Lessons in Memory of my brother Dale Alan Konigsburg
March 29, 2004- Number 5764-24
Kashrut III: From Slaughter to Table
The Torah notes at the very beginning of the book of Geneses, that human beings were supposed to be vegetarians. G-d tells the first human’s created that they should only eat plants. It is only after the story of Noah and the flood that there is clearly a concession made for humans in order to eat meat. Rabbi Mark Gellman, who writes stories about stories in the Bible, in one of his stories, notes that humans could talk to the animals in the Garden of Eden, but since Noah ate the first hamburger, the animals were so angry that they are still not talking to humans.
Humans, not just Jews get the first rules for eating meat. It is a rule about animal cruelty that forbids all human beings from taking and eating a limb from a living animal. Judaism would take this law of cruelty and take it much further.
The rules for the slaughter of meat come from the laws of sacrifice. Each time we eat meat, even if we are not giving the meat to the alter, we are still taking a life and we must remain cognizant of that fact. Just as animals killed for the alter had to be killed and prepared in a special way, so too does all meat, even for ordinary purposes, have to be prepared properly. Only animals that the Torah says we can eat can be killed for food. For fish and birds, the method of slaughter is pretty easy. One simply decapitates a bird or removes the fish from water. For larger mammals, the process is more complicated. The jugular vein must be cut quickly, with a knife that is perfectly smooth with a proper "double cut" that requires the cut to run both ways. This drains the blood quickly, causing almost instant death and a minimal amount of pain to the animal. This method also removes most of the blood from the animal quickly. Since blood is forbidden to Jews, This kind of a slaughter makes sure that the most amount of blood is no longer in the animal.
This is such an important procedure that it is not left for amateurs. Only a trained Shochet, a person who is certified in ritual slaughter can perform "Shchitah". Such a person should be trained in Talmudic law and should be pious in his other dealings. Nevertheless, such a person in the Jewish community of Easter Europe in the 19th century, was always looked upon with suspicion since no Jew wanted to make a living by the slaughter of animals. Remember, before refrigeration, the best way to keep meat fresh was to keep it alive until you were ready to eat it. In many other communities, the male or female head of household had to be the one to kill the family animals to eat. Still Jewish households never killed their own animals. Only the Shochet was permitted to slaughter animals.
Once the animal was killed, the carcass had to be inspected. Certain organs and the lungs were examined to check for diseased animals. Certain defects were permitted as "natural" others would make the mean unacceptable even though the slaughter was done properly. An animal that dies on its own or would soon die on its own was considered treyf, and unusable in the Jewish community. While certain imperfections of the lung are permitted, if the lung was smooth, it became "Glatt" (Yiddish for smooth) a higher standard of Kashrut that normally allowed an imperfect lung.
Another Geneses story tells us that after Jacob wrestled with an angel, he walked with a limp, and from that time on, Jews do not eat the sciatic nerve in any animal. It is a special skill to remove this nerve and it is not always possible to do it. Thus it is rare to find any kosher meat that comes from the hindquarter of an animal. As the animal is cut up into pieces, the parts are washed of any remaining blood and must eventually be soaked and salted to remove the last of the blood from the capillaries of the animal, this is what makes Kosher meat so salty. The meat may be soaked again to remove as much salt as possible. Liver and heart can not be salted to remove the blood, since there is some much more blood in these organs. Liver and heart must be broiled to remove all blood from the meat. Any meat that is not soaked and salted can be broiled instead, but broiling is a requirement for liver and heart. Now the meat is ready to be prepared for cooking and serving.
In recent years, in Europe, there has been much talk about stunning the animal before slaughter. This is said to be "more kind" to the animal. A few countries in Europe have passed laws requiring stunning the animal before killing it. This has stopped Kosher slaughter in those countries and threatens the entire system. Stunning the animal is not permitted by Kosher standards
Next week: Kashrut IV: The Strange Story of Separating Milk and Meat.
Tuesday, March 30, 2004
Tuesday, March 23, 2004
HMS; 5764-22 Kashrut I: Introduction to the Dietary Laws
Lessons in Memory of my brother Dale Alan Konigsburg
March 22, 2004 - Number 5764-22
Kashrut I: Introduction to the Dietary Laws
In the middle of the 20th Century, Kashrut was said to no longer be necessary because of government inspection of foods that insured that what we ate was safe. At the beginning of the 21st Century, Kashrut is no longer necessary because we no longer consider food to be a part of our spiritual lives. In fact, in just about every century, there were reasons given that Kashrut, the laws that regulate what we eat and when we eat it, would no longer be necessary. Those reasons are now gone, and Kashrut is still here. What is it about the Torah’s laws relating to food, that causes so much fuss and yet remain so enduring.
