It is permitted to sing pesukim (verses) or chapters of Tehillim, both in Eretz Yisrael and outside of Eretz Yisrael.
Sources and Explanations
In the Sefer Tehillim of Rav Saadia Gaon (in the introduction, p. 33), he writes that the entire book [of Tehillim] may not be said in song except in the Mikdash, unless one reads it in an ordinary reading. This is because the “nitzuach” in it is restricted to the Mikdash, as it says, “lenatze’ach (to oversee) the work of the House of Hashem.” Likewise, the “neginot” (melodies) are restricted to the Mikdash, as it says, “and we will play my melodies all the days of our lives upon the House of Hashem.” Likewise, the very essence of song is specific to the Holy Land. As you know, the people of Babylonia asked our forefathers to say song in exile as it was instituted, and they refused, as they explained and said: “For there our captors asked us for words of song, and our tormentors for joy: ‘Sing for us from the song of Zion,’” and they said, “How shall we sing the song of Hashem on foreign soil?” By way of reading, however, it may be read in a plain reading. See there.
If so, it is very difficult to understand how people sing chapters of Tehillim with melodies outside the Beit HaMikdash, such as the mizmor of Tehillim that is said with a melody on the eves of the festivals, and the mizmor “LeDavid Baruch Hashem Tzuri” (Tehillim 144), which is sung in several Sephardic communities on Motza’ei Shabbat. [This does not refer to reading with the melody of the te’amim (cantillation notes), as will be explained below.]
One cannot answer according to what the Yad Ramah wrote (Sanhedrin 101a), that what was forbidden is only a melody in a frivolous manner. He writes: “Our Rabbis taught: One who reads a pasuk from Shir HaShirim etc., even to sing it to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, for it was given only to be read with its te’amim and not in the manner of song. One may explain that this applies only to one who reads it in a frivolous manner, but one who intends to praise Hakadosh Baruch Hu with it by way of melody, it is fine. And the matter requires further study.” For one could say that this leniency [which he too left as requiring further study] applies to one who wishes to sing other verses of Scripture to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. But Tehillim, which King David, peace be upon him, wrote specifically for the song of the Levi’im in the Beit HaMikdash, is forbidden to be said by way of song anywhere outside the Mikdash.
It appears that it is evident from the unqualified rulings of the poskim that they did not hold halachically like Rav Saadia Gaon. This is also evident from the fact that they permitted singing pesukim, for example from the Mishnah Berurah’s protest (560:14) against those who recite the pasuk “Odecha ki anitani” (Tehillim 118:21) at the celebrations of friends. It is implied from his words that were it not for this, it would be permitted to say the pesukim by way of song, even outside of Eretz Yisrael. This was also the view of Rabbi Eliezer Papo zt”l in Pele Yo’etz (entry Dibbur, s.v. Hamegamgem), who writes: “One who reads a pasuk by way of song and melody, the Torah girds itself in sackcloth and says before Hakadosh Baruch Hu: Your children have made me like a singer (in Sanhedrin 101a there it says “like a harp”). Perhaps with Tehillim there is no concern, since they are essentially songs and melodies. And this is only for the sake of Heaven, and not in a casual manner or in a frivolous manner.”
From the sefer “Shaf Veyativ – Laws of Saying Tehillim” by Rabbi Shay Tahan, Chapter 5: How to Say Tehillim and Precise Pronunciation, Halacha 25 (p. 82 in the print edition). Translated from the Hebrew original.
