The Faithful Servant
His brother testified that when Dovid Moshe said Tehillim, he received the whole world as a gift and handed it back.
A story ofRav Dovid Moshe Freidman of Chortkovהרב דוד משה בן ישראל פרידמאןProfile ›
Among the sons of the Ruzhiner, there was a special closeness between Dovid Moshe and his brother Rav Menachem Nachum of Stefanesht. It is told that Rav Menachem Nachum once spoke about the way his brother recited Tehillim, and what he said has been repeated by chassidim ever since.
"When my brother takes up Tehillim," he said, "Hashem offers him the whole world as a present. Hashem tells him that it is his, to use however he wishes. A lesser person might have accepted, because the offer comes from Hashem Himself and is complete."
But my brother, said Rav Menachem Nachum, is a faithful servant. He does not keep what he has been given for himself. He gives it back to Hashem exactly as it was, whole and untouched.
Chassidim understood this as a picture of the Chortkover's whole avodah. The words of Tehillim opened the gates of Heaven for him, and he stood at the open gate with the world in his hands. Yet he wanted nothing from it for himself. He wanted only to serve.
It is told that this was the root of his simplicity and his silence. A person who has already been offered everything and has handed it back has little left to say.
Source: Deiah veDibur, "Kodshei Kodshim: The Chortkover Rebbe, Reb Dovid Moshe Friedman zt"l", Part III (9 Marcheshvan 5783), citing the Stefanesht Rebbe, Rav Menachem Nachum
When you say Tehillim, or any prayer, today, notice what you are asking for and what you are keeping. After a moment of success or good news, pause and say a short thank-you that returns it to Hashem: all of this is from You. Then choose one way to use what you have been given in service of someone else, whether it is time, money or attention. Faithfulness is not about having nothing; it is about remembering whose it is.