Special Prayers
It's Your Birthday? Don't Miss This Special Opportunity for Prayer
A Hebrew birthday is more than a celebration. Rabbi Natan Wachtfogel zt"l shared a simple but meaningful practice for bringing blessing into the coming year.
- Yam Sarah Kohen
- | Updated
Did you know that your birthday can be a special opportunity for prayer?
In Leket Reshimot Inyanei Tefillah (page 257), it is related that Rabbi Natan Wachtfogel zt"l, the renowned mashgiach of Lakewood Yeshiva, was once asked whether a birthday has any special significance.
He answered that there is a tradition that a person should pray on their birthday.
His advice was beautifully simple:
Take a Sefer Tehillim, recite a few chapters, and ask Hashem for a good year.
Pray for success in Torah learning, success in prayer, and every good thing you hope for.
When the questioner asked which chapters to recite, Rabbi Wachtfogel answered:
Tehillim chapters 13 and 103.
What a meaningful way to mark another year of life!
Alongside the celebrations, take a few quiet moments to open your Tehillim, pray for others and bless others, thank Hashem for the gift of another year, and ask Him for the blessings you need.
Your birthday is a gift. Make it an opportunity for prayer!
