About Debbie Perlman

An occupational therapist, Perlman was on the other side of the bed, applying her training to her own life. She was a 20-year cancer survivor, disabled by the side effects of treatment. Many of her psalms were written for friends and acquaintances under-going crises.

"In some unshakable way, I had been called to write these words. The first psalm was written for a friend about to undergo surgery. After the first few psalms, the words began to be poured into me. They woke me and sang in my dreams. The anchient rhythms that stirred King David and the other psalmist were reverberating in me."

As part of her work at Beth Emet, Perlman wrote psalms for congregants who are ill or experiencing life difficulties. "My psalms have had remarkable results," Perlman says. "I find my glass brimming, as I meet and speak with people who pray with my words, who are moved by them. When I hear my words read in communal worship, I am as transfixed as the first time I saw them on my computer screen. My psalms release me from the disability that keeps me hooked to oxygen, bent and with a cane, walking slowly. They remind me again and again of my survival, my tenacity, the blessings of good husband and family and friends."

"These words strengthen my faith in my ability to weave a lasting thread in the pattern of holiness, bound tightly to God’s design."