In the Gemara (Berachot 4b): “Whoever recites Tehillah l’David [Psalm 145] three times a day is assured that he is among those who inherit the World to Come.” It seems this is not referring to a segulah (a mystical charm or merit) — as if merely saying it three times a day guarantees the World to Come — because, in my opinion, one cannot attain the World to Come through segulot alone. Moreover, there is room to say that if it were merely a segulah, perhaps the early authorities would have instituted not to rely on segulot mentioned in the Talmud [perhaps because they are not effective in our times]. A sign that this is not like reciting a segulah or incantation is that the Sages did not say, “Whoever recites Ashrei three times a day…” For if they had said it about Ashrei, it would imply mere recitation without extra intention and contemplation — since every Jew knows it by heart. Rather, they specifically said “Tehillah l’David,” which indicates recitation with contemplation and reflection; then he is assured of being a son of the World to Come.
It is well known that in Tehillah l’David, which is arranged according to the order of the Aleph-Bet, no verse begins with the letter Nun — and this requires explanation: Why is the letter Nun missing from such an important praise as Tehillah l’David? The Gemara (Berachot ibid.) explains that it is because the letter Nun alludes to falling (nefilah). Nevertheless, David returned and juxtaposed it with ruach hakodesh, as it says: “Hashem supports all the fallen” (SOMECH Hashem l’chol hanof’lim).
We must understand: Indeed, there is support for those who fall — but this is similar to building a hospital next to a bridge without a railing — to help those who fall. That is not a solution; rather, the root must be fixed — a fence must be built so that people do not fall in the first place. So too in spiritual falling: After the fact, when people fall, Hashem supports all the fallen. But where is the fence? Where is the warning? Should something of the Master of the Universe be like the human act of building a bridge without a railing? Just as in a physical place of danger we put up warning signs not to approach and fall, all the more so in spiritual falling. Which letter in Tehillah l’David warns us against falling? Where is the letter that is supposed to prevent us and fence us off from falling?
The warning and restraint against spiritual falling is what is stated in the verse before the Nun: “Your kingship is an eternal kingship, and Your dominion endures throughout all generations” (מלכותך מלכות כל עולמים וממשלתך בכל דור ודור). We have said several times that wherever it says “throughout all generations” (בכל דור ודור), it does not mean forever and eternally — otherwise it would have said “and Your dominion is eternal forever and ever.” Rather, “generation and generation” means the connection of the generations; each generation has its own trials and temptations.
We explained (see Sicha vol. 3, Noach 5786, Essay 1) that building walls and fences of holiness against the damages of technology — a person does not need a breach in the fence to slip out and escape, because through a narrow breach it is not easy to pass and one might get scratched. But after a person gets used to it, it becomes an opening. Although it still has boundaries and he remains a kosher Jew with fences, a door has already opened for him to go outside.
He becomes “crouching under his burden.” This is what the verse says (Isaiah 5:18): “Woe to those who drag iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as with cart ropes.” I believe that in every generation the Sages of that generation — who were separated from the world with their distinct intellect — said this about the evil inclination of their generation, calling it “cords of vanity.” But especially in our generation it is fitting to say about this trial: “those who drag iniquity with cords of vanity” — it begins with something trivial, “with cords of vanity,” and the person does not feel at all where it is dragging him. But when he repeats it again and again, it becomes “sin as with cart ropes” — and he crouches under his burden, to the point that he no longer feels the lack or defect at all; on the contrary, it appears in his eyes as something good and pleasant.
In his mistaken imagination, he is not outside the fence at all; in his fantasy there is an imaginary fence that has moved farther away — but he never actually left the fence. The yetzer hara deceives him into thinking that just as in the future Eretz Yisrael will expand over the entire world, so too this world that is within the permitted fence expands and grows the more he distances and sinks deeper. But in truth, he is outside and does not belong; he has no limiting fence.
Against “cords of vanity” a person is given a second possibility: to fulfill what is said (Hosea 11:4): “I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love.” Even love of Hashem is not felt at first, but when one repeatedly strengthens love for Hashem, and repeatedly recalls “Your kingship is an eternal kingship, and Your dominion endures throughout all generations,” then one is drawn to Him, blessed be He, with bands of love — drawn to lofty and elevated things.
This is what the Zohar HaKadosh said: “Whoever is bound to the ‘other side’ cannot accept upon himself the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven.” This is being bound to the other side! This is the trial of our generation. Although the Sages said (Ta’anit 29b): “Whoever has a lawsuit with a gentile — let him judge and contend with him in the month of Adar,” and certainly the words of Chazal retain their simple meaning — referring to the gentiles who distress Israel, and may Hashem grant victory to all of Israel over all the nations — nevertheless, it is brought in the holy books, and the Rebbe, the Beit Yisrael זי"ע (whose yahrzeit was this week), used to repeat: The true gentile is the gentile inside the heart. On this they said: Whoever has a lawsuit with a gentile — let him judge and contend with him in Adar. This is the gentile today! Perhaps he has converted, and even looks like a kosher Jew with peyos [of course not the peyos of a chassidishe Yid, but peyos with gel], but this is a gentile!
