Siddur › Tikkun HaKlali › The ten psalms
TT Siddur · Tikkun HaKlaliמִכְתָּם לְדָוִד
David's psalm of trust: Hashem is my share. First of the ten Tikkun HaKlali psalms.
Draft. This siddur is waiting for a rav's review. For a halachic question, ask your rav.
King David, as the commentators read it. Rashi (the classic commentator, France, died 1105) says David spoke the first half as words the Jewish people would say to God, and from verse 7 on he speaks for himself. For verse 9, Rashi points to a serious wrong David had done. The prophet Natan told him, "Hashem has also removed your sin," and Rashi says David reasons from that: if God forgave that, He will not abandon him now.
It is the first of the ten psalms of the Tikkun HaKlali, the "general remedy" of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov (a Chassidic teacher in Ukraine, about 200 years ago). He taught the ten as a repair for a nighttime mishap that harms a person's holiness. The Tikkun opening tells the full story.
Rashi on Tehillim 16:7 and 16:9; Shmuel II 12:13; Likutei Moharan II:92; Sichot HaRan 141Hebrew, then English. Open "What it means" under any line for the explanation.
The first of the ten psalms of the Tikkun HaKlali (the "general remedy"):
מִכְתָּם לְדָוִד שָׁמְרֵנִי אֵל כִּי חָסִיתִי בָךְ.
A michtam of David. Guard me, God, because I take refuge in You.
אָמַרְתְּ לַייָ אֲדֹנָי אָתָּה טוֹבָתִי בַּל עָלֶיךָ.
You, my soul, said to Hashem, You are my Master. The good I have is not something You owe.
Radak says David is talking to his own soul: you said, and you admitted, that Hashem is your Master. Rashi (the classic commentator, France, died 1105) explains the last phrase. God does not help me because I earned it, so the good He gives is never a debt He has to repay.
Radak and Rashi on Tehillim 16:2לִקְדוֹשִׁים אֲשֶׁר בָּאָרֶץ הֵמָּה וְאַדִּירֵי כָּל חֶפְצִי בָם.
As for the holy ones who are in the land, and the mighty ones, all my delight is in them.
יִרְבּוּ עַצְּבוֹתָם אַחֵר מָהָרוּ בַּל אַסִּיךְ נִסְכֵּיהֶם מִדָּם וּבַל אֶשָּׂא אֶת שְׁמוֹתָם עַל שְׂפָתָי.
Their sorrows will multiply, those who hurry after another. I will not pour out their drink offerings of blood, and I will not lift their names onto my lips.
יְיָ מְנָת חֶלְקִי וְכוֹסִי אַתָּה תּוֹמִיךְ גּוֹרָלִי.
Hashem is my allotted share and my cup. You hold up my lot.
Radak says other people take silver and gold as their share, but David has no other share than Hashem.
Radak on Tehillim 16:5חֲבָלִים נָפְלוּ לִי בַּנְּעִמִים אַף נַחֲלָת שָׁפְרָה עָלָי.
Portions have fallen to me in pleasant places. Yes, my inheritance is beautiful to me.
Radak says that when people divide an inheritance, each one usually envies the other's share and thinks it is better. David says he is not like that. He has the best share already, so he does not envy anyone else's.
Radak on Tehillim 16:6אֲבָרֵךְ אֶת יְיָ אֲשֶׁר יְעָצָנִי אַף לֵילוֹת יִסְּרוּנִי כִלְיוֹתָי.
I will bless Hashem who advised me. Even at night my kidneys teach me.
Rashi reads it simply: even at night my kidneys, my inner self, teach me to fear God and to love Him. He mentions that our Sages read the verse as being about Avraham, who learned Torah on his own before it was given, but he says the verses should be read in their order.
Rashi on Tehillim 16:7שִׁוִּיתִי יְיָ לְנֶגְדִּי תָמִיד כִּי מִימִינִי בַּל אֶמּוֹט.
I keep Hashem in front of me always, because He is at my right. I will not be shaken.
לָכֵן שָׂמַח לִבִּי וַיָּגֶל כְּבוֹדִי אַף בְּשָׂרִי יִשְׁכֹּן לָבֶטַח.
So my heart is glad and my glory rejoices. Even my flesh will rest in safety.
