Introduction: What Tehillim Does

Tehillim is one of the most familiar parts of Jewish life, yet it is often the least understood. We say it in moments of need, of fear, and of longing, but rarely stop to ask what it is meant to do.

This project is an attempt to understand Tehillim more deeply. Tehillim is a central part of Jewish life, with its perakim forming much of our tefillah and its pesukim shaping our songs of yearning and inspiration.

While we do not necessarily know the precise order in which Tehillim was written, nor the authorship of every chapter, the order we have is rooted in our mesorah. There are ten expressions of praise found throughout Tehillim—ניצוח, ניגון, מזמור, שיר, הלל, תפילה, ברכה, הודאה, אשרי, and הללויה—each reflecting a different mode of song, prayer, or spiritual expression.

This structure corresponds to the ten primary contributors to Tehillim, aside from Dovid Hamelech: Adam, Avraham, Malki Tzedek, Asaf, Heiman, Yedusun, the three sons of Korach—Asir, Elkana, and AviAsaf—and Moshe Rabbeinu. This means that as much as David HaMelech gave us Tehillim as a sefer, he was also gathering a tradition that came from the deepest figures in our history. Somehow, whether through mesorah or Ruach HaKodesh, he accessed not only his own voice but the voices of those who came before him and those who would come after him. From the moment Adam was sent out of Gan Eden to the anguish of exile after the destruction of the Mikdash, Tehillim carries it all.

Tehillim can therefore be understood as the collected spiritual music of Jewish history.

Before beginning, however, a more basic question must be asked: why Tehillim? Why is it that in moments of need, of fear, of longing, we instinctively turn to Tehillim, and not to Mishlei or Yeshayahu?

It is noteworthy that the plural of תהילה is not תהילות but תהילים. My father, Rabbi Yaacov Haber, explains this through an analogy to tefillin. A single tefillin is, in halachic language, called a tefillah, yet tefillin are not the prayers themselves. They are the instrument through which one prepares for prayer. They are the framework, the equipment, that enables tefillah to take place.

In a similar manner, Tehillim are not merely praises in the abstract, but rather the instrument through which praise is generated. Tehillim are not identical with tefillah itself, but instead function as the mechanism that makes tefillah possible by opening the inner and outer space in which prayer can emerge.

When a person recites Tehillim, the words of David HaMelech align the heart, awaken emotional awareness, and create a sense of access that allows one to then step forward and speak before Hashem, whether through the established nusach of the siddur or through personal expression. For this reason, Tehillim occupies a central place within Pesukei DeZimra, from Baruch She’amar through Yishtabach, since this entire section serves as a necessary preparation rather than as a preliminary introduction, guiding a person into the state of being capable of standing before Hashem in tefillah.

From the earliest moments of our history, tefillah has been central to our survival. The Avos prayed. In Mitzrayim, we cried out. We are a nation that prays.

After Krias Yam Suf, we were attacked by Amalek, a nation driven not by territory or strategy, but by a desire to uproot us entirely. As the battle unfolded, Moshe ascended the mountain, and the Torah describes how, when his hands were raised, the Jewish people prevailed, and when they fell, they faltered. The Mishnah in Rosh Hashanah asks: do Moshe’s hands wage war?

Rather, the Mishnah explains that as long as the Jewish people directed their hearts toward Hashem, they were victorious. In this sense, Moshe and the people mirrored one another. The battle was not decided by strength alone, but by alignment with Hashem through the medium of tefillah.

Tehillim belongs within that same system; although it is not identical to tefillah itself, it is the instrument that makes the tefillah possible.

Rav Moshe Dovid Vali explains that David HaMelech represents the fourth leg of the Merkavah and is therefore considered חי וקיים, meaning that his presence continues to exist in a meaningful way. When a person recites Tehillim, a spark of David’s soul rests upon him, creating a subtle form of guidance and illumination that accompanies the words. In the merit of David HaMelech, Tehillim has the capacity to open gates and create access to Shamayim, but it remains necessary for the individual to continue beyond that point and engage in tefillah itself, since the opening of the gates is only the beginning of the process rather than its completion. One can have the key and turn it, but the door still needs to be opened.

