Siddur › Shacharit › The closing prayers

TT Siddur · Shacharit

שִׁיר שֶׁל יוֹם

Song of the Day: Monday

Psalm 48, the one the Levites sang in the Temple on Monday.

Daven with it Read it here

Draft. This siddur is waiting for a rav's review. For a halachic question, ask your rav.

At a glance

When: Said on Monday.
Monday's psalm: Tehillim 48, "Great is Hashem"
Where it comes from: Mishnah Tamid 7:4, about 1,800 years old
The ending: Its last words can be read several ways

The words

Hebrew, then English. Open "What it means" under any line for the explanation.

Every day has its own psalm. On Monday:
הַיּוֹם יוֹם שֵׁנִי בַּשַּׁבָּת שֶׁבּוֹ הָיוּ הַלְוִיִּם אוֹמְרִים בְּבֵית הַמִּקְדָּשׁ.
Today is day two of the week on which the Levites used to say in the Temple
What it means
Today is the second day of the week, on which the Levites used to say in the Temple:
שִׁיר מִזְמוֹר לִבְנֵי קֹרַח.
A song, a psalm by the sons of Korach
What it means
Why did Korach's sons survive when he died in his revolt against Moshe? Rashi (the main commentator on the Torah, France, died 1105) says they were part of the plot at first, but when the fight broke out they had thoughts of repenting.
Bamidbar 26:10-11, with Rashi
גָּדוֹל יְיָ וּמְהֻלָּל מְאֹד בְּעִיר אֱלֺהֵינוּ הַר קָדְשׁוֹ.
Hashem is great and highly praised in the city of our God on His holy mountain
What it means
Two older commentators read this psalm as looking ahead. Rashi says that when God rebuilds His city, He will be great and praised because of it. Radak (Rabbi David Kimchi, Provence, around 1200) says the whole psalm is for the days of the Messiah, and it praises Jerusalem.
Rashi and Radak on Tehillim 48:1-2
יְפֵה נוֹף מְשׂוֹשׂ כָּל הָאָרֶץ הַר צִיּוֹן יַרְכְּתֵי צָפוֹן קִרְיַת מֶלֶךְ רָב.
Beautiful in setting the joy of all the earth Mount Zion on the far side of the north the city of the great King
What it means
Beautiful in its setting, the joy of all the earth: Mount Zion, on the far side of the north, the city of the great King.
Who is the "great King"? Radak says it is King David, or else the King Messiah.
Radak on Tehillim 48:3
אֱלֺהִים בְּאַרְמְנוֹתֶיהָ נוֹדַע לְמִשְׂגָּב.
God, in its palaces, has become known as a stronghold
What it means
God has become known in its palaces as a stronghold.
Ibn Ezra (a Spanish commentator of the 1100s) says Jerusalem has many palaces, but its real stronghold is Hashem, shown by the mighty acts He did. Radak adds that other cities' palaces are strong and high so people can shelter in them, but here God is known as the refuge for everyone who comes to Him for shelter.
Ibn Ezra and Radak on Tehillim 48:4
כִּי הִנֵּה הַמְּלָכִים נוֹעֲדוּ עָבְרוּ יַחְדָּו.
For look, the kings gathered and advanced together
הֵמָּה רָאוּ כֵּן תָּמָהוּ נִבְהֲלוּ נֶחְפָּזוּ.
They saw it and so were stunned terrified, they fled in haste
What it means
They saw it and were stunned. They were terrified and fled in haste.
רְעָדָה אֲחָזָתַם שָׁם חִיל כַּיּוֹלֵדָה.
Trembling seized them there, shaking pain like a woman in labor
What it means
Radak says "there" points to an exact spot: the exact place where they planned a great slaughter. That is where trembling and labor pains seized them, and they all fell.
Radak on Tehillim 48:7
בְּרוּחַ קָדִים תְּשַׁבֵּר אֳנִיּוֹת תַּרְשִׁישׁ.
With an east wind You smash the ships of Tarshish
What it means