The Gemara (the rabbis' discussions built on the Mishnah) lists seven people whom worms never touched: Avraham, Yitzchak, Yaakov, Moshe, Aharon, Miriam and Binyamin. Some add David, from this verse, "even my flesh will rest in safety." The other view says David was only asking for it.
Bava Batra 17aכִּי לֹא תַעֲזֹב נַפְשִׁי לִשְׁאוֹל לֹא תִתֵּן חֲסִידְךָ לִרְאוֹת שָׁחַת.
For You will not leave my soul to the grave. You will not let Your devoted one see the pit.
Radak reads this as the soul: it will not go down to the grave with the body, but will be lifted up to God's glory. He also brings a midrash (a collection of rabbinic teachings) that someone who hears himself cursed and stays quiet is called a chasid, the word used here for "devoted one."
Radak on Tehillim 16:10תּוֹדִיעֵנִי אֹרַח חַיִּים שֹׂבַע שְׂמָחוֹת אֶת פָּנֶיךָ נְעִמוֹת בִּימִינְךָ נֶצַח.
You will let me know the path of life. Fullness of joys is with Your face, pleasantness in Your right hand forever.
You will let me know the path of life. Fullness of joys is with Your face, and pleasantness is in Your right hand forever.
Rashi says "You will let me know" is a statement about the future, not a request. Radak reads it as a prayer: show me the way to the World to Come, where the soul keeps living after it leaves the body. He adds that "Your face" and "Your right hand" both stand for God's glory.
Rashi and Radak on Tehillim 16:11This is the first of the ten psalms that Rebbe Nachman of Breslov (a Chassidic rebbe who died in 1810) named for the Tikkun HaKlali, the "general remedy." He said to say them in the order they appear in Tehillim.
Sichot HaRan 141Verse 5 says "You support my lot." Rashi pictures a parent who loves a child. He lays the child's hand on the best portion and says, "Take this one," the way the Torah says "choose life." Radak (Rabbi David Kimchi, Provence, around 1200) reads it as: You helped me choose my portion, as the Gemara (the rabbis' discussions built on the Mishnah) says, one who comes to be purified is helped.
Rashi and Radak on Tehillim 16:5; Devarim 30:19; Yoma 38bA Midrash on the title of this psalm (Midrash Tehillim, a collection of rabbinic teachings on Tehillim) tells a parable. A traveler with two small coins passes an inn. If he orders a meal, they will bring something far too expensive. So he asks for what two coins buy and quotes the saying: "I dance according to my coins." David says the same: I have no place sitting with the great. Let Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov be in the side room, Moshe and Aharon in the hall, and I at the threshold.
Midrash Tehillim 16:11The Gemara reads the title of a similar psalm (Tehillim 56) as mach vetam, "lowly and whole-hearted," about David. Rashi quotes that, then says it does not fit here, because the word order in this title is different. He suggests the word names a kind of melody, or a crown: David kept saying "Guard me, God, for I take refuge in You," and it was like a crown to him. Ibn Ezra (a Spanish commentator, 1100s) says it means a distinguished psalm, like fine gold.
Rashi and Ibn Ezra on Tehillim 16:1; Sotah 10bVerse 7 says "even at night my kidneys instruct me." In the Gemara's picture, the kidneys give advice and the heart understands. It adds that a person has two kidneys, one advising toward good and one toward bad. Radak and Metzudat David (a line-by-line commentary on Tehillim from the 1700s) say why night: it is when you are alone and your heart is free of distractions. A Midrash says Avraham had no teacher, so God made his two kidneys flow like springs of wisdom.
Berakhot 61a; Radak and Metzudat David on Tehillim 16:7; Midrash Tehillim 16:6The Tikkun HaKlali opening tells how Rebbe Nachman matched ten psalms to ten kinds of song. First on his list of kinds is "blessing," and his verse for it is verse 7 of this psalm: "I will bless Hashem who advised me, even at night." Where the Gemara's list (Pesachim 117a) has "praise," his has "blessing."
Likutei Moharan II:92; Pesachim 117aMidrash Tehillim ties this psalm to blessings twice. On verse 8, "I place Hashem before me always," Rav (a sage in Babylonia, about 1,800 years ago) says a blessing must say "Blessed are You, Hashem," speaking to God directly. Shmuel says "Blessed is Hashem," and the verse is brought for Rav's view. On verse 2, Reish Lakish (a sage in the Land of Israel) says: if you ate and said a blessing, it is as if you ate from your own. Enjoying this world without a blessing, the Midrash says, misuses what is God's.
