When Pain Takes Away the Sounds You Need
When your ears hurt, the world changes. Conversations become muffled. The sounds you rely on every day, a child calling, a phone ringing, the quiet hum of a normal morning, they blur or disappear behind a wall of pain. You are here because you know that the One who designed the ear can also heal it.
Tehillim 38 is one of the most personal kapitlach Dovid HaMelech ever composed. He wrote it during a time of deep physical suffering, and in the middle of it he describes exactly what it feels like to lose your hearing. In pasuk 14 he says: “I am like a deaf person who cannot hear.” And in pasuk 15: “I have become like a man who does not hear.” Two pesukim in a row, Dovid HaMelech himself putting into words the pain of silence. There is no kapitel in all of Tehillim that speaks more directly to someone suffering from ear pain or hearing loss.
This is not a segulah from an obscure source. This is the plain meaning of the words. Dovid HaMelech lived this pain, wrote these words b’ruach hakodesh, and left them for every generation that would need them after him.
Before You Say This Kapitel
Find a quiet place. The pain may be sharp, or it may be a dull throb that has been there for days. Either way, bring it before Hashem. He knows your body better than any doctor. He shaped the tiny bones of your ear, the delicate pathways that carry sound to your mind. Speak to Him simply, from the place where it hurts.
Ribono Shel Olam, You formed the ear and You gave me the gift of hearing. My ears are in pain and the sounds of the world are fading. I come before You with the words of Dovid HaMelech, who knew this suffering and cried out to You from within it. In the zechus of Rabbi Meir Baal Haness, heal my ears and restore my hearing. Elokah d’Meir aneni.
If giving tzedakah, add:
In the zechus of the tzedakah I give in the merit of Rabbi Meir Baal Haness, please let my prayer for healing rise before Your throne of glory. Ribono Shel Olam, I care for Your children in Eretz Yisrael. Please care for me and heal the pain in my ears.
Tehillim 38: The Full Kapitel
This kapitel has 23 pesukim. Dovid HaMelech composed it during a period of physical illness, and he describes his symptoms with raw honesty: pain in his body, isolation from friends, and in pesukim 14 and 15, the experience of not being able to hear. It ends with one of the most urgent cries in all of Tehillim: “Hasten to my help, my Master, my salvation.”
[rmbh_prayer_tabs]What These Words Mean for You
K’cheresh Lo Eshma — Like a Deaf Person Who Cannot Hear וַאֲנִי כְחֵרֵשׁ לֹא אֶשְׁמָע “I am like a deaf person who cannot hear” (verse 14)
This is the pasuk that makes Tehillim 38 the most fitting prayer for ear pain. Dovid HaMelech does not describe deafness from the outside. He describes it from within: the isolation, the silence, the feeling of being cut off from the sounds around you. The Metzudas Dovid explains that Dovid is describing a state where he could not respond to what people said to him. When you say these words and your own ears are in pain, you are joining your voice to the voice of a king who understood this suffering firsthand.
Lo Shomea — A Man Who Does Not Hear וָאֱהִי כְּאִישׁ אֲשֶׁר לֹא שֹׁמֵעַ “I have become like a man who does not hear” (verse 15)
Dovid repeats the image of not hearing in the very next pasuk. The Radak notes that this repetition is not accidental. When the Torah repeats something, it is to emphasize its importance. Two consecutive pesukim about the inability to hear tell us that this was a defining part of Dovid’s suffering at that moment. For someone dealing with ear pain, hearing loss, or the ringing that blocks out the world, these words carry the weight of real experience.
Ki L’cha Hashem Hochalti — In You I Have Hoped כִּי לְךָ יְהֹוָה הוֹחָלְתִּי אַתָּה תַעֲנֶה “For in You, Hashem, I have hoped; You will answer” (verse 16)
After describing his pain and his silence, Dovid does not give up. He turns to Hashem and says: You will answer. Not “maybe You will answer.” Not “I hope You will answer.” You WILL answer. This is the turning point of the kapitel, from suffering to trust. Hashem formed the ear. He understands the pain you are carrying. And He will answer.
Chushah L’ezrasi — Hasten to My Help חוּשָׁה לְעֶזְרָתִי אֲדֹנָי תְּשׁוּעָתִי “Hasten to my help, my Master, my salvation” (verse 23)
The kapitel ends with urgency. Dovid does not ask politely. He says: Hurry. Come quickly. This is a person in pain who needs Hashem now, not later. When your ears are hurting and you say these words, you are allowed to be urgent. You are allowed to ask Hashem to act quickly. That is exactly what this pasuk is for.
How to Say This Prayer
Tehillim 38 has 23 pesukim. It is short enough to say in a few minutes, even when you are in pain. Say it slowly. When you reach pesukim 14 and 15, where Dovid describes not being able to hear, pause. Let those words become your own. This is not a recitation. It is a conversation with the One who formed your ears.
If the pain is too intense to concentrate on all 23 pesukim, focus on pesukim 14 through 16 and then skip to pesukim 22 and 23. These five pesukim contain the heart of the kapitel: the description of not hearing, the declaration of trust, and the cry for help.
The connection between tefillah and tzedakah is one of the deepest principles in Torah. When we give, we create a vessel for receiving. When we open our hand to help another Jew, we open a channel for Hashem to help us.
End with the words: Elokah d’Meir aneni.
Give Tzedakah in the Zechus of Rabbi Meir Baal Haness
The Gemara in Avodah Zarah 18a-18b tells the story of how Rabbi Meir risked everything to rescue his sister-in-law from Roman captivity. When the situation seemed impossible, the words “Elokah d’Meir aneni” brought miraculous salvation.
Rabbi Meir Baal Haness Charities was founded in 1799 to support Torah scholars and families in need in Eretz Yisrael. For over two centuries, scholars have davened at Rabbi Meir’s kever in Tiberias for those who give tzedakah in his zechus. Your giving does not disappear into a void. It rises together with the tefillos of tzaddikim.
Give Tzedakah in the Zechus of Rabbi Meir Baal Haness
[rmbh_faq]A Brachah for Your Healing
May the One who formed the ear and gave you the gift of hearing restore what has been damaged. May He take away the pain, bring back the sounds you are missing, and give you the peace of knowing you are in His hands. And may you look back on this time and see clearly the hand of Hashem in your healing.
You can submit a prayer request to the scholars at the tomb of Rabbi Meir in Tiberias at no cost. They will daven for you by name through Rabbi Meir Baal Haness Charities. And if you would like to give tzedakah in Rabbi Meir’s zechus as well, your kindness will rise together with your prayer.