Rashi says that in the Tanach (the Hebrew Bible), "east wind" is the language of punishment, the wind God uses against the wicked. His examples are the wind that drove back the sea at the Exodus, and the east wind that wrecked Tyre, a city pictured as a ship, in the book of the prophet Yechezkel (Ezekiel 27:26).
Rashi on Tehillim 48:8; Shemot 14:21; Yechezkel 27:26
כַּאֲשֶׁר שָׁמַעְנוּ כֵּן רָאִינוּ בְּעִיר יְיָ צְבָאוֹת בְּעִיר אֱלֺהֵינוּ אֱלֺהִים יְכוֹנְנֶהָ עַד עוֹלָם סֶלָה.
Just as we heard, so we saw in the city of Hashem of armies, in the city of our God. God will establish it forever. Selah.
What it means
Rashi says what "we heard" was the comforting words of the prophets, and now "we saw" them come true. Radak says "Hashem of armies" because God is master of the armies above and the armies below.
Rashi and Radak on Tehillim 48:9
דִּמִּינוּ אֱלֺהִים חַסְדֶּךָ בְּקֶרֶב הֵיכָלֶךָ.
We pictured Your kindness, God, inside Your Temple
What it means
We have pictured Your kindness, God, inside Your Temple.
"Dimminu" is a hard word. Rashi says the prophet turns to God and prays: we hoped for Your kindness, to see this rescue in Your Temple. He adds that Menachem, an earlier scholar of Hebrew words, takes it as thinking, like Mordechai's "do not imagine" to Esther (Esther 4:13).
Rashi on Tehillim 48:10; Esther 4:13
כְּשִׁמְךָ אֱלֺהִים כֵּן תְּהִלָּתְךָ עַל קַצְוֵי אֶרֶץ צֶדֶק מָלְאָה יְמִינֶךָ.
Like Your name, God, so is Your praise to the ends of the earth. Your right hand is full of justice
What it means
As Your name is, God, so is Your praise, to the ends of the earth. Your right hand is full of justice.
Rashi says: as great as Your name is, so great is the praise of You in everyone's mouth. Radak says when: once people see the prophets' words come true, they will praise You everywhere and say, "Your right hand is full of justice."
Rashi and Radak on Tehillim 48:11
יִשְׂמַח הַר צִיּוֹן תָּגֵלְנָה בְּנוֹת יְהוּדָה לְמַעַן מִשְׁפָּטֶיךָ.
Mount Zion will rejoice, the daughters of Judah will exult, because of Your judgments
What it means
Hebrew can call the towns around a city its "daughters." Rashi says the other cities of Judah are Zion's daughters, like "Kenat and her daughters" (Bamidbar 32:42). He reads "Your judgments" as the justice God carries out among the nations.
Rashi on Tehillim 48:12; Bamidbar 32:42
סֹבּוּ צִיּוֹן וְהַקִּיפוּהָ סִפְרוּ מִגְדָּלֶיהָ.
Walk around Zion and circle it. Count its towers
What it means
Who is told to walk around Zion? Rashi: those who are building it, so they know how many towers it needs. Ibn Ezra: these are Jerusalem's words to the nations. Radak: the nations are told to come around and see how beautiful its buildings are.
Rashi, Ibn Ezra and Radak on Tehillim 48:13
שִׁיתוּ לִבְּכֶם לְחֵילָה פַּסְּגוּ אַרְמְנוֹתֶיהָ לְמַעַן תְּסַפְּרוּ לְדוֹר אַחֲרוֹן.
Set your heart to its ramparts, look over its citadels, so that you can tell it to the next generation
What it means
Why look so closely? To tell the next generation. Rashi says what you will tell is its height and its beauty. Radak says it will be for a generation that has never seen a building as beautiful as the one that will stand on Zion in the future.
Rashi and Radak on Tehillim 48:14
כִּי זֶה אֱלֺהִים אֱלֺהֵינוּ עוֹלָם וָעֶד הוּא יְנַהֲגֵנוּ עַל מוּת.
For this is God, our God, forever and ever. He will lead us until death

How to say it

People say it at the end of Shacharit, because in the Temple the Levites sang it after the morning offering. This siddur then has you add Hoshienu (a verse asking God to save us) and the Mourner's Kaddish.

