Please Say Tehilim For … Yael Bas Rivka

This is an excerpt from JewishMom.com Newsletter:

Dear Rabbi,

I was planning to spend this morning with my kids at the playground, distracting them until our annual Independence Day Barbecue in Sacher Park late this afternoon.

And then at 8 AM the phone rang…

Terrible news. The oldest daughter of Yael and singer Yonatan Razel (whose hit song “VHee She’amda” I sent out right before Pesach) fell last night from the porch of their home while the family was watching Independence Day fireworks. 4-year-old Rivki Razel is now hospitalized at Hadassah Hospital in critical condition, and desperately in need of our prayers.

If you are like me, you receive a bunch of requests to pray for injured or sick people every week. Maybe you tend to ignore these requests. But this is a girl who isn’t just a name. She is the beloved daughter of the person whose music has inspired you and Jews all over the world. She is also one of my 5-year-old daughter Moriah’s dearest friends.

The Razels are an extremely special family. Rivki’s mother, Yael, comes as close as I have ever seen to the ideal of human goodness. I have known her for years, and I cannot recall having ever heard a negative word coming out of her mouth, about anything or anyone. If I pick up the phone and it is Yael Razel calling, I know for sure that it is because she is calling regarding a mitzvah–organizing a new playground for the neighborhood children, organizing Psalms for someone who is sick, planning meals for a sister-in-law who just gave birth.

For the last few years, Rivki’s father Yonatan has dedicated half his day to Torah study at a local yeshiva, and his remaining time to creating and performing music that manages on a nearly unprecedented scale to bring Israelis, secular and religious alike, closer to their Creator.

And Rivki herself? What a good girl, a special girl. I will never forget how one day at the beginning of the year my Moriah was upset in nursery school, and the next day Rivki decided to bring Moriah a chocolate bar to cheer Moriah up (it did). And that’s the kind of girl she is– a rare mixture of her tsaddekes of a mother and her tremendously creative and dynamic father.

So please take a moment to read Psalm 20 below for a speedy and complete recovery for RIVKA BAT YAEL (please forward this name and psalm to your mailing lists)

לַמְנַצֵּחַ, מִזְמוֹר לְדָוִד.
יַעַנְךָ יְהוָה, בְּיוֹם צָרָה;    יְשַׂגֶּבְךָ, שֵׁם אֱלֹהֵי יַעֲקֹב.
יִשְׁלַח-עֶזְרְךָ מִקֹּדֶשׁ;    וּמִצִּיּוֹן, יִסְעָדֶךָּ.
יִזְכֹּר כָּל-מִנְחֹתֶךָ;    וְעוֹלָתְךָ יְדַשְּׁנֶה סֶלָה.
יִתֶּן-לְךָ כִלְבָבֶךָ;    וְכָל-עֲצָתְךָ יְמַלֵּא.
נְרַנְּנָה, בִּישׁוּעָתֶךָ–    וּבְשֵׁם-אֱלֹהֵינוּ נִדְגֹּל;
יְמַלֵּא יְהוָה,    כָּל-מִשְׁאֲלוֹתֶיךָ.
עַתָּה יָדַעְתִּי–    כִּי הוֹשִׁיעַ יְהוָה, מְשִׁיחוֹ:
יַעֲנֵהוּ, מִשְּׁמֵי קָדְשׁוֹ–    בִּגְבֻרוֹת, יֵשַׁע יְמִינוֹ.
אֵלֶּה בָרֶכֶב,    וְאֵלֶּה בַסּוּסִים;
וַאֲנַחְנוּ,    בְּשֵׁם-יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ נַזְכִּיר.
הֵמָּה, כָּרְעוּ וְנָפָלוּ;    וַאֲנַחְנוּ קַּמְנוּ, וַנִּתְעוֹדָד.יְהוָה הוֹשִׁיעָה:    הַמֶּלֶךְ, יַעֲנֵנוּ בְיוֹם-קָרְאֵנוּ