Midrash Tehillim 16:1 and 16:7; Berakhot 35aIn the Metsudah edition of Siddur Sefard, this psalm is printed for a house of mourning. There Psalm 49 is said in the morning after the psalm of the day, and after Mincha (the afternoon prayer). On days when Tachanun (the prayer of pleading said on most weekdays) is skipped, Psalm 16 is said instead. Its last verses look ahead. Rashi says the joy they speak of has no end.
Siddur Sefard (Metsudah), L'David Hashem; Rashi on Tehillim 16:11Verse 3 is one of the hardest lines in the psalm, and the commentators do not agree. The words are "the holy ones who are in the land, and the mighty ones, all my desire is in them." Who are they?
Rashi (the classic commentator, France, died 1105) says they are righteous people who are buried in the earth, who walked before God in truth. The good that comes to the speaker comes for their sake. The Midrash on Tehillim agrees about the timing. It says God does not call the righteous "holy" until they are placed in the ground, because until the day a person dies, the urge to do wrong still presses on him. Even Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov, it says, were not called holy until they were buried.
Radak (Rabbi David Kimchi, Provence, around 1200) reads it differently. For him the holy ones are living people. Walk in the footsteps of the holy people you meet on your way, he says, and learn from what they do. He points to a teaching in the Gemara that "you shall fear Hashem your God" includes awe for Torah scholars.
Ibn Ezra (a Spanish commentator, 1100s) notes that "holy ones" usually means angels, which is why the verse had to add "in the land." For him it means holy people here on earth, and "all my desire" means that all his wish is to be like them.
The Tikkun HaKlali uses this verse too. The short paragraph said before the ten psalms (by Rebbe Nachman's followers; it names him) ties the reader to the true righteous of our generation and to those who rest in the dust, "holy ones who are in the land." It names both.
So the sources give two answers: righteous people who have died (Rashi, the Midrash), or holy people you can meet and learn from now (Radak, Ibn Ezra). The words do not settle it. In both, the speaker wants to stay close to people who are better than he is.
Rashi, Radak and Ibn Ezra on Tehillim 16:2-3,Midrash Tehillim 16:2,Pesachim 22b,Tikkun HaKlali, opening paragraphVerse 4 begins: "Their sorrows will multiply, those who rush after another." Read fast, it sounds like David wishing pain on his enemies. The commentators do not all hear it that way.
Rashi takes it as a wish spoken to God: may the sorrows multiply of those who deny You and hurry to worship other gods. The speaker then refuses to join them. He will not throw blood to an idol, and will not even say the names of their gods.
Radak calls a different reading the correct one. David will cling to the holy and mighty ones, and the sorrows of the people who rush after other paths, away from the ways of Hashem, will multiply. Radak ties the sorrows to the road those people chose. He adds that offerings brought along with wicked acts do not help. They harm, as Mishlei says: the offering of the wicked is an abomination.
The Midrash on Tehillim hears something else. In one version, David asks God about Jews who died in a generation of persecution, rather than give up their faith: "You multiplied sorrows for them." God answers by reading the next words of the verse. Did they lose anything? Their blood is dearer to Him than offerings.
So there are at least three readings: a wish (Rashi), a warning about where those roads lead (Radak), and a cry over people who suffered for their loyalty (the Midrash). The sources do not choose one. In each, the verse goes on with a refusal: "I will not pour their offerings of blood."
Rashi and Radak on Tehillim 16:4,Mishlei 21:27,Midrash Tehillim 16:3Verse 8 is the line most people know from this psalm. The Rema (Rabbi Moshe Isserles, Poland, 1500s) wrote notes that are printed in the Shulchan Aruch, the main code of Jewish law. He quotes this verse in its first law. He calls it a great principle of the Torah and of the way righteous people live.
The Reishit Chochmah prayer tells his picture of a person standing in front of a great king, and what that does to how he acts.
That still sounds like too much to ask all the time. Radak begins: "in all my ways I will remember Him." He compares it to something that is always in front of a person and never leaves his eyes or his mind. He then quotes the Rambam (Maimonides, Egypt, died 1204) on "at my right hand": it is like your right hand, which you never forget for an instant because it moves so easily.