Let there be one thing clear from the start. The Torah does not give ANY reason for the Laws of Kashrut. They are straight commandments. Something G-d has told us to do and in our love for G-d we commit our stomachs to these regulations. In every generation, there have been sages who have tried to understand what these laws are all about. While this is a fascinating legal discussion, it does not change the fact that G-d does not give a reason, we are just given laws to obey as a sign of G-d’s love for humanity and our love for G-d.
Why should there be dietary laws at all? Food, and the drive that lies behind it, Hunger, are one of the most important things that drive human beings. Our ancestors in prehistoric times, wandered from one end of this planet to another following the places and animals that were their source of food. Wars have been fought in times of famine. And feeding the hungry is one of the most important acts of loving-kindness that we can perform. All religions must deal with our hunger. To the pagans, hunger was to be celebrated with food orgies. In early Christianity, gluttony was identified as one of the seven deadly sins. One rejoiced over eating and the other found G-d in fasting. Judaism took a different path. In our faith, hunger is not good or bad, it is just a drive, an instinct that governs our actions and thinking. Judaism was concerned that it would drive our actions, therefore, what became important was to control the drive so that we would drive it and it would not drive us. Thus we are permitted to eat, but some foods we can eat and some we cannot. This is how we control hunger.
Over the years there have been many things that have been noted about families that observe the laws of Kashrut. A hundred years ago, some philosophers noted with amazement that a Jewish woman, unlike her non-Jewish counterpart, had never killed a chicken herself. There is something about removing the slaughter of animals from our everyday actions, and establishing a single person in the community, a person not only of ability, but of piety, to do all the killing on our behalf. Thus by training this person, (a shochet) was an expert in kosher slaughter as well as an expert in the examination of the animal for disqualifying flaws in the organs. He was also able to keep the blood and death in a religious perspective. Understanding the ritual requirements for meat and for living a Jewish life.
Besides keeping bloodshed from the hands of ordinary Jews, Kashrut also de facto, kept Jews out of food events that involved other communities. While there are few laws that regulate our contact with non-Jews, the dietary laws severely limited the kinds of contact that were possible. Buy not being able to share meals with others, it established the boundaries of our community and kept our people from excessive contact with competing faiths. Little wonder that when Jews were angry enough to abandon their Judaism, the first thing they left behind were the laws of Kashrut.
Finally, Judaism required a blessing over most foods that we eat. In order to bless our food, it also has to be worthy of a blessing. Certain foods do not seem to fit the context of holiness implied by the blessings. Thus food that comes from animals that prey on others animals as well as animals that frequent places not associated with holiness (ruins, cemeteries, privy) would not qualify as worthy of a blessing. Thus we become aware that what we eat can have an influence on our character and our actions. By removing these foods from our plates, we not only make our meals worthy of a blessing, but we make our lives worthy of blessing as well.
Next week: Kashrut II: Kosher and Non-Kosher Animals
March 22, 2004 - Number 5764-22
Kashrut I: Introduction to the Dietary Laws
In the middle of the 20th Century, Kashrut was said to no longer be necessary because of government inspection of foods that insured that what we ate was safe. At the beginning of the 21st Century, Kashrut is no longer necessary because we no longer consider food to be a part of our spiritual lives. In fact, in just about every century, there were reasons given that Kashrut, the laws that regulate what we eat and when we eat it, would no longer be necessary. Those reasons are now gone, and Kashrut is still here. What is it about the Torah’s laws relating to food, that causes so much fuss and yet remain so enduring.
Let there be one thing clear from the start. The Torah does not give ANY reason for the Laws of Kashrut. They are straight commandments. Something G-d has told us to do and in our love for G-d we commit our stomachs to these regulations. In every generation, there have been sages who have tried to understand what these laws are all about. While this is a fascinating legal discussion, it does not change the fact that G-d does not give a reason, we are just given laws to obey as a sign of G-d’s love for humanity and our love for G-d.
