In case you're wondering....yes, I saw Psalms in the prayer books of the Conservative synagogue my family attended, but I didn't relate so much to what they were (although like everyone else, I liked #23 "Hashem is my Shepherd, I shall not lack...."). But when Christians talked about Psalms, I thought it was like when they said the word "Bible" or "Scriptures" - using these words, they didn't really mean the Torah, but the Gospels. So whenever they mentioned "Psalms," I always assumed it was some Gospely without really thinking about it.]

Anyway, the minute I arrived home, I went to my parents' bookshelf where the Jewish stuff was and sure enough, there was an English-language book of Psalms.

Taking it to my room, I started paging through it and was surprised and deeply moved to discover that Denise was absolutely right. Here was all my angst and hope beautifully expressed.

And even more gratifyingly, it was part of MY tradition, not that wacky Christian stuff.

As I went through it, I underlined the verses that resonated with me the most and marked those pages so I could find them later. When I asked if I could keep the book in my room, my mom said yes, because they didn't need it.

Like a lot of other girls in my generation, I experienced periodic bouts of depression and if I could get myself to open the book of Psalms and read the parts I'd underlined, it always made me feel significantly better. I knew nothing about reading Tehillim by the chapter or as a whole section, but just the verses plucked out here and there had a profound effect on me.

One night, my older friends who were already in college decided to go to a New Year's Eve party and didn't invite me because I was still in high school. I felt like everyone was celebrating throughout America - except me. I sat in my room, feeling sorry for myself and crying. Then I remembered the book of Psalms, opened it, and started reading my favorite passages. I soon felt better and started looking for something else to do.

Suddenly, the phone rang and it was my college friend telling me that she would come in twenty minutes to take me to the party.

"You don't look like you're still in high school," she said. "So just don't mention it."

I vaguely realized that Hashem had not only soothed my hurt feelings, but also responded positively to my initial desire.

The party ended up being boring and stupid and I regretted coming.

But the incident also showed me to what extent Hashem is willing to go to show you that He cares and that He is intimately involved in even the most meaningless details of your life: that He'll take you to a party based on forbidden pagan celebrations AND make it so unappealing that you never want to do it again.

Thanks, Hashem!

Since then, like so many fellow Jews around the world and throughout our history, I've turned to Tehillim countless times (with varying results, of course). There is truly nothing like it.