Halleluyah: Tehillim 150

A psalm for walking up the Temple Mount

Farmers bringing first fruits to Jerusalem said this psalm on the last stretch. The Rambam (Maimonides, Egypt, 1100s) describes it. At the Temple Mount each person lifted his basket onto his shoulder and began: "Halleluyah, praise God in His holy place." They kept reciting all the way to the Temple courtyard. The Talmud Yerushalmi (the Gemara of the Land of Israel) saves the last line, "Let every soul praise God," for the courtyard. There the Levites sang Tehillim 30, the Mizmor Shir from earlier this morning.

Twelve, for the months

Count the praises and you get different answers. The Gemara counts ten. Radak (Rabbi David Kimchi, Provence, around 1200) counts thirteen. Shibbolei HaLeket (a book of Jewish law and custom from Rome, 1200s) brings a third count from the Geonim (heads of the great academies of Babylonia): twelve, one for each month. They read "praise God in His holiness" as a hint to making the new month holy, and the source for saying Hallel on Rosh Chodesh. So the last line is said twice: for a leap year, with thirteen months.

A shofar next to a harp

A shofar makes people shake. A harp makes them happy. Why put them in one line? The Malbim (Rabbi Meir Leibush Wisser, a commentator on Tanach in the 1800s) says that is the point. The shofar stands for awe at how great God is. The lyre and harp stand for joy. The cymbals of teruah, the broken blast, stand for fear of punishment. He reads the psalm as two kinds of praise, and each has one of these sounds of fear inside it, so the fear comes mixed with joy. He ends with Tehillim 2: "rejoice with trembling."

The verse that comes next in Tehillim

The closing verses end "Amen and Amen." In Tehillim one more verse follows: "The prayers of David son of Yishai are ended." Ibn Ezra (a Spanish commentator who died in the 1160s) quotes Rabbi Yehudah HaLevi (the poet who wrote the Kuzari): it ends one of the five books of Tehillim, so the first scribe wrote it as a sign-off. Radak brings his father's reading. When the hopes for the Messiah come true, David's prayers are done. It says prayers, not songs. Nobody will need to ask for forgiveness or rescue.

The instruments are not the point

Shofar, harp, drum, dance, cymbals. In the Zohar Chadash (a companion volume to the Zohar, the central book of Kabbalah), Rabbi Elazar asks: does God need all this? His answer: David is making a point. Whatever praise you bring with all these kinds of music is nothing. It is like telling a friend: do this and this, and none of it counts until you do one more thing. So what is the real praise? The last line: "Let every soul praise God." Now read the last line again.

כָּל מַה שֶׁתְּשַׁבְּחוּ לְקַמֵּי קוּדְשָׁא בְּרִיךְ הוּא בְּהַנֵּי מִינֵי זֶמֶר, אֵינוֹ כְּלוּם... אֶלָּא מַהוּ הַלְּלוּ, כֹּל הַנְּשָׁמָה תְּהַלֵּל יָהּ

More than one kind of fire

Why so many instruments? Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi (the first Chabad Rebbe, who died in 1812) says the Levites' job in the Temple was to bring love and awe of God out of hiding and into the open. And a heart does not catch fire in only one way. Some fire is joy. Some is bitterness and a broken heart. So there are different instruments to match. The shofar is a sound that brings trembling and a broken heart. The ugav, in verse 4, is an instrument of joy.

שיש כמה מיני התלהבות שבהתגלות. יש תשוקה והתלהבות בבחינת שמחה וחדוה. ויש שהיא בבחי׳ מרירות ולב נשבר

A breath you have not ruined yet

Some followers of Rabbi Yisrael of Ruzhin (a Chassidic master who died in 1850) were losing heart. How can we stand and pray in front of God, they asked, when we have not fixed ourselves and we are full of sin? He answered from this verse. The Sages read "every soul" as "every breath" (Elokai Neshama has the Midrash). Each time, he said, a new breath comes, one that has not been dirtied or spoiled yet. Pray with that new breath.