Why should there be dietary laws at all? Food, and the drive that lies behind it, Hunger, are one of the most important things that drive human beings. Our ancestors in prehistoric times, wandered from one end of this planet to another following the places and animals that were their source of food. Wars have been fought in times of famine. And feeding the hungry is one of the most important acts of loving-kindness that we can perform. All religions must deal with our hunger. To the pagans, hunger was to be celebrated with food orgies. In early Christianity, gluttony was identified as one of the seven deadly sins. One rejoiced over eating and the other found G-d in fasting. Judaism took a different path. In our faith, hunger is not good or bad, it is just a drive, an instinct that governs our actions and thinking. Judaism was concerned that it would drive our actions, therefore, what became important was to control the drive so that we would drive it and it would not drive us. Thus we are permitted to eat, but some foods we can eat and some we cannot. This is how we control hunger.
Over the years there have been many things that have been noted about families that observe the laws of Kashrut. A hundred years ago, some philosophers noted with amazement that a Jewish woman, unlike her non-Jewish counterpart, had never killed a chicken herself. There is something about removing the slaughter of animals from our everyday actions, and establishing a single person in the community, a person not only of ability, but of piety, to do all the killing on our behalf. Thus by training this person, (a shochet) was an expert in kosher slaughter as well as an expert in the examination of the animal for disqualifying flaws in the organs. He was also able to keep the blood and death in a religious perspective. Understanding the ritual requirements for meat and for living a Jewish life.
Besides keeping bloodshed from the hands of ordinary Jews, Kashrut also de facto, kept Jews out of food events that involved other communities. While there are few laws that regulate our contact with non-Jews, the dietary laws severely limited the kinds of contact that were possible. Buy not being able to share meals with others, it established the boundaries of our community and kept our people from excessive contact with competing faiths. Little wonder that when Jews were angry enough to abandon their Judaism, the first thing they left behind were the laws of Kashrut.
Finally, Judaism required a blessing over most foods that we eat. In order to bless our food, it also has to be worthy of a blessing. Certain foods do not seem to fit the context of holiness implied by the blessings. Thus food that comes from animals that prey on others animals as well as animals that frequent places not associated with holiness (ruins, cemeteries, privy) would not qualify as worthy of a blessing. Thus we become aware that what we eat can have an influence on our character and our actions. By removing these foods from our plates, we not only make our meals worthy of a blessing, but we make our lives worthy of blessing as well.
Next week: Kashrut II: Kosher and Non-Kosher Animals
Sunday, March 14, 2004
HMS; 5764-21 Prayer IX: The concluding Psalms of P’suke D’zimra
Lessons in Memory of my brother Dale Alan Konigsburg
March 14, 2004 - Number 5764-21
Prayer IX: The concluding Psalms of P’suke D’zimra
The Ashrei that we discussed last week, is the beginning of a series of Psalms that represent the final 5 Psalms in the entire collection. Here in our siddur, they represent the final Psalms in our "Verses of Song, the P’suke D’zimra" Each one begins and ends with the exclamation "Hallelujah". If the purpose of these verses is to get us in the mood to pray, than this collection is important in that it teaches us one of the reasons we thank G-d every morning. The theme of this collection is the glory of G-d in creation. We see the hand of G-d in nature, in the dawn, the rain and snow, and in the mountains and grasses that fill our world. Each Psalm extolls the wonders that make up the world in which we live until we get to the last Psalm, Psalm 150, the last Psalm in the collection and the last one in the entire book of Psalms.
Psalm 150 is not so much about nature, but about how we praise G-d through the use of musical instruments. Trumpets, harps, lyres, drums, flute, strings, two kinds of cymbals and with dance, we are told that each instrument and movement is a way to praise G-d. But there is something much bigger going on in this Psalm, and like in Ashrei, we need to look to modern music to fully understand what the Psalm is trying to teach.
If Ashrei is the title song of the book of Psalms, the "Tehilah" of "Tehillim", Psalm 150 has a different meaning. When we go to a concert, we hear all the music that the musicians have made famous, the lyrics and the sound that we have come to hear. At a live concert, however, there is one final thing that must be done before the final curtain falls. The lead singer will, during one of the last musical numbers, turn and introduce the members of the band. "Come on give it up for Casey on the drums, for Ginger on bass, Eddie on keyboard and Cheryl, Cindi and Angel on vocals". Finally, turning to the audience, as the music reaches its end, the singer finishes with "Thank you all, you have been a wonderful audience".
