Now that our people are at War, our Tehillim recitation has most likely increased in quantity or quality, and hopefully in both. In order to for us to properly appreciate the great sanctity and power of Tehillim, we provide the following thoughts, as excerpted from the Yalkut Me’am Lo’ez on Tehillim--one volume in a wonderful series entitled The Torah Anthology, published in English by Moznaim Publishing Company:
a. Everything the Jewish people were to go through in the course of their history: the moments and conditions of light and joy and the long spells of darkness, suffering and exile--all these Dovid HaMelech himself went through in the course of his life and gave expression to them in the words of Tehillm. Through Tehillim his distress came to reflect their distress, his joys and exultations in cleaving to Hashem became their songs of joy and faith and cleaving to the light of the Divine Presence. When he pleaded for himself, he pleaded for the entire nation, for he knew his people intimately. In his darkest moments, Dovid HaMelech did not despair. Hakhel Note: At a recent Hakhel Shiur, Rabbi Yisroel Reisman, Shlita, taught that whenever the word “Laila” is mentioned in Tehillim, it does not refer to nighttime per se, but to a period of darkness.
b. The Midrash says that Dovid HaMelech composed the five books of Tehillim to correspond to the Five Books of the Torah. Because it is meaningless to study Torah without fear of Hashem, Dovid came along to teach fear of Hashem by means of Sefer Tehillim.
c. Principally it is called Tehillim because this holy Sefer consists of the hymns of praise and thanksgiving to Hashem who created the world out of nothing. Thus, the letters of Tehillim can be said to stand for “Tehillos Hodaos L’Borei Yesh Mai’ayin--Praises and Thanks, to the Creator of something from nothing.”
d. When a person recites Tehillim, he possesses a quality of Heaven, as it says, “The Heavens relate the glory of Hashem” (Tehillim, 19:2); and he possesses a quality of the stars, as it says, “When the morning stars sang” (Iyov, 38:7).
e. When a person recites Tehillim, it is as if it were being uttered by Dovid himself. Dovid prayed that his own lips should move in the grave whenever Tehillim are recited.
f. The She’loh writes: “Anyone whose Neshama desires to cleave to HaKadosh Baruch Hu, let him cling to the book of Tehillim.”
g. When one recites Tehillim, he is offering a prayer and he is also studying Torah, in accordance with Dovid HaMelech’s wish that anyone reciting Tehillim be considered as if he were studying the most difficult subject matter in Gemara (and be rewarded accordingly).
h. The total number of 150 Chapters of Tehillim is the numerical equivalent of “Hachna’a”--which indicates humble submissiveness, and the same is the numerical value of “Kaas”--anger. That is to say, reciting Tehillim helps to eliminate the sin of anger in a person.
i. The author of the Chikrei Lev writes that whenever calamity would strike in his community, whether it was a personal tragedy or a common affliction, he would institute no special prayer. Instead, Tehillim would be recited many times and with devout concentration, and then he would add the words: “Dovid HaMelech, Alav HaShalom, will be my intercessor. He will be the mouth that speaks for me, and he will commend me to our Father in Heaven.”------------
The above should help to infuse within us a greater feeling and even passion for reciting Tehillim in these difficult times that we are going through. Dovid HaMelech is with us. The Heavens are with us. Our soul needs to pour forth in expression. We should take those extra few moments to recite one or more Kapitalich of Tehillim a day with the feeling, concentration and devotion that it so richly deserves.
Important Numbers