The Gemara uses the verse for prayer. Rabbi Shimon the Pious, a sage of the Gemara quoted by Rav Chana bar Bizna, says that someone who prays should see himself as if the Divine Presence is standing opposite him. On the same page, the verse is also read as a law for a king, who carries a Torah scroll with him, made like an amulet and hung on his arm.
The word in the verse is tamid, always. These sources each give a way to try it.
Rema, Orach Chaim 1:1,Radak on Tehillim 16:8,Sanhedrin 22aShort ideas from the Chassidic masters, the Kabbalah and the Mussar teachers.
Rabbi Chaim Vital (the main student of the Arizal, the great Kabbalist of Tzfat who died in 1572) lists a practice for this verse. It is good, he writes, to picture the letters of God's four-letter Name before your eyes, always. That brings awe into the heart and helps clean the soul. And that, he writes, is what David meant: "I have set Hashem before me always." Now read "before me" as something you can see.
טוב לאדם שיצייר אותיו' שם ההוי"ה תמיד בציורם לנגד עיניו... וגם לזכך הנפש
Rabbi Chaim Vital, Sha'ar Ruach HaKodeshAn early Chassidic teaching, printed in two collections of the Baal Shem Tov's sayings (he founded Chassidut and died in 1760), says the first word, shiviti, comes from a word meaning "equal." For a person who lives this way, everything that happens feels the same: people praising him or putting him down, fancy food or plain food. He tells himself, "This was sent from God," and his only aim is to do what God wants. On his own he feels no difference. The teaching calls this a great level. Now read "I have set" again.
שויתי לשון השתוות. בכל דבר שיארע לו יהיה הכל שוה אצלו. בין בענין שמשבחין אותו ב"א או מבזין אותו
Keter Shem Tov 189; Tzava'at HaRivash 2Rabbi Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev (a Chassidic master who died in 1809) says the rule of this verse has a catch. He states plainly that it is impossible to hold your thoughts on God every moment. What he offers is a way in. When a person serves God in order to give Him pleasure, that pleasure itself wakes him up and keeps his mind attached to God. Now read "always" again.
והנה אי אפשר לאדם לדבק מחשבתו תמיד לה', רק הכלל הוא כשאדם עובד כדי לעשות נחת רוח ותענוג להבורא יתברך אז זה התענוג בעצמו מעורר אותו לדבק מחשבתו להבורא יתברך
Kedushat Levi, Parashat YitroRebbe Nachman of Breslov (a Chassidic master who died in 1810) says every joy lasts only for its moment, even a wedding. Look at where life ends, and there is nothing to celebrate. But look at the end of the end, he says, and you have every reason to be happy, because the final goal is completely good. He then quotes this psalm's "even my flesh dwells securely" and says a righteous person can be sure it will turn out well for the body too. Now read "my heart is glad" again.
אֲבָל אִם יִסְתַּכֵּל עַל הַסּוֹף שֶׁל הַסּוֹף, אָז יֵשׁ לוֹ לִשְׂמֹחַ מְאֹד, כִּי סוֹף כָּל סוֹף, דְּהַיְנוּ הַתַּכְלִית, הוּא טוֹב מְאֹד
Rebbe Nachman, Likutei Moharan II:33Rabbi Natan of Breslov (Rebbe Nachman's main student, who died in 1844) reads this psalm, the first of Rebbe Nachman's ten, as a path. Rebbe Nachman heard chavalim, "portions," as chovlim, "things that damage": ways of thinking from outside the Land of Israel. They fall into the pleasant ways of the Land of Israel, to be repaired. They might still win, so the next line blesses God for His advice. Each time you long for the Land of Israel, they push back. Push through, says Rabbi Natan, and God helps, until that pleasantness is yours for good.
הַמִּזְמוֹר הָרִאשׁוֹן מֵהַיּוּד מִזְמוֹרֵי תְּהִלִּים שֶׁתִּקֵּן רַבֵּנוּ זִכְרוֹנוֹ לִבְרָכָה
Rabbi Natan, Likutei Halakhot, Laws of Blessings Over Fruit 4:13; Rebbe Nachman, Likutei Moharan II:71The practical laws. For a final ruling, ask your rav.
