One who does not know how to learn is permitted to say Tehillim during the night hours, so as not to waste time.
Sources and Explanations
It is well known in the name of the Arizal that he warned that one should not read Mikra (Scripture) at night. The Be’er Heitev cites this (siman 238, se’if katan 2), and its pure source is in Sha’ar HaMitzvot (Parashat Va’etchanan), as we elaborated in another halacha in our sefer. However, the Ben Ish Chai (Parashat Pekudei, ot 7) writes in the name of Maran the Chida that an am ha’aretz (unlearned person) who knows how to read only the Written Torah is permitted to read Mikra at night. The sefer Chemdat Yamim (daf 102b) writes likewise: “And my teacher of blessed memory would say regarding studying Mikra at night that they said this only to one who is proficient in the Written Torah and in the Oral Torah, that it is proper for him to study the Oral Torah during the attribute of night and the Written Torah during the attribute of day. But one who is proficient only in Mikra, if we tell him that it is not proper to study Mikra at night, he will end up idle from Torah entirely. And in this matter many of those who handle the Torah erred, for they did not know how to apply the words of the Arizal with proper judgment.” This is also cited in the Hashmatot (omissions) to the Chida’s sefer Petach Einayim, in the sefer Kemach Solet (daf 64b), in the sefer Minchat Aharon (daf 193c), as well as in Responsa Beit Yisrael (Landau, vol. 1, Orach Chaim, siman 35), in the sefer Yafeh LaLev (vol. 2, siman 238, ot 3), and in Responsa Levushei Mordechai (Tinyana, Orach Chaim, siman 186).
See what is ruled in Responsa BeTzel HaChochmah (vol. 4, siman 46): “It is obvious that the warning of the Arizal was said only to one who is able to engage in the Oral Torah at night. But those who do not know how to learn anything but Mikra alone, and not the Oral Torah at all, it is obvious that they are obligated to engage in the Written Torah, so that they not be entirely idle from Torah study at night. For since in essence there is a mitzvah also in studying the Written Torah at night, how should he be idle from it because he does not know how to learn the Oral Torah? And I found this explicitly in the sefer Petach Einayim (Berachot 3b, s.v. ‘Uv’inyan’), who writes that it is possible that Tehillim is not included at all in the warning of our master the Arizal regarding Mikra at night. And furthermore, all these measures were said only to those who know, not to one who knows nothing but how to read Mikra; and this is obvious.”
It emerges that for two reasons one should permit an am ha’aretz to say Tehillim at night: both because of bitul Torah (neglect of Torah study), and because in any case there are those who distinguish between Mikra and Tehillim, holding that Tehillim is not included in the prohibition of reading at night (especially after chatzot [midnight]), as explained in another halacha in our sefer.
It is likewise cited in Ikrei HaDaT (Orach Chaim, siman 22, ot 57) in the name of the Chida in the sefer Kikar LaAden, that most of the people are accustomed to read Tanach at night in several study halls, and nothing is said to them, for these hidden matters should not be said before amei ha’aretz, and it is better to leave them be in silence rather than come to stand on the rock of dispute.
From the sefer “Shaf Veyativ – Laws of Saying Tehillim” by Rabbi Shay Tahan, Chapter 2: The Proper Times for Saying Tehillim, Halacha 17 (p. 25 in the print edition). Translated from the Hebrew original.
