Before reading chapters of Tehillim at Shacharit, one should recite Birkot HaTorah (the blessings over the Torah).
Sources and Explanations
The Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chaim 46:9) writes: “One should not recite pesukim (verses) before Birkat HaTorah, even though he says them as supplications. And some say that there is no concern, since he says them only as supplications; and it is proper to be concerned for the first opinion.”
Although it emerges plainly from his words that one should be stringent and recite Birkot HaTorah before the reading, nevertheless, from the implication of the wording he used in this halacha, it appears that he did not rule so decisively (lit. “with a sharp knife”), but only wrote “to be concerned for the first opinion.” This was noted by HaGaon Rabbi Ben Tziyon Abba Shaul zt”l (Or LeTzion vol. 2, chapter 4, halacha 4), and so wrote HaGaon Rabbi Ovadia Yosef zt”l (Yabia Omer vol. 4, siman 7, ot 3): “As for the practical halacha, for us who have accepted the rulings of Maran, it appears in my humble opinion that since, after Maran brought a dispute on this, he concluded: ‘and it is proper to be concerned for the first opinion,’ evidently the matter was not so clear-cut to him as to decide like those who forbid reciting verses of supplication before Birkot HaTorah, but only that it is proper to be concerned for their words. And although he wrote this opinion first as an unattributed statement (stam), and the second opinion, that of the lenient ones, was brought under ‘some say,’ and we generally hold that where there is a stam and a ‘some say,’ the halacha follows the stam, that applies where he did not express his own view at the end of his words. But here, where he concluded ‘and it is proper to be concerned for the first opinion,’ it implies that this is not the letter of the law but merely a stringency, to at least be concerned for their opinion. And as I had thought, so I found: I saw in Responsa Chikrei Lev (Orach Chaim, siman 9) that he wrote incidentally as follows: ‘And in siman 46 the Beit Yosef brought the dispute of the poskim regarding the verses in the tefillah, whether they require Birkat HaTorah, and there in the Shulchan Aruch he ruled that one need not recite the berachah,’ end quote. His intent appears to be as I wrote, that here it is not comparable to what we hold, that where there is a stam and a ‘some say’ the halacha follows the stam, since Maran concludes ‘and it is proper to be concerned for the first opinion,’ which proves that it is only by way of mere stringency. And so I saw in the Aruch HaShulchan (siman 46, se’if katan 14), who wrote on the words of the Shulchan Aruch: ‘and it is clear from his words that his view is to be lenient, that there is no prohibition except to study Torah before Birkat HaTorah, but not prayers and supplications, and the verses too refer only to supplications,’” see there at length.
And although there would have been room to derive that one should be stringent and recite the berachah as the letter of the law, and not merely as a stringency, from the words of King David, peace be upon him, who prayed that one who reads Tehillim be considered as one who engages in Nega’im and Ohalot (Shocher Tov, mizmor 1), which implies that reading Tehillim is considered like Torah study and requires a berachah; however, the truth makes its own way: reading Tehillim does not have the status of Torah study, but only that the reward for reading it should be considered like the reward for Torah study (Pele Yoetz, Erech Tehillim). Furthermore, the words of the Nefesh HaChaim (Sha’ar 4, chapter 2) are well known, that although King David requested that reading Tehillim be considered like Torah study, it is not known whether Hakadosh Baruch Hu agreed with him.
Now, the Chida (Birkei Yosef 46:14) was very stringent on this matter and wrote: “that the view of Maran is to be stringent in this, and therefore one must always recite the blessing on the Torah before reading, even if he reads a single verse; and there is no distinction whether he reads it by way of supplication and request; whatever it may be, one should not be lenient, and he must recite the berachah.”
And see the question raised by HaGaon Rabbi David Yosef in the sefer Halachah Berurah (vol. 3, in Otzerot Yosef, siman 13) against his father zt”l, from the ruling of the Rambam in Responsa Pe’er HaDor (siman 104). He was asked about one who rises at the ashmoret (pre-dawn watch) and recites supplications, verses, or mizmorim, whether he must recite Birkot HaTorah, and he answered “that one must always recite the berachah before reading, even if he reads a single verse; and there is no distinction whether he reads by way of supplication and request; whatever it may be, in any event he must recite the berachah,” end quote. And since the Beit Yosef did not cite the words of the Rambam at all in his work, it is reasonable that the Beit Yosef did not see this responsum, and therefore we should say that had he seen the words of the Rambam, he would have ruled stringently. And Or LeTzion (ibid.) writes that the custom of the Sephardim is to be stringent in this, not to say selichot and verses before Birkat HaTorah.
Our words here apply both according to the Sephardim and according to the Ashkenazim. Although the Rema (46:9) wrote on the words of the Shulchan Aruch: “But the custom follows the latter opinion, for in the days of Selichot they pray the selichot and afterwards recite the blessing on the Torah together with the order of the other blessings; and likewise every day, when they enter the synagogue, they say several verses and supplications and afterwards recite the blessing on the Torah,” the Mishnah Berurah (46:27–28) already wrote that nowadays the custom is to recite Birkot HaTorah immediately after the blessing of ‘Asher Yatzar,’ and not to say any verses beforehand, for we hold that one should not say verses, even as supplications, before Birkat HaTorah; and he added that this is the custom in Ashkenaz.
From the sefer “Shaf Veyativ – Laws of Saying Tehillim” by Rabbi Shay Tahan, Chapter 3: Laws Before and After Saying Tehillim, Halacha 2 (p. 33 in the print edition). Translated from the Hebrew original.