Peninei Halakhah, Prayer 23:4; Siddur Sefard

The story

Not what you say about yourself

The psalm calls Zion "beautiful" and "the joy of all the earth." Midrash Tehillim (an old collection of rabbinic teachings on Tehillim) notes that the city of Tyre once bragged, "I am perfect in beauty" (Yechezkel 27:3). It quotes a common saying: not what your mother says about you, but what your neighbors say. Zion is different. Even passersby looking at its ruins ask if this is the city people called "perfect in beauty, the joy of all the earth" (Eichah 2:15).

Midrash Tehillim 48:2; Yechezkel 27:3; Eichah 2:15

Joy for someone who felt guilty

Why is Zion "the joy of all the earth"? Rashi (the main commentator, France, died 1105) reads the psalm's "far north" as the north side of the altar, a phrase from Vayikra 1:11. Sin offerings and guilt offerings were slaughtered there. Someone weighed down by what he had done brought one, was forgiven, and walked out happy. Midrash Tehillim says the same and adds a line from Mishlei 12:25: worry in a person's heart weighs it down, and a good word makes it glad.

Rashi on Tehillim 48:3; Midrash Tehillim 48:2

Why this psalm for Monday?

The Gemara (the rabbis' long discussion of the Mishnah, the first written collection of their rulings) passes on Rabbi Akiva's list of the week. Sunday's prayer tells more. For Monday: "Great is Hashem," because on the second day God "divided His works and ruled over them." Rashi explains: God set the sky between the upper and lower parts of creation, then rose and sat on high, the way He dwells in His city and on His holy mountain. Those are the psalm's opening words: "in the city of our God, His holy mountain."

Rosh Hashanah 31a, with Rashi; Tehillim 48:2

Sons of Korach

The title says this psalm is by the sons of Korach. Korach led a revolt against Moshe in the desert, and the ground opened and swallowed him and his people (Bamidbar 16:32). A short line later adds: "And the sons of Korach did not die" (Bamidbar 26:11). Centuries after that, when enemy armies marched against King Yehoshafat of Yehuda, Levites (the Temple's singers and helpers) from the Korach family are named among those who stood up and praised God in a loud voice (Divrei HaYamim II 20:19).

Bamidbar 16:32 and 26:11; Divrei HaYamim II 20:1 and 20:19

A city with healing air?

Commentators differ on nof, the psalm's word for Zion's beauty. Rashi offers a tree branch or a bride, and reports that the grammarian Menachem read it as a region. Radak (a Torah commentator in southern France, around 1200) says it means a district. He also passes on his father's view. The inhabited world is divided into seven regions, and anyone who moves from one to another gets sick from the change in air. Jerusalem's air was so well balanced, his father said, that even sick people who came there got better.

Rashi and Radak on Tehillim 48:3

Hard questions

Why does God never say "it was good" on the second day of Creation?

After most days of Creation, the Torah says God saw that it was good. Of the six days of Creation, day two, the day this psalm belongs to, is the only one without it (Bereishit 1:6-8). Day three has the phrase twice (1:10 and 1:12).

Bereshit Rabbah (an early collection of rabbinic teachings on Bereishit) asks exactly this and gives several answers. Rabbi Yochanan passes on a teaching that Gehinnom (the place of punishment after death) was created that day. He reads a verse in Yeshayahu about a fire pit "arranged from yesterday" as pointing to a day that has a yesterday but no day before yesterday.

Rabbi Chanina says it is because division was created that day, since the verse says the sky would "separate water from water." Rabbi Tavyomei adds: if even a division that builds up the world gets no "good," then a division that creates confusion certainly does not.

Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachman gives a gentler answer. The work on the water was not finished on day two. It was finished on day three, which is why day three says "good" twice, once for the water and once for the day's own work.

