A person should make an effort to understand the words he utters and their meaning.
Sources and Explanations
This is brought in many sefarim. See the Shelah (Tamid, Perek Ner Mitzvah, ot 94), who writes: “Fortunate is the man who says Tehillim with song and melody, with joy and with kavanah of the heart, not as in this generation, when they say it in haste and quickly, without kavanah and understanding.”
See how much this pained the Gaon Rabbi Chaim Palagi zt”l, who rebuked those who read without understanding. He writes in the introduction to his commentary on Tehillim, called “HaKatuv LeChaim”: “But in this there is something like anguish in my soul: although this study is so precious, awesome and exalted, etc., the vast majority do not know and do not understand what they are reading. Even Talmud scholars are not proficient in saying Tehillim, for they are not knowledgeable in Scripture, and this is not the proper way. Every Jew is obligated to hire for his son an expert and knowledgeable teacher who will teach him well the meaning of the words, and also which letter is hard (dagesh) and which is soft (rafeh), and what is accented above and what below (stress placement), etc.”
So too it is brought in the Pele Yo’etz (Tehillim), who writes that all the virtues stated regarding reading Tehillim belong to one who reads them properly, letter by letter, word by word, with a voice of joyful song and thanksgiving and with the humble voice of supplication, for he gives his spirit to them and understands what he utters with his lips, etc. End quote.
And although Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach zt”l wrote (Hilchot Tefillah, chapter 8, Devar Halachah, se’if 22) not to have in mind the plain meaning of the words, he recommended that one should understand what he says. He writes: “It is obvious that one must understand the meaning of the words he utters and to have intent in this as mentioned above, for so said King David, alav hashalom, and we too desire and long to merit this level.”
From the sefer “Shaf Veyativ – Laws of Saying Tehillim” by Rabbi Shay Tahan, Chapter 6: Intention (Kavanah) While Saying Tehillim, Halacha 1 (p. 85 in the print edition). Translated from the Hebrew original.
