During the Ten Days of Repentance between Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur, Bnei Yisrael take upon themselves to recite Tehillim, because saying Tehillim is a segulah for teshuvah. According to Likutei Moharan II, 73, saying Tehillim is a great way to rouse feelings of awakening toward Hashem.
Rebbe Nachman of Breslov also teaches that reciting Tehillim is an important practice for inspiring someone to truly do teshuvah. He explains in his teachings, “Everybody wants to revere G-d’s Name but not everyone is able to repent. Sometimes a person feels no arousal whatever. Even one who is aroused to repent may not reach his unique gate of teshuvah, and even if he does, it could be that the gate is closed. This is why not everyone attains repentance. But through reciting Psalms, even one who feels no arousal can be inspired to repent. The Psalms can take him to his unique gate and open it up, thereby bringing him to teshuvah.”
For this reason, King David called himself “the man who raised the yoke... the sweet singer of Israel” (II Samuel 23:1). Our sages explain that David called himself “the man who raised the yoke” because he elevated the yoke of repentance through his own teshuvah. David was a great tzaddik and should not have sinned, but G-d caused him to sin in order to teach everyone the way of teshuvah. King David was the prime exemplar of teshuvah and his pathway is set forth in the Psalms, which he wrote with such a spirit of holiness that everyone can find himself in them and thereby return to G-d.
List of People Who Need a R’fuah Sh’leimah
(Please recite Psalms 20, 30, 88, 121, and 130.)
Esther Hadasah bas Devorah
Yafah bas Monavar
Chaim Avraham ben Shifrah Zisel
Moshe ben Henna
Yosef David ben Sarah Rasha
Yisrael Meir ben Daphna Bruriah
Efrat bas Oshra
Yosef ben Tovah
Yaakov ben Yehudis
Yonasan ben Sofia
Ruth bas Miryam
Elisheva bas Miriam
David Chayim ben Leah
Tzviah bas Sheindel
Tinok ben Moriah T’mimah
Issac ben Dinah
Rabbanit Mazal Tov Rira bas Simchah
Sarah bas Yafah
Meir Peretz ben Chayah Malkah
Chaim Yehudah ben Leah
Chayah Ayalah bas Tali
Leah Nacha bas Esther Bryna
Efrayim ben Leah
Avraham ben Devorah
Sara bas Leah Malka
Ruchama Chava Rachel bas Alta Chaya Esther