The Midrash also tells of a noblewoman who asked Rabbi Yosei the same question. He first said that God gave a final "very good" to everything at the end (Bereishit 1:31). She answered with an example. Five of six people get a full portion and one gets nothing. Then you share one more portion among all six. Five now have a portion and a sixth, and one has only a sixth. He did not defend his first answer. He gave her the water answer instead.

The Midrash does not pick a winner. And the Gemara does not link any of this to today's psalm. It says only that on this day God divided His works and ruled over them.

Bereishit 1:6-8, 1:10, 1:12 and 1:31,Bereshit Rabbah 4:6

Who are the kings in this psalm, and when did this battle happen?

The psalm describes kings who gather against Jerusalem, see something, panic and run. An east wind smashes the ships of Tarshish. No king is named and no date is given. The commentators disagree about what it describes.

Rashi and Radak (a Torah commentator in southern France, around 1200) both say it is a future war, the war of Gog and Magog that the prophet Yechezkel describes. Rashi says the kings see God Himself go out and fight, and that is why they are stunned. Radak says Israel will then say: just as we heard it from the prophets, so we saw it.

Ibn Ezra (a Spanish commentator of the 1100s) speaks of the defeat as already done. He says God "did justice" to the kings who gathered. Yet he also says Israel speaks "by way of prophecy." On verse 13 he reports a split: an earlier commentator he calls Rabbi Moshe says it was in David's time, and many say it is for the days of the Messiah.

Malbim (Rabbi Meir Leibush, a rabbi in Eastern Europe who died in 1879) says the psalm was written about a huge storm. Kings joined forces and sailed in ships of Tarshish to conquer the land of Israel. The storm smashed their ships and drove their armies into the sea, while Mount Zion was not harmed.

Midrash Tehillim reads it as the opposite of a victory. For the Midrash, the kings are the ones who passed by Jerusalem when it lay in ruins. It quotes Yirmeyahu, who said many nations would pass by this city and ask why God had done this to it.

So the same verses are read as a future war, a past rescue, a storm at sea, and a ruined city. The psalm gives the scene and leaves out the names.

Rashi on Tehillim 48:2, 5 and 6,Radak on Tehillim 48:5 and 9,Ibn Ezra on Tehillim 48:5, 9, 12 and 13,Malbim on Tehillim 48:1,Midrash Tehillim 48:4; Yirmeyahu 22:8

What do the last two words of the psalm mean?

The psalm ends: "This is God, our God forever and ever. He will lead us al mut." In our siddur these are two words. Word for word, al mut would be "over death" or "on death," which does not read smoothly. The commentators noticed, and they offer several readings.

Rashi reads it as one word, almut, and says it means a person gently leading his small child. He adds that an earlier grammarian named Menachem connected it to the word for "forever."

Ibn Ezra lists more. It could mean "forever." Or, he says, the master of the Masorah (the tradition that guards how the Bible is written and divided) says it is two words meaning "until our death." Rabbi Moshe says it comes from the root for youth: God leads us the way He led us when we were young. Others link it to a root meaning "hidden," a good way of guiding that creatures cannot see.

Radak gives two options. Two words, meaning "until our death," so God will lead us with honor all our lives. Or one word, as in "the days of our youth," meaning as God led us in the past.

Meiri (a scholar in southern France who died around 1315) prefers one word: God will keep us strong as in youth, even in old age. He then reports that some split it into two words and read "after death He will lead us beside still waters, to enjoy the shining of God's presence." He admits it is odd to split one word in two, but notes that the Torah has a similar case, "esh dat lamo" (Devarim 33:2).

Midrash Tehillim goes another way. It reads almut as "worlds" and says: in two worlds.

Rashi on Tehillim 48:15,Ibn Ezra on Tehillim 48:15,Radak on Tehillim 48:15,Meiri on Tehillim 48:15,Midrash Tehillim 48:7

Sparks

Short ideas from the Chassidic masters, the Kabbalah and the Mussar teachers.