בכל פעם באה נשימה חדשה שלא נתלכלכה ולא נתקלקלה עוד ובזו הנשימה חדשה יתפלל

One letter from the opposite

Tehallel, "will praise," is one letter away from techallel, "will desecrate." Midrash Tanchuma (an early collection of rabbinic teachings) says that if you turn that heh into a chet in this verse, you destroy the world. Rabbi Yaakov Leiner of Izhbitz (a Chassidic master in Poland in the 1800s) explains how praise turns into its opposite: by saying God needs it. God made the world to praise Him, he writes, yet His glory fills the earth even without us. He warns against the reverse mistake too: saying God does not want our service.

שאם האדם אומר שהש"י צריך שהברואים ישבחו אותו, הרי הוא ממעט בכבוד השי"ת

Why only half a Name

The last line uses a short Name of God, Yah: two letters of the four. The Gemara (Eruvin 18b) quotes Rabbi Yirmeyah ben Elazar: since the Temple was destroyed, it is enough for the world to use two letters, and his proof is this verse. The Maharal (Rabbi Yehudah Loew of Prague, who died in 1609) explains. The full Name fits a world that is whole and blessed. Without the Temple the world still exists, but the extra blessing is gone. And the soul, he says, is a person's bare self, with nothing added. So it praises with two letters.

אין ראוי להזכיר השם בן ד' אותיות רק כאשר העולם בשלימות ובברכה

I'm late and can only fit one Halleluyah psalm. Which one?

This one. The Shulchan Aruch (the main code of Jewish law) keeps Tehillim 148 and 150 for a latecomer, and with less time drops 148. The Shulchan Aruch HaRav (the code of law by the first Chabad Rebbe): no time for both? Say this one alone. The Aruch HaShulchan (a law code, about 1900): it is short, so "no time" hardly applies. The four verses after it come late on his list, after all five psalms and the Song at the Sea. The Tehillim 146 and 148 cards have the rest.

Something forces me to stop and talk in the middle. Is there a right way?

There is a custom. The Mishnah Berurah (a law commentary, about 1900): if you are forced to stop in these psalms, first say these verses, from Baruch Hashem leolam to Vayevarech David, and again when you come back. They work "like a blessing before and after." It goes back to the Maharam (Rabbi Meir of Rothenburg, 1200s). It is not a pass to chat. The Kaf HaChaim (a Sephardic law commentary, early 1900s) quotes the Eliyah Rabbah: it is for a stop that is allowed anyway. For Kaddish or Kedushah, he adds, no need.

Why do these four verses come right after the psalm?

The Eliyah Rabbah (Rabbi Eliyahu Shapira of Prague, about 1700) collects reasons. The Levush (a law code from the late 1500s): this is where people most often stop. The Lechem Chamudot (a 1600s commentary) objects: you may stop only out of fear or respect, and those come at no set time. His answer: so everyone knows them by heart for when needed. The Eliyah Rabbah is surprised. Abudarham (a 1300s commentary on the prayers) already said why: they end books of Tehillim. Siddur Sefard prints it above them.

This psalm is full of music. Is there a blessing for hearing a great song?

No. The Mishnah Berurah explains that the Sages set a blessing for a good smell, but not for hearing a pleasant sound, because a sound has no substance. Washing gets none either, he adds, since nothing enters the body. Smell does get one, and the Gemara learns it from this psalm's last line, "Let every soul praise God." What does the soul enjoy and the body does not? Smell. The next card has which blessing to say.

Which blessing do I say on a good smell?

It depends on the source of the smell. The Shulchan Aruch: bless before you smell, not after. From a tree or wood: borei atzei vesamim. From a herb: borei isvei vesamim. Neither, like musk: borei minei vesamim. A fruit you pick up to smell: hanoten re'ach tov baperot. Not sure? Borei minei vesamim covers them all. No blessing on a scent not meant for smelling, like the spices in a bathroom, or oil to get rid of grime. The Mishnah Berurah's example: oil for someone who sweats a lot.

Instruments are out on Shabbat. Can I whistle a tune?

Yes. The Shulchan Aruch: on Shabbat, sound from a musical instrument is forbidden, but knocking on a door is fine. The Mishnah Berurah: the ban is a decree of the Sages, in case someone fixes an instrument. The Rema (who added Ashkenazi practice to the Shulchan Aruch): with no action it is allowed, so you may whistle like a bird to call a friend. The Mishnah Berurah: even a tune, since the decree never covered the mouth. The Kaf HaChaim notes one authority, the Givat Shaul, who leaned toward forbidding it.