Q:
Should you say Tehillim every day?
A:
Ways of avodas Hashem vary according to the person. Young people, bachurim, who want to say Tehillim, they can say Tehillim once in a while, one or two kapitlach. But their Tehillim is ארבע אבות נזיקין השור והבור המבעה וההבער. That’s their Tehillim. שנים אוחזים בטלית, that’s their Tehillim. Young people should be desirous of putting their time in learning Torah. Even older people too. Because Torah is actually a Tehillim. You don’t realize what a great avodas Hashem you’re doing when you learn all the principles of proper behavior. You learn that a mazik has to pay. It’s a big chiddush, a big chiddush to the world.
I told you the story. A man once came here. He wanted to open a window and he broke the window. A ba’al teshuvah man. I said you have to pay for the window. It was a chiddush to him. I have to pay for the window!? I didn’t want to break it. That’s an excuse, you didn’t want to break it. But when you learn Torah you know you’re chayav even beshogeg for a nezek that you do. You certainly have to pay for the window. He went out and got a glazier and fixed the window right away. He was a real ba’al teshuvah.
So learning Torah is a tikun hanefesh. You become a mentsch when you learn Torah. It’s very important to learn Torah. Torah means anything in Torah.
Now if you say Tehillim you’ll never know that you have to repair that window if you break it and therefore you have to realize that Hakadosh Baruch Hu says תלמוד תורה כנגד כולם. How important it is to spend time in learning.
Of course tefilah is also important. לישרים נאוה תהילה, for righteous people, tehilah, Tehillim is a good thing too. Hashem wants to hear it. Hashem is חפץ בתפילתם של צדיקים. So once in a while in addition to davening with kavanah there’s no harm if you say Tehillim but don’t spend too much time on it because you have something that comes first. The gemara comes first.
(November 19, 1998)
