Tehillim 1 | "And he Contemplates That Teaching”

Please Note
As we mentioned at the beginning of the year, in order to complete the Tanakh within a year, we will need to study at a pace of three psalms per day during part of our study of Tehillim. Therefore, over the coming month (until Chapter 99), we will follow a pace of three psalms each day. After that, we will return to the regular pace of two chapters per day through Simchat Torah, God willing.
The annual schedule is also attached.

Tehillim Chapter 1 – "And he Contemplates That Teaching”

We begin the study of a new book, and with it, a new section of the Tanakh – the Ketuvim (the Writings). There are various perspectives on the nature of the distinction between the Prophets and the Ketuvim. One possibility is that the prophecy offers a divine perspective on reality, while the Ketuvim convey a human perspective. The Ketuvim too were written with divine spirit (רוח הקודש), but the lens is our own. This is especially true of the Book of Tehillim: psalms that express the ongoing dialogue between Israel and its God: prayers in times of crisis, songs of praise and thanksgiving, for the individual and for the nation, against enemy and against illness. It is no coincidence that the Psalms have always held a central place in Jewish prayer across the generations.

Psalm 1 presents the image of the ideal human being. At the opening of the chapter, he stands alone, distancing himself from the counsel of the wicked. By the end, the lone individual is transformed into a member of the righteous crowd. What enables this transformation is his inner posture: “Instead – The Lord's teaching is all his desire” and his constant engagement in studying Torah: “and he contemplates that teaching day and night.” (1:2)

There is a clear parallel between our psalm, which opens the Ketuvim, and the first chapter of the Book of Yehoshua, which opens the Nevi’im. The man who “contemplates that teaching day and night.” receives the blessing that “all it produces thrives (יצליח)” (1:3), just as Yehoshua is commanded: “This book of the Torah must never leave your lips; contemplate it day and night, so that you will faithfully uphold all that is written within it. For then your course will succeed (תצליח); then you will triumph.” (Yehoshua 1:8) There is also a notable contrast between the two figures: The person in Tehillim is relatively passive, he "does not walk… does not stand… does not sit”, while Yehoshua is called upon various actions, and is twice described “So that you may triumph wherever you go… for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” (Yehoshua 1:7-10)

In a shiur delivered at Herzog's Yemei Iyun be'Tanakh, Prof. Yonatan Grossman suggests that this link between Tehillim and Yehoshua presents each Jew with two possible paths by which to continue the journey from the Torah of Moshe. One may turn the page and proceed to the Book of Yehoshua, and through it, the entire prophetic books – a continuation of receiving the Torah through God’s ongoing revelation. Or one may leap forward to the Book of Tehillim — into the Ketuvim, which continue the Torah in a different way. The Ketuvim continue the Torah through the human point of view. The first psalm emphasizes the kind of person who is called to participate in this continued unfolding of Torah after its conclusion: a person whose soul is inclined toward listening, who understands that all is a response and a continuation to the Torah of Moshe. A person whose deepest desire is for Torah, and whose occupation is the study and ongoing development of Torah. This is what elevates the Book of Tehillim beyond human poetry alone, to becoming something worthy of the Tanakh – a human response to Torah, and a profound turning toward God.

But the human perspective contains a danger, by its very nature. As human beings, we are prone to foreign influences, narrowness of vision, and blindness. In order to produce the Ketuvim, and to a large extent, to produce the Oral Torah (תורה שבעל פה) that followed, the writer, and also the reader, must internalize one essential requirement – "The Lord's teaching is all his desire.” (1:2) The aim must be to understand God’s word. Using our tools, with the human intellect God has given us, but always with the goal of understanding His word.

Seen in this light, we can better understand the teaching of Rava in the Talmud regarding our verses: "And Rava also says: Initially the Torah is called by the name of the Holy One, Blessed be He, but ultimately it is called by the name of the one who studies it. As it is stated: ‘The Lord's teaching is all his desire', 'and he contemplates that teaching (in Hebrew can also be understood as his teaching) day and night.’” (Avoda Zara 19a)