If we look at Psalm 150 we find much the same speech. "Lets hear it for the Trumpets! Let’s hear it for the harps and lyres! How about a hallelujah for the drums and the dancers!" All the instruments are named until the final verse, "Let everyone who has breath be praised" where the audience is finally thanked for being so supportive. In short, Psalm 150 is where the leader is thanking the band. Why not? It is the end of the book and thus the end of the "concert".
One final note about this final Psalm. Notice that all the lines are pretty equal in length (in the Hebrew) until we get to the next to last line. The "thank you" to the cymbal players is far and away the longest line in the entire Psalm. If you can read the Hebrew text of this line you will notice that it is not only a mouthful of words, it takes a whole breath to say it aloud. This long verse sets up an "audio" cue. Since the last line says, "let all who breath, praise the Lord", the Psalm forces us to take a breath before we recite that line. Including us in the audience that is being thanked!
The book of Psalms is divided into five "books" just as the Torah is divided into five books. At the end of each "book" in Psalms, the final verse is doubled. Since this is the last Psalm in the entire collection, the last verse here is doubled as well.
Discussion:
Last week I noted that Eleazar Slomovic, a teacher at the University of Judaism, had shown that the titles to the Psalms were really a midrashic addition to the poetry. They were not part of the original poem, this prompted a reply from Hazzan Michael Krausman who writes:
Just as a point of information, ethnomusichologists have speculated that one purpose for the titles of the psalms is to suggest the melody to be employed when chanting the psalm. This usage is similar to song sheets, such as that we used for Purim, which list lyrics and instructions such as :"to be sung to the tune of Polywaly Doodle". Since the destruction of the temple also brought abut the loss of its great musical tradition, a hint to the nature of ancient Temple music can be gleaned from the Psalms. Of course, the best example of this is the description of the Temple orchestra as depicted in psalm 150
I respond:
Thank you for this additional insight.
Next week: Kashrut I: Introduction to the Dietary Laws
March 14, 2004 - Number 5764-21
Prayer IX: The concluding Psalms of P’suke D’zimra
The Ashrei that we discussed last week, is the beginning of a series of Psalms that represent the final 5 Psalms in the entire collection. Here in our siddur, they represent the final Psalms in our "Verses of Song, the P’suke D’zimra" Each one begins and ends with the exclamation "Hallelujah". If the purpose of these verses is to get us in the mood to pray, than this collection is important in that it teaches us one of the reasons we thank G-d every morning. The theme of this collection is the glory of G-d in creation. We see the hand of G-d in nature, in the dawn, the rain and snow, and in the mountains and grasses that fill our world. Each Psalm extolls the wonders that make up the world in which we live until we get to the last Psalm, Psalm 150, the last Psalm in the collection and the last one in the entire book of Psalms.
Psalm 150 is not so much about nature, but about how we praise G-d through the use of musical instruments. Trumpets, harps, lyres, drums, flute, strings, two kinds of cymbals and with dance, we are told that each instrument and movement is a way to praise G-d. But there is something much bigger going on in this Psalm, and like in Ashrei, we need to look to modern music to fully understand what the Psalm is trying to teach.
If Ashrei is the title song of the book of Psalms, the "Tehilah" of "Tehillim", Psalm 150 has a different meaning. When we go to a concert, we hear all the music that the musicians have made famous, the lyrics and the sound that we have come to hear. At a live concert, however, there is one final thing that must be done before the final curtain falls. The lead singer will, during one of the last musical numbers, turn and introduce the members of the band. "Come on give it up for Casey on the drums, for Ginger on bass, Eddie on keyboard and Cheryl, Cindi and Angel on vocals". Finally, turning to the audience, as the music reaches its end, the singer finishes with "Thank you all, you have been a wonderful audience".
If we look at Psalm 150 we find much the same speech. "Lets hear it for the Trumpets! Let’s hear it for the harps and lyres! How about a hallelujah for the drums and the dancers!" All the instruments are named until the final verse, "Let everyone who has breath be praised" where the audience is finally thanked for being so supportive. In short, Psalm 150 is where the leader is thanking the band. Why not? It is the end of the book and thus the end of the "concert".