One must know well what we are choosing and deciding. The main thing needed for this is “one moment of rebellion in a person’s heart,” because if a person lacks an inner awakening and one moment of rebellion in the depths of his heart, neither proofs nor enactments will help [sometimes they even provoke reaction and opposition]. Every individual needs this inner rebellion in his heart.
“...and Your dominion endures throughout all generations” — “dominion” (ממשלתך) comes from the word mashal (parable), because this world and everything in it is only a parable. The truth is not in this world, but in another place with a more elevated perspective. We live inside a parable, and the parable changes according to the generations; each generation has different parables. But “Your dominion endures throughout all generations” is according to its plain meaning: Hashem rules over every generation, over all the parables and all the temptations of the yetzer hara.
Remember well “Your kingship is an eternal kingship,” and as the Zohar HaKadosh says (Behar 108a): Whoever is bound to the other side lacks proper acceptance of the yoke of the Kingdom of Heaven — he lacks “Your kingship is an eternal kingship.” Of course Hashem’s kingship and dominion are upon him — Heaven forbid to say otherwise — and this is one of the six constant mitzvot: to unify Him, to believe and know that nothing exists independently besides Hashem — not even the opposing side. But the created being who is bound to the other side cannot feel the Creator, blessed be He, that “Your kingship is an eternal kingship.” When one knows and feels that there is a King of kings of kings — “Your kingship is an eternal kingship” — then automatically one understands “Your dominion endures throughout all generations”: when a trial comes, he recognizes it, and when he reaches a breach in the fence or a dangerous place, a warning sign stands before him — Pay attention! See what is happening here.
The Masoretic note in Parshat Mishpatim (23:5) brings three instances of “crouching” (רובץ): “crouching between the boundaries” — in Jacob’s blessing to Issachar (Vayechi 49:14); “at the entrance sin crouches” — in Parshat Bereishit (4:7); “when you see your enemy’s donkey crouching under its burden” — in Parshat Mishpatim. Obviously there are many ways to expound the connection. We can explain them as stages in the trials of the yetzer hara — especially the trial of our generation.
The first is “crouching between the boundaries,” as Rashi explains: “between the boundaries — between the domains,” i.e., between the fences and limits. Chazal said (Yerushalmi Peah 1:1, Vayikra Rabbah 26:2, etc.) that they asked the snake: Why are you found between the fences? He answered: I breached the fence of the world — therefore I am between the fences. The first trial is when a person is between the fences. I saw a poster made for “Shabbat Teharenu” with the caption “to fence” — that this is the purpose of Shabbat; to illustrate it, they drew a person standing on a balcony with a railing, looking out at the main street before him. But in my opinion this is not the fence we want to set up. It would have been better to draw a person standing with his back to the railing facing outward to the street, not standing and looking at what is happening beyond the fence. Because the first trial is when there is a fence, and the person awakens and becomes curious to see what is on the other side of the fence — it is interesting, stimulating, and attractive. This is “crouching between the boundaries”: although he does not go outside the domain — and it is not yet sin — he just wants to know what is beyond the boundary and on the other side of the fence.
When he gets used to this, slowly it becomes “at the entrance sin crouches” — he no longer needs a breach in the fence to slip out, because through a narrow breach it is not easy to pass and one might get scratched. But after getting used to it, it becomes an opening. Although he still has boundaries and remains a kosher Jew with fences, a door is already open before him to go outside.
He becomes “crouching under his burden.” This is what the verse says (Isaiah 5:18): “Woe to those who drag iniquity with cords of vanity, and sin as with cart ropes.”
Against “cords of vanity” a person has a second option: to fulfill “I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love.” Even love of Hashem is not felt at first, but through repeated strengthening and recalling “Your kingship is an eternal kingship, and Your dominion endures throughout all generations,” one is drawn with bands of love to elevated things.
One must stop for a moment of contemplation and soul-searching: Where am I? What am I? What am I doing? The fences are good and important and necessary, and we must guard them — especially in a holy place or when it could, Heaven forbid, cool off or harm others. But first and foremost, one needs that one moment of rebellion in a person’s heart — that is the truth, and that is what is needed.
The first preparation we must make for the parshiyot of the Mishkan is as we read in Mincha: “They shall take for Me a portion from every man whose heart moves him; you shall take My portion.” It is brought in the holy books that the intent is “from every man whose heart moves him” — a person must take the desire in his heart, the yearning, the longing — “you shall take My portion” — and give it to the Master of the Universe.
May Hashem grant us truly to be better Jews, to overcome and guard the fences, and may the Holy One, blessed be He, bestow upon us every good. [הגרש"א שליט"א]