This also clarifies the role of the individual within tefillah itself. My father explains that when Hashem created the human being, He took from His own breath and blew it into his nostrils, meaning that the human being carries within him a dimension of Divine expression. The neshamah is described as a רוח חיים, and through that breath a person becomes not only a recipient of existence but a participant in it. This idea is reflected in the phrase “אשר ברא אלוקים לעשות,” which indicates that the world was created in a manner that invites further development through human action, as a person, through thought and speech, has the capacity to bring something into the world that was not there before.

Rav Tzadok explains that human beings possess free choice in a way that angels do not, which means that the same capacity that allows a person to create also carries the possibility of destruction. The designation of Man as a צלם אלוקים therefore refers not only to resemblance but to function, as a person is endowed with a creative capacity that reflects, in a limited way, the creative power of Hashem. Within this framework, tefillah takes on an entirely different meaning, since when a person stands before Hashem after reciting Tehillim, he is not merely asking for change but participating in the process through which change is brought into the world. Tehillim prepares and opens, but tefillah is the moment in which an individual, as a bearer of Divine breath, speaks into that opening.

Once this is understood, the role of Tehillim can be seen on an even deeper level. Tehillim also participates in the tikkun of the Shechinah, as described in the writings of Rav Moshe Dovid Vali, who authored multiple works on Tehillim that explore its various dimensions. Within this framework, the Shechinah descends into the world of malchus in order to confront the chitzonim, the forces that obscure and fragment spiritual clarity, and Tehillim recounts that ongoing process. This dimension reflects the world of David HaMelech, which is the world of malchus, where the primary battles are often hidden and internal rather than external and visible.

At first glance, Sefer Tehillim seems to give us a glimpse into the world of Dovid and his yearning to maintain a connection with his Creator and to push away the forces that attempt to sever that connection. Tehillim expresses the pendulum of life: the ups, the downs, the triumphs, the humiliations, the pain, the unbearable suffering, and the exuberant joy. This was the life of Dovid; through every twist and turn, he turned to Hashem. This experience is often reflected in our own lives as well. It is perhaps for this reason that the Jewish people turn to the indefatigable words of Tehillim at all such times in our lives, as we echo the timeless words of Dovid in his expression to his Creator.

Rebbe Nachman of Breslov teaches that a person must find himself within every chapter of Tehillim, even when the circumstances described do not appear to match one’s own life, since the battles described within Tehillim are not limited to physical conflicts but include the internal struggles against the yetzer hara that define the human condition. He further teaches that even when David speaks in a voice of confidence or self-recognition, a person should learn to judge himself favorably and to recognize his own נקודות טובות, thereby approaching tefillah with a sense of dignity rather than inadequacy.

Through Tehillim, a person does not merely recite ancient words, but enters into a structure that has already been prepared through Ruach HaKodesh, a structure that maps the contours of the human soul and creates the conditions necessary for authentic tefillah. In this sense, the recitation of Tehillim is part of the process of becoming someone who is capable of standing before Hashem.

This understanding forms the basis of this project. As I work through the chapters of Tehillim, I will attempt to engage both the breadth and depth of the sefer by drawing upon the teachings of Chazal, the insights of the mefarshim, and the broader mesorah that surrounds these holy words, while remaining attentive to the experiential dimension of the words themselves and the ways in which they shape the inner world of the individual.

I ask Hashem to assist me in undertaking this ambitious endeavor, and I ask you, the reader, to offer feedback, critique, and insight that may help refine and deepen this work.

May it be in the merit of learning Tehillim that we merit the complete geulah and the restoration of Malchus Beis David in a rebuilt Yerushalayim.