One final note about this final Psalm. Notice that all the lines are pretty equal in length (in the Hebrew) until we get to the next to last line. The "thank you" to the cymbal players is far and away the longest line in the entire Psalm. If you can read the Hebrew text of this line you will notice that it is not only a mouthful of words, it takes a whole breath to say it aloud. This long verse sets up an "audio" cue. Since the last line says, "let all who breath, praise the Lord", the Psalm forces us to take a breath before we recite that line. Including us in the audience that is being thanked!
The book of Psalms is divided into five "books" just as the Torah is divided into five books. At the end of each "book" in Psalms, the final verse is doubled. Since this is the last Psalm in the entire collection, the last verse here is doubled as well.
Discussion:
Last week I noted that Eleazar Slomovic, a teacher at the University of Judaism, had shown that the titles to the Psalms were really a midrashic addition to the poetry. They were not part of the original poem, this prompted a reply from Hazzan Michael Krausman who writes:
Just as a point of information, ethnomusichologists have speculated that one purpose for the titles of the psalms is to suggest the melody to be employed when chanting the psalm. This usage is similar to song sheets, such as that we used for Purim, which list lyrics and instructions such as :"to be sung to the tune of Polywaly Doodle". Since the destruction of the temple also brought abut the loss of its great musical tradition, a hint to the nature of ancient Temple music can be gleaned from the Psalms. Of course, the best example of this is the description of the Temple orchestra as depicted in psalm 150
I respond:
Thank you for this additional insight.
Next week: Kashrut I: Introduction to the Dietary Laws
Monday, March 8, 2004
HMS; 5764-20 Prayer VII: Ashrei, An Original CD by the Composer of the Book of Psalms
Lessons in Memory of my brother Dale Alan Konigsburg
March 8, 2004 - Number 5764-20
Prayer VII: Ashrei, An Original CD by the Composer of the Book of Psalms
Whenever we look at a prayer, whenever we want to understand how it works, the first thing we need to do is to examine the text. Even before we read the words, we need to understand the layout and physical characteristics of this part of the Liturgy. Ashrei is the name we give to Psalm 145. The name is taken from the first word of the Psalm. But if we were to go to a Siddur and look at Ashrei, we first notice that the first word of Psalm 145 is not Ashrei, but "Arumimcha". The two lines at the beginning of the Psalm are not really a part of Psalm 145 at all, they are taken from Psalm 84:5 and Psalm 144:15 which is from the Psalm just before 145.
The same thing happens at the end of Psalm 145. The last words in the Psalm is L’olam Va’ed. The last word in our Siddur is Halleluyah. The last verse is from Psalm 115:18. This leaves us with a rather unusual situation. The Psalm does not start at its beginning and does not end at the end. It is encased in verses from other Psalms. No other Psalm in the Siddur does this.
The most obvious thing we may notice about Psalm 145 is that the verses are arraigned in order of the Hebrew Aleph Bet. This order runs through the Psalm except that one verse is missing. There is no verse for the letter "nun". Some Sages and commentators have speculated as to why the "nun" verse is missing and what that missing verse might be. As far as I know, there have been no manuscripts of the Psalm that contain this missing verse. As far as we can tell, it never had a verse for "nun".
Finally there is one more unique feature of this unusual Psalm. Like many Psalms, Psalm 145 has a title. My teacher, Rabbi Eleazar Slomovic, has shown that these titles were never really part of the Psalm but were a kind of Midrash on the Psalm. The titles show how later Sages identified the major components of the Psalms they titled. In the Book of Psalms there are many kinds of titles. Some refer to historical events. Others relate to the agricultural cycle that uses these poems in their celebrations. Other refer to the "composer" of the Psalm, that is, they were added to tell us who the Sages connected to the theme of the Psalm. While King David is considered to be the author of most of the Psalms, the titles that connect him to these poems usually say "Mizmor L’David": a song of David, Mizmor Shir L’David; A song, a Psalm of David, or just "L’David"; From David. In the entire book of Psalms, covering all 150 poems, there is only one Psalm that is called "Tehilah L’David" THE Psalm of David. It is all the more striking if we remember that the entire Book of Psalms is called, in Hebrew, "Tehillim".
Anyone in the recording business can tell you that if you have a collection of music, and only one song is named the same, or nearly the same as the name of the collection, that song becomes known as the "title track" of the recording. To this day, many CD’s by famous artists contain one song that shares its name with the title of the CD. It is still called, the title track. If Psalm 145 is called Tehillah, and the book is called, Tehillim, than Ashrei must be the title track for the entire collection of Psalms.
