What kavanah (intention) should one who recites Tehillim have in mind during his recitation? Some say that one should not intend the meaning of the matter in its plain sense, as one who says the words about himself, as in tefillah. Rather, he should recite with the intention of fulfilling the mitzvah of Torah study, to understand what he reads, or he should recite them as mere supplications. However, from most of the poskim it appears that a person is permitted to intend the words about himself with simple intention. And some have written that a person’s intention in his recitation should be both as if he is relating that this is what King David said about himself, and also as if the reader is requesting for himself.
Sources and Explanations
Now, Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach in Halichot Shlomo (Hilchot Tefillah, chapter 8, Devar Halachah, se’if 22) introduced a significant novel ruling, writing that one who recites Tehillim should not intend the meaning of the words in their plain sense, but he is obligated to understand the meaning so that he will be like one who learns Torah. He writes: “A person who recites Tehillim should not intend the plain meaning of the words in the way that one intends in other prayers, that is, that when saying ‘I lift my eyes to the mountains etc.’ he should intend it about himself. This is because the main virtue of reciting Tehillim according to the plain approach (apart from the virtue of segulah (spiritual remedy) that is in the matter) is due to Torah study; that is, he reads and learns the chapters of Tehillim that King David, peace be upon him, said, which are of the Holy Writings, and he is thereby aroused to yearn for attachment to Hashem like King David, peace be upon him, and this merit will stand for him or for the sick person on whose behalf he is praying. For this reason they chose to recite Tehillim for the merit of the sick person more than studying other things for his merit, because this is a study that also arouses a person’s heart to attachment to Hashem. Since this is so, it is obvious that one must understand the meaning of the words that he utters and intend in this as mentioned above, that thus said King David, peace be upon him, and we too desire and yearn to merit this level (and on the contrary, if he says them without kavanah, there is concern that according to the Rambam it is like whispering verses over a wound, which is a severe sin, Heaven forfend).” End quote. [Regarding his remark that it is like whispering over a wound, see what we discussed on this in another halacha.]
And in the book of Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach (Halichot Shlomo, chapter 8, Orchot Halachah, note 62) they wrote: “The words in the book of Tehillim, not every person can say them like David and his men, for if he says ‘How sweet to my palate etc.,’ is it not a lie in our days? And likewise ‘How I love Your Torah etc.’ Not all of the book of Tehillim is relevant for a person to say. Therefore King David, peace be upon him, requested that nevertheless they should say it as if relating that thus said David, and even though this is not relevant to the person saying it himself, nevertheless he will receive reward as if he were engaged in Nega’im and Ohalot, whose laws too are not relevant to every person but only to Kohanim.”
As for what he wrote as a simple matter, that one must understand the meaning of the words so that his status will be as one who learns Torah, it appears that his intent is that if he does not understand his learning, it is not considered Torah study for him, just as the Mishnah Berurah wrote (50:2, citing the Magen Avraham there, se’if katan 2): “One who does not understand must learn and understand, for otherwise it is not considered learning. For specifically in tefillah, even though he does not understand, Hakadosh Baruch Hu (the Holy One, blessed be He) knows his intention; but if he says the Mishnah and the Baraita and does not understand, it is not called learning. And especially the unlearned must understand the meaning, in order to thereby fulfill the obligation of learning Mikra, Mishnah, and Gemara, which a person must learn every day.”
However, all this applies only if we consider the recitation of Tehillim as Torah study; but if they are considered as the reading of pesukim (verses) of the Written Torah, then even without understanding the words a person fulfills the obligation of reading, as written in Shulchan Aruch HaRav (Hilchot Talmud Torah 2:13). Based on these words, it is easy to understand the words of our rabbis the poskim who recommended that the reader understand the meaning of the words. And so wrote the Shelah (Masechet Tamid, Perek Ner Mitzvah, ot 120): “Fortunate is the man who says Tehillim with song and melody and joy and with intention of the heart, not as in this generation, where they say it in haste and quickly and without kavanah and understanding, and they also err in the reading and skip pesukim and snatch from one another etc., and this is almost not blessing but blaspheming, Heaven forfend. Therefore I say: better a little with kavanah than much without kavanah.”
It occurred to me that this is why the poskim always used the expression to ‘learn’ Tehillim rather than to ‘read’ Tehillim. And this is noteworthy, for does a person learn Tehillim by reading it? Rather, if he intends that this reading be for the sake of learning and tries to understand the words, it is considered learning for him. And it may be that the pure source of this matter is the request of King David, peace be upon him (Yalkut Shimoni, Tehillim 1), that one who reads Tehillim be considered as one engaged in Nega’im and Ohalot. The meaning is that even though the reader is engaged in reading the words, he should try to understand them; and King David requested that even though learning in this manner is several levels lower than one who learns and engages in Nega’im and Ohalot, and this is bitul Torah (neglect of Torah study) in quality, nevertheless their virtue and their reward should be equal.
