One does not recite a blessing on the reading of Tehillim.
Sources and Explanations
Now, in Masechet Soferim, at the beginning of chapter 14, it states: “For Ruth, Shir HaShirim, Kohelet, Eichah, and Megillat Esther, one must recite a blessing and say ‘al mikra megillah’ (on the reading of a megillah), even though it is written among the Ketuvim (Writings). And one who reads the Ketuvim must say: ‘Blessed are You, Hashem our God, King of the universe, Who has sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us to read the Holy Writings.’” However, the custom is not to recite a blessing on the reading of the Megillot, as the Rema writes (Orach Chaim 490:9). The Taz writes: “In the Responsa of the Rema, siman 35, he elaborated on this and explained his words here and those mentioned above, that one should not recite a blessing on any megillah other than Megillat Esther, because we do not find in the words of the Talmud that they instituted its reading such that one would say regarding it ‘and commanded us to read’; and he elaborated on this. The main reason is that even regarding Megillat Esther, which one is completely obligated to read, nevertheless one recites a blessing on it only with a kosher megillah, but if it is read from a Chumash, he wrote in siman 691 that one does not recite a blessing on it. All the more so with these megillot, whose obligation is not clearly established but is only a custom, and which are printed in Chumashim, that one should not recite a blessing on them. And if a blessing were applicable to them, people would be careful to write them in the form of a scroll on parchment, as with Megillat Esther, and this has never been heard of. And so writes the Beit Yosef, siman 559: ‘And the people are not accustomed to recite a blessing on any megillah except Megillat Esther.’ Therefore, anyone who recites a blessing on these megillot, it is a blessing in vain.” And in the commentary Nachalat Yaakov on Masechet Soferim, there, he writes that similarly one can say regarding the reading of the Ketuvim that it is not customary to recite a blessing on their reading, since they are not written on parchment. However, there are communities that in our times have the custom to recite a blessing on the reading of the Megillot of Kohelet and Shir HaShirim, or Eichah, when they are written on parchment in accordance with halachah; and see there in the Be’ur HaGra.
[In my humble opinion, it would seem that one could further justify the custom: the reason for this halachah is similar to what the Abudarham writes (immediately before his explanation of Shemoneh Esreh, cited in Magen Avraham 106:4): “The reason that one does not recite a blessing on tefillah, ‘Who has sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us regarding tefillah,’ is because tefillah is a mitzvah that has no fixed measure from the Torah; rather, it is up to the person to decrease or increase, as the Rashba wrote regarding the Pesach Haggadah, that one does not recite a blessing on its reading for this reason.” And the Pri Megadim (introduction to Hilchot Tefillah) writes that the reason is that a person can fulfill the obligation of tefillah through thought, and one does not recite a blessing on matters of the heart, just as one does not recite a blessing on bitul chametz (nullification of chametz), since its nullification is in the heart. If so, with Tehillim as well, since they have no fixed measure and no fixed set, they did not institute a blessing. However, this entire line of reasoning requires further study in light of Masechet Soferim, which did not make such a distinction.]
From the sefer “Shaf Veyativ – Laws of Saying Tehillim” by Rabbi Shay Tahan, Chapter 3: Laws Before and After Saying Tehillim, Halacha 1 (p. 33 in the print edition). Translated from the Hebrew original.