If we look at the entire collection, we see that the very beginning of the book, the first word of Psalm 1 is "Ashrei Ha-ish" and the last word in the collection, the final word of Psalm 150 is "Halleluyah" Now we can better understand what is going on. We have a title track for Psalms, that begins with the first word of the book and ends with the last word and in between has a verse with every letter of the Aleph Bet. (OK so "nun" is missing, but it has all the other letters). What we have here is a miniature summery of the book of Psalms. Each time we recite it (three times a day) we are symbolically reciting all 150 Psalms from Ashrei to Halleluya and every letter in between. This is indeed a very important and central Psalm to Judaism and to the liturgy as well.
Next week: Prayer IX: The Concluding Psalms of the P’suke D’zimra.
March 8, 2004 - Number 5764-20
Prayer VII: Ashrei, An Original CD by the Composer of the Book of Psalms
Whenever we look at a prayer, whenever we want to understand how it works, the first thing we need to do is to examine the text. Even before we read the words, we need to understand the layout and physical characteristics of this part of the Liturgy. Ashrei is the name we give to Psalm 145. The name is taken from the first word of the Psalm. But if we were to go to a Siddur and look at Ashrei, we first notice that the first word of Psalm 145 is not Ashrei, but "Arumimcha". The two lines at the beginning of the Psalm are not really a part of Psalm 145 at all, they are taken from Psalm 84:5 and Psalm 144:15 which is from the Psalm just before 145.
The same thing happens at the end of Psalm 145. The last words in the Psalm is L’olam Va’ed. The last word in our Siddur is Halleluyah. The last verse is from Psalm 115:18. This leaves us with a rather unusual situation. The Psalm does not start at its beginning and does not end at the end. It is encased in verses from other Psalms. No other Psalm in the Siddur does this.
The most obvious thing we may notice about Psalm 145 is that the verses are arraigned in order of the Hebrew Aleph Bet. This order runs through the Psalm except that one verse is missing. There is no verse for the letter "nun". Some Sages and commentators have speculated as to why the "nun" verse is missing and what that missing verse might be. As far as I know, there have been no manuscripts of the Psalm that contain this missing verse. As far as we can tell, it never had a verse for "nun".
Finally there is one more unique feature of this unusual Psalm. Like many Psalms, Psalm 145 has a title. My teacher, Rabbi Eleazar Slomovic, has shown that these titles were never really part of the Psalm but were a kind of Midrash on the Psalm. The titles show how later Sages identified the major components of the Psalms they titled. In the Book of Psalms there are many kinds of titles. Some refer to historical events. Others relate to the agricultural cycle that uses these poems in their celebrations. Other refer to the "composer" of the Psalm, that is, they were added to tell us who the Sages connected to the theme of the Psalm. While King David is considered to be the author of most of the Psalms, the titles that connect him to these poems usually say "Mizmor L’David": a song of David, Mizmor Shir L’David; A song, a Psalm of David, or just "L’David"; From David. In the entire book of Psalms, covering all 150 poems, there is only one Psalm that is called "Tehilah L’David" THE Psalm of David. It is all the more striking if we remember that the entire Book of Psalms is called, in Hebrew, "Tehillim".
Anyone in the recording business can tell you that if you have a collection of music, and only one song is named the same, or nearly the same as the name of the collection, that song becomes known as the "title track" of the recording. To this day, many CD’s by famous artists contain one song that shares its name with the title of the CD. It is still called, the title track. If Psalm 145 is called Tehillah, and the book is called, Tehillim, than Ashrei must be the title track for the entire collection of Psalms.
If we look at the entire collection, we see that the very beginning of the book, the first word of Psalm 1 is "Ashrei Ha-ish" and the last word in the collection, the final word of Psalm 150 is "Halleluyah" Now we can better understand what is going on. We have a title track for Psalms, that begins with the first word of the book and ends with the last word and in between has a verse with every letter of the Aleph Bet. (OK so "nun" is missing, but it has all the other letters). What we have here is a miniature summery of the book of Psalms. Each time we recite it (three times a day) we are symbolically reciting all 150 Psalms from Ashrei to Halleluya and every letter in between. This is indeed a very important and central Psalm to Judaism and to the liturgy as well.
Next week: Prayer IX: The Concluding Psalms of the P’suke D’zimra.
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