Kabbalah

Why Monday has no "it was good"

Rabbi Yosef Gikatilla (a Spanish Kabbalist of the late 1200s) notices that on the other days of Creation the Torah says "God saw that it was good," but not on the second day, when the waters were divided. He explains: where things are split apart, goodness is not found, because goodness comes only to bring peace and join things together. The Midrash gives other reasons too. Now read today's psalm again.

ביום השני לא נאמר בו כי טוב לפי שהוא סוד ההבדל והפירוד... ובכל מה שיש בו חילוק ופירוד אין טוב מצוי בו, כי אין טוב בא אלא להביא שלו"ם ולחבר כל הדברים

Rabbi Yosef Gikatilla, Sha'arei Orah, Second Gate

Chassidut

God is proud of you, as if you did it alone

A teaching in the name of the Baal Shem Tov (the founder of Chassidut, who died in 1760) reads "Great is Hashem and highly praised" as a sign of God's love. God made the urge to do wrong, made the Torah as its spice, and gives us the strength to win. Yet He takes pride in our effort as if we did it ourselves. Like a father who helps his son prepare a hard topic, then delights when the son answers a visitor's questions. Now read "great" again.

אתה בראת יצר הרע ואתה בראת התורה... ואף על פי כן יש לך תענוג גדול מזה ואתה מתפאר בנו כאילו עשינו הדבר מעוצם ידינו

Sefer Baal Shem Tov, Parashat Noach, from Tzava'at HaRivash

Chassidut

A father lets go of the hand

The psalm ends: "He will lead us al mut." Rashi (the main commentator on the Tanach, who died in 1105) reads it as a man leading his small son slowly. Rabbi Yaakov Yosef of Polnoye (a student of the Baal Shem Tov) explains this verse with a parable. A father trains a small child to walk. Once the child is used to it, the father lets go, and the child walks on his own. Serving God works like that. Now read the last line again.

משל אב המרגיל בנו הקטן לילך ברגליו, וכאשר הורגל הקטן לילך אז מניחו האב שילך מעצמו

Toldot Yaakov Yosef, Parashat Lech Lecha; Rashi on Tehillim 48:15

Zohar

When is God called "great"?

The Zohar (the central book of Kabbalah) says the sons of Korach sang this psalm in praise of Knesset Yisrael, the Community of Israel. It asks when God is called "great," and answers from the psalm's opening line: when the Community of Israel is with Him. That is why it says "great is Hashem ... in the city of our God." Now read the first line of the psalm again.

אימתי אקרי קב"ה גדול, בזמנא דכנסת ישראל אשתכחת עמיה, הה"ד בעיר אלהינו, הוא גדול בעיר אלהינו, עם עיר אלהינו

Zohar, Parashat Vayikra

Halacha

The practical laws. For a final ruling, ask your rav.

What if Monday is Rosh Chodesh, Chanukah or Chol HaMoed?

The Tur (a law code from the 1300s) reports that in Spain the psalm said daily after the prayers was swapped for one that fits the day: Barchi Nafshi on Rosh Chodesh, Ke'ayal Ta'arog on Chol HaMoed (festival middle days), Shir Chanukat HaBayit on Chanukah. He calls it a good custom. Some dropped the Levites' psalm for these. The Ba'er Hetev (a 1700s digest on the main code of Jewish law) quotes an objection: say both, Monday's first, but on Chanukah the Chanukah psalm first, to publicize the miracle.

Tur, Orach Chaim 133; Ba'er Hetev on Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 132:7; Kaf HaChaim, Orach Chaim 132:25

Why is there an extra psalm after it on Rosh Chodesh?

That is Barchi Nafshi (Psalm 104). The Tur says the custom in Spain was to say it on Rosh Chodesh, after Musaf, because it has the line about God making the moon for the appointed times. Siddur Sefard prints it right after the Song of the Day. Kaf HaChaim (a Sephardic law commentary from the early 1900s) says that in Jerusalem, on Rosh Chodesh, the Song of the Day itself is said after Uva LeTzion and before Musaf.