The Shulchan Aruch (the main code of Jewish law, 1500s) rules that the one praying should think as if God's Presence is facing him. On the book's first law, the Mishnah Berurah (a central commentary on daily Jewish law, written around 1900) brings a practice in the name of the Arizal (Rabbi Yitzchak Luria of Tzfat, 1500s): always picture God's four-letter Name before your eyes. But in the prayer laws the same book says to pray the plain meaning of the words, and leave mystical intentions to experts.
Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 98:1; Mishnah Berurah 1:4 and 98:1The Rema (Rabbi Moshe Isserles, who added Ashkenazi practice to the Shulchan Aruch), in his note on the first law, writes that you should not be ashamed before people who mock your service of God. The Mishnah Berurah adds two limits. Do not get into a fight with them, because pushiness is a strongly condemned trait, even for a good cause. And aim for Heaven's sake, not to show off.
Rema, Orach Chaim 1:1; Mishnah Berurah 1:5 and 1:6It is named for our verse, "Shiviti Hashem lenegdi tamid." The Mishnah Berurah says people put parchments with the verse and God's Names in their prayer books, as a reminder not to chat during prayer. The Sha'arei Teshuvah (a commentary printed with the Shulchan Aruch), citing earlier rabbis, wanted it stopped, since they are poorly kept and the Name gets erased. Big ones under glass in shul are fine. The Mishnah Berurah adds: protest ones on the lectern without glass, since the candles there can erase the Name.
Mishnah Berurah 1:4; Sha'arei Teshuvah on Orach Chaim 1:3The Elokai Netzor prayer gives the rule: after the three steps back, turn left at "oseh shalom bimromav," then right. The Mishnah Berurah's reason is that the one praying pictures God's Presence facing him, so your left is God's right. The Taz (a major commentary on the Shulchan Aruch, 1600s) ties that picture to our verse, "I place Hashem before me always."
Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 123:1; Mishnah Berurah 123:4; Taz, Orach Chaim 123:2אתה הוא אשר הניחות ידי על החלק הטוב... כאדם האוהב אחד מבניו ומניח ידו על החלק הטוב ואומר את זה בחר לך
You are the One who placed my hand on the good share... like a person who loves one of his sons, lays his hand on the good share, and says: choose this one for yourself.
כך אמר דוד המלך אין לי לישב עם הגדולים אמתין לי עם הקטנים. יהא אברהם יצחק ויעקב בקיטון ומשה ואהרן בטרקלין ואני בסף
So King David said: I have no place sitting with the great, I will wait with the small. Let Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov be in the side room, Moshe and Aharon in the hall, and I at the threshold.
ואין שיטת המקרא נופל על המדרש כאן... ואומר אני שהוא אחד מן שמות מיני נעימות הזמר
The order of the verse here does not fit the Midrash... I say it is one of the names for kinds of melody.
שתי כליות יש בו באדם אחת יועצתו לטובה ואחת יועצתו לרעה... כליות יועצות לב מבין
A person has two kidneys. One advises him toward good and one toward bad... The kidneys advise, the heart understands.
אין הקב"ה קורא לצדיקים קדושים עד שינתנו בארץ עד יום מיתה
The Holy One does not call the righteous "holy" until they are placed in the earth, until the day of death.
אני אהיה דבק בקדושים ובאדירים וירבו עצבות האנשים... וזהו הנכון
I will cling to the holy and mighty ones, and the sorrows of those people will multiply... and this is the correct reading.
אמר לו הקב"ה דוד הפסידו כלום בל אסיך נסכיהם מדם. דמם חביב עלי יותר מן הקרבנות
The Holy One said to him: David, did they lose anything? "I will not pour their libations of blood." Their blood is dearer to Me than the offerings.
שויתי ה' לנגדי תמיד הוא כלל גדול בתורה ובמעלות הצדיקים אשר הולכים לפני האלהים
"I place Hashem before me always" is a great principle in the Torah and in the ways of the righteous who walk before God.
המתפלל צריך שיראה עצמו כאילו שכינה כנגדו שנאמר שויתי ה' לנגדי תמיד
One who prays must see himself as if the Divine Presence is opposite him, as it says: "I place Hashem before me always."
בְּרָכָה... אֲבָרֵךְ אֶת ה' אֲשֶׁר יְעָצָנִי אַף לֵילוֹת... מִכְתָּם לְדָוִד... טז
Blessing: "I will bless Hashem who advised me, even at night..." ... Michtam LeDavid: chapter 16.
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