However, what Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach wrote, that one should not intend in his reading the plain meaning of the words about himself, is contradicted by several sources, which were gathered like sheaves to the threshing floor in the book Betorato Yehgeh (p. 464):
In Midrash Shocher Tov (Tehillim 18) it states: “Everything that David said in his book, he said it regarding himself, regarding all of Israel, and regarding all times.” The plain intent of the Midrash is that King David said Tehillim so that every person, in every situation and at every time, would be able to read and intend it about himself.
This also emerges from the pasuk (Tehillim 44:2): “O God, we have heard with our ears, our fathers have told us, the deed You performed in their days, in the days of old,” and Rashi explains: “From here you learn that the sons of Korach were speaking for the sake of these generations who would come after them, for had it been for themselves, they would not have had to say ‘our fathers have told us,’ since they themselves saw the miracles of the desert, the sea, the Jordan, and the wars of Yehoshua; so it is explained in the Aggadat Tehillim.” Its meaning is that they said the mizmor for the future generations, so that they would say it about themselves. The Radak in his commentary on Tehillim (6:1) wrote: “This mizmor, it is possible that David said it about his illness, and it is also possible that it was said about any person afflicted with illnesses, for many mizmorim that are prayer and supplication David composed to be mizmorim for anyone who prays.” And in the introduction of Rabbi Malbim to Tehillim he wrote: “All of these he gathered and compiled in his old age into a special book, so that they would be ready for the needs of the conduct of one who secludes himself — every person will see in it every prayer and every supplication, every thanksgiving and every praise, for every matter and every subject, distress or salvation, trouble or relief, that may befall an individual or the many, in the course of the times and the circumstances of the stormy era upon all who traverse the sea of life with its multitude of breakers and the roar of its waves.”
In Sefer HaMiddot (Sha’ar HaDa’at, chapter 15) he wrote that the pious King, peace be upon him, established the book of Tehillim, in which every broken heart will find a bandage, to the point that there is no request in the world, among the requests that arise, for which you will not find rest for your soul, in its exact image and likeness, in the book of Tehillim, as if from your heart you bring forth such words, and your mouth and tongue arrange the ordered requests.
In Chiddushei Rabbi Eliyahu Guttmacher (Shabbat 130) he cites from the Olelot Ephraim, regarding the custom to recite at a brit milah the aforementioned chapter of Tehillim at the time the baby is crying, that in saying it one should have in mind all his troubles when he says “Be gracious to me, Hashem, for I am miserable.”
In the book Yismach Yisrael (Parashat Ekev) he wrote that King David made the book of Tehillim for all types of people, and all of them will find themselves in the book of Tehillim until the coming of the righteous redeemer. This is what is said (Tehillim 145:21): “And all flesh shall bless His holy Name forever and ever” — in whatever situation it may be.
He also cited this in the name of Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, that the book of Tehillim was established for the public to say it about themselves.
As for what Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach wrote, that one should not intend the plain meaning of the matter, it appears that Rabbi Moshe Sternbuch did not hold so, for he wrote that the intent of one’s reading should be as prayer in supplications, and not that in the merit of reading them he will be answered. He writes in Responsa Teshuvot VeHanhagot (vol. 2, siman 67): “All of Israel have the custom to say Tehillim for a sick person, but in the Rambam it is explicit that it is permitted only to protect him from suffering troubles and harm, but not to be healed, for one may not be healed through words of Torah. And so he rules explicitly (Hilchot Avodah Zarah 11:12): ‘But a healthy person who read pesukim and a mizmor of Tehillim so that the merit of reading them should protect him and he be saved from troubles and harm — this is permitted.’ But if he wants to be healed, it is forbidden. And our recitation of Tehillim that is permitted means that we pray as supplications and not by virtue of reading them, which is forbidden.”
In the book Da’at Noteh (vol. 1, p. 394) Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky was asked whether, when reading Tehillim, one should intend as if he himself is requesting it, or should think that King David, peace be upon him, is saying this, and he answered briefly that he should intend both.
From the sefer “Shaf Veyativ – Laws of Saying Tehillim” by Rabbi Shay Tahan, Chapter 6: Intention (Kavanah) While Saying Tehillim, Halacha 5 (p. 88 in the print edition). Translated from the Hebrew original.