Tur, Orach Chaim 423; Tehillim 104:19; Siddur Sefard, Barchi Nafshi; Kaf HaChaim, Orach Chaim 132:25

Is there anything special to have in mind on Monday?

Kaf HaChaim brings the Arizal (Rabbi Yitzchak Luria, a Kabbalist in Safed in the 1500s): each weekday draws some extra light from Shabbat. Sunday holds on to the extra neshama of the Shabbat just past, Monday the extra ruach, Tuesday the nefesh. These are three Hebrew words for levels of the soul. The last three days draw from the coming Shabbat. The siddur of Rabbi Shalom Sharabi (a Kabbalist in Jerusalem in the 1700s) has you name the day ("Today is the second day...") with this in mind.

Kaf HaChaim, Orach Chaim 132:26, citing Sha'ar HaKavanot and the siddur of Rabbi Shalom Sharabi

What comes after it in Elul?

The Mishnah Berurah (a central commentary on daily Jewish law, written around 1900) records the custom from Rosh Chodesh Elul to add Psalm 27, LeDavid Hashem Ori, after the prayers, morning and evening. His community said it up to and including Shemini Atzeret. The note in Siddur Sefard says until Hoshana Rabbah. Where Barchi Nafshi is said on Rosh Chodesh, it comes before LeDavid, and where the Song of the Day is said after Shacharit, the Song comes before LeDavid too. Siddur Sefard prints that order.

Mishnah Berurah 581:2; Siddur Sefard, LeDavid Hashem

Sources

Show the 10 sources quoted on this page

Mishnah Tamid 7:4
בשני היו אומרים... גדול ה' ומהולל מאד. בעיר אלהינו הר קדשו.
On the second day they would say: "Great is Hashem and highly praised, in the city of our God, His holy mountain."
Rosh Hashanah 31a
בשני מה היו אומרים גדול ה׳ ומהולל מאד על שם שחילק מעשיו ומלך עליהן
On the second day, what did they say? "Great is Hashem and highly praised." The reason: He divided His works and ruled over them.
Bereishit 1:7
ויעש אלהים את הרקיע ויבדל בין המים אשר מתחת לרקיע ובין המים אשר מעל לרקיע ויהי כן
God made the sky and separated the water below the sky from the water above the sky. And it was so.
Bereshit Rabbah 4:6
למה אין כתיב בשני כי טוב רבי יוחנן תני לה בשם רבי יוסי ב"ר חלפתא שבו נבראת גיהנם
Why is "it was good" not written on the second day? Rabbi Yochanan taught it in the name of Rabbi Yosei ben Chalafta: because Gehinnom was created on it.
Midrash Tehillim 48:2
לא כמה דאמרת אמך אלא כמה דאמרינן מגיריה. אבל בציון אינו כן הכל אומרים
Not as your mother says, but as your neighbors say. But with Zion it is not so: everyone says it.
Rashi on Tehillim 48:3
ומי שהיה עצב על עבירות שבידו מביא חטאות ואשמות ומתכפר לו והוא יוצא משם שמח
Whoever was sad over the sins he had done would bring sin offerings and guilt offerings, be forgiven, and leave from there happy.
Ibn Ezra on Tehillim 48:15
ובעל המסורת אומר: כי הם שתי מלות והטעם עד מותנו. ורבי משה אמר: שהוא מגזרת עלם ינהגנו תמיד
The master of the Masorah says they are two words, and the meaning is "until our death." Rabbi Moshe said it comes from the root of "youth": He will lead us always.
Meiri on Tehillim 48:15
או שאחר המות ינהגנו על מי מנוחות ליהנות מזיו השכינה
Or that after death He will lead us beside still waters, to enjoy the shining of the Divine Presence.
Malbim on Tehillim 48:1
וירדו באניות תרשיש לכבוש את ארץ ישראל והסער הזה שבר אניותיהם והכה בים חילם
They sailed down in ships of Tarshish to conquer the Land of Israel, and the storm broke their ships and struck their armies in the sea.
Bamidbar 26:11
ובני קרח לא מתו
And the sons of Korach did not die.

Every prayer in the siddur