Although a person should learn to read with correct grammar, since there is supreme importance to reading Tehillim with proper grammar, nevertheless one should not spend much time on this; rather, he should invest most of his time in the study of Shas and the poskim (halachic authorities), from whose words we live.
Sources and Explanations
Behold, there is great importance to reading Mikra (Scripture) and Tehillim with proper grammar. See how far the Ben Ish Chai went in Responsa Torah Lishmah (question 254), calling by the title ‘ignoramus’ (bur) an important talmid chacham who was well-versed in Gemara and Shulchan Aruch, but since he had not studied Mikra of Tanach properly in his youth, therefore even in his adulthood he did not know the Tanach well and would make mistakes in his reading, errors in the cantillation notes and in the vowels, and especially would err when reading Nevi’im and Ketuvim. He proved this from the words of the Shiltei HaGibborim (first chapter of Kiddushin, daf 12 in the pages of the Rif) in the name of the Riaz: “A person should always divide his days of learning into three: a third Mikra, a third Mishnah, a third Talmud, etc. One who studied Mishnah but did not read Mikra – he is an ignoramus.”
However, bnei Torah and talmidei chachamim should not spend much time on studying this matter, as the Gaon, the Noda BiYehudah, wrote in his approbation to Sefer HaBachur (Prague printing, 5549; cited in the publishers’ introduction to the Siddur of Rabbi Shabtai Sofer): “So it is: I have already given an approbation for the printing of Sefer HaBachur, and the matter is correct, for certainly the wisdom of grammar is a great necessity in order to pray in a pure language, and also in the study of the Written Torah, to read properly and to be careful with the melody of the cantillation in its proper place, mil’eil and milra. However, it is good that the young men accustom themselves to this for about half an hour, or an hour at most, each day, but not to be drawn too much after this wisdom and spend time on it, for ‘where a vegetable can enter, let meat enter,’ which is the study of the Talmud and the poskim, for this is our life and this is the essence of the Torah. Chazal already warned, ‘Keep your children away from higayon,’ and with the Babylonian Talmud one also fulfills the obligation of the Written Torah, for everything is contained in it. Therefore, you precious young men, listen to me and your soul will live, and occupy yourselves all day in the essentials of the Torah, and for about an hour or half an hour occupy yourselves with Mikra and the wisdom of grammar, and both this and that will be established in your hands, and the desire of Hashem will succeed in your hands.”
See also, as above, Responsa Chavot Yair (siman 124), who remarked on this: “The study of the wisdom of grammar – a little of it is good, and it is essential for every person of understanding to know the rules: regarding pronominal suffixes, singular and plural, masculine and feminine, past, present and future, second person, third person and first person, and the servile letters and their places; but to spend one’s days on the various verb patterns (binyanim) that the grammarians have scattered is entirely unnecessary. Likewise, the dagesh and rafeh points and their rules are incumbent upon a person insofar as he is a human being and a ‘living soul,’ as its Targum renders (a speaking spirit), to know. And how would one not be ashamed – one who has studied and learned and taught until he reached the level of ‘shall he rule? shall he judge?’ – if he is asked about the siddur why the vowels of the vavs differ: ‘venshabechacha unfa’ercha’ with a melopum, ‘venamlichcha venazkir’ with a sheva; ‘gedulah ugvurah’ with a melopum, ‘tehillah vetiferet’ with a sheva; ‘kedushah umalchut’ with a melopum. And likewise with the vavs of ‘emet veyatziv,’ ‘vaye’alem vayistager,’ for he does not know that the difficulty of two consecutive shevas caused this, and likewise the letters בומ״ף after the vav. And likewise with the heh’s: ‘haChiti’ with a patach, ‘ha’Emori’ with a chataf kamatz, and he does not know that the letters אחעה״ר caused this, that the patach changes to a kamatz with the letters רע״ר for the most part, and with ה״ח to a segol. And likewise with the changes in the vowels of the other servile letters, and likewise with the rules of dagesh and rafeh of בג״ד כפ״ת. And likewise with the shevas, what is said about them; for otherwise he is an ignoramus, saying ‘Barechu’ in public over the Sefer Torah or before the ark as ‘Barchu’ with a silent sheva, whereas it must be a mobile sheva, since it comes after a long vowel. However, to know all the sections and sub-sections and the exceptions to the rules – one should not spend time on them, for you know that the confusion is great and the benefit small; and some explained on this what Rabban Yochanan ben Zakkai said: ‘Keep your children away from higayon.’”
From the sefer “Shaf Veyativ – Laws of Saying Tehillim” by Rabbi Shay Tahan, Chapter 5: How to Say Tehillim and Precise Pronunciation, Halacha 5 (p. 61 in the print edition). Translated from the Hebrew original.
