Psalm 105. The Radak explains that King David composed this psalm when he brought up the Ark from the house of Oved-Edom the Gittite to the City of David, entrusting it to Asaf and his brothers to sing before the Ark. This psalm also appears in almost identical form in I Chronicles 16, albeit with minor variations: here it says "זֶרַע אַבְרָהָם עַבְדּוֹ" ("offspring of Avraham His servant"), whereas there it says "זרע ישראל עבדו" ("offspring of Yisrael His servant"); here it says "וּשְׁבוּעָתוֹ לְיִשְׂחָק" (with a sin), whereas there it is "ליצחק" (with a tzadi); here it says "לֹא הִנִּיחַ אָדָם לְעׇשְׁקָם" ("He allowed no man to oppress them"), whereas there it says "לא הניח לאיש לעושקם". These are minor variations, but variations nonetheless.
There in Chronicles, the psalm concludes with "ולנביאי אל תרעו" ("and do My prophets no harm"). Later, when David compiled Sefer Tehillim, he included the psalm here as well, but expanded it further: he continues recounting the history of the descendants of Avraham up to the entry into Eretz Yisrael. At the bringing up of the Ark, David composed two psalms: this one and "Sing to Hashem, all the earth." Chazal teach that "Give thanks to Hashem, for He is good" was recited in the morning, and "Sing to Hashem" was recited over the afternoon tamid offering. Chazal also state that these psalms were recited daily before the Ark until Shlomo brought the Ark into the Beis HaMikdash.
הוֹדוּ לַיהֹוָה קִרְאוּ בִשְׁמוֹ הוֹדִיעוּ בָעַמִּים עֲלִילוֹתָיו׃ - Give thanks to Hashem, call upon His name; make known His deeds among the nations.
There is a command here, and to whom is it directed? The Radak explains that David is addressing the singers and the congregation. "Call upon His name" - pray to Him, as in "and I will call upon the name of Hashem"; furthermore, teach others the way of Hashem, as in "and Avram called there upon the name of Hashem." This is also the meaning of "make known His deeds among the nations" - recount among the nations what the Holy One, blessed be He, brought upon the Philistines. After all, the central focus here is the Ark: the Philistines were struck with hemorrhoids and tumors, and in the end they sent golden tumors and returned the Ark. These great deeds, which ultimately brought about the return of the Ark to Israel, should be recounted among the nations.
The Malbim explains that this psalm is part of a series. In the previous psalm, "Barchi Nafshi," he praised Hashem for His providence over mankind and His governance of the world in general - the realm of nature. Here, he comes to thank Hashem, blessed be He, for His miraculous providence - the supernatural governance with which the Holy One, blessed be He, conducts the nation close to Him. The Holy One, blessed be He, guides the nations of the world solely through natural providence; but Am Yisrael He also guides through miraculous providence. Therefore, "Sing to Him" is our personal praise for what He does exclusively for us, deeds unique to the Jewish people.
By contrast, "make known His deeds [alilotav] among the nations." The Malbim explains that alilot always refers to actions and modes of conduct driven by natural character. When applied to the Holy One, blessed be He, this does not refer to His essence - for Hashem has no nature - but rather to His governance in accordance with His attributes: merciful, gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in kindness. This is consistently a system of reward and punishment: if one is deserving, he receives reward, and if undeserving, he receives punishment. This is governance through the supernal attributes, through the Sefirot, which encompass Chesed and Gevurah; there is an aspect of Din, which is a constriction of divine flow, and there is Chesed, which is an abundant flow - and everything depends on the deeds of those below. Thus, we thank Hashem for the miraculous providence by which He guides us, while among the nations we make known His deeds, the natural order guided by merit, through reward and punishment.
שִׁירוּ־לוֹ זַמְּרוּ־לוֹ שִׂיחוּ בְּכׇל־נִפְלְאוֹתָיו׃ - Sing to Him, play music to Him; speak of all His wonders.
Ibn Ezra explains: "Sing" - with the mouth; "play music" - with an instrument such as the harp; "speak" - to talk and converse with others. And the Malbim explains: "Sing to Him" - you, the Children of Israel, sing and play music to Him in a unique manner, for you merit a providence that is beyond the natural order; therefore, speak of all His wonders, regarding the miraculous providence that the Holy One, blessed be He, performs with us.
The verse can also be explained by way of remez (allusion), based on what Chazal say: For everything the Holy One, blessed is He, forbade us, He permitted something corresponding to it. He forbade blood to us - He permitted liver, which is entirely blood. He forbade the fat of a domestic animal - He permitted the fat of a wild animal, and He permitted kosher fat. He forbade pork - He permitted the brain of the shibuta fish, which the Gemara notes tastes like pork. He forbade meat cooked in milk - He permitted the udder. He forbade a married woman - He permitted a divorcee. We see that corresponding to whatever He forbade, He permitted something equivalent.
From this we learn that the Holy One, blessed is He, in His abundant mercy upon us, did not wish to deprive man of everything completely. He knows that man possesses a drive of curiosity, that people love experiencing new things and exploring the unfamiliar. Therefore, He gave us the ability to do so in a permissible manner, and thereby a person quiets his urge and does not yearn for the forbidden, for he has that very same experience through the permitted.
A person must always take this to heart: even when an urge toward something forbidden is aroused in him, let him see how to satisfy it permissibly. Of course, one must be very careful not to be immersed in desires even within the realm of the permissible, for that will certainly lead to forbidden things as well; but that is not what we are discussing. We are speaking of someone who is currently overwhelmed by an evil inclination toward something forbidden - let him see how to satisfy his urge in a permitted way. If an urge overcomes him to sing frivolous or provocative songs - let him put on Jewish music and listen to songs, satisfying his desire to hear music. If he wants to talk at length - at least let him converse with upright, God-fearing people, whose conversation revolves around spiritual matters and leads toward holiness, rather than sitting with idle loafers whose talk, at best, is about pension funds and financial matters, at worst about sports, and worse still about women and frivolity. If you have an urge to talk - direct it toward permitted things.
This is also crucial advice in chinuch. The easiest thing in the world is to say "no." To whatever a child asks for, the simplest response is to say no. Therefore, a person must first think: before I say no, what can I say yes to? For when you say no, you create resistance, and that resistance causes the child to act out of defiance. No one wants to be restricted, particularly in a generation like ours, an insolent generation; no one wants things dictated to them, so they will fight back forcefully. Wisdom lies in seeing what can be permitted: perhaps what he is asking for is extreme and cannot be allowed, but if I provide something where I can be flexible, in a permissible way - his urge will be satisfied. But if I immediately say no and no, it may lead to far worse outcomes.
I knew a person whose son asked for an MP4 player. The father said to him, "Absolutely not! In our home there are no media players at all; we do not bring such things in." I will not tell you what the boy brought home later, may you know no such troubles. Had he said to him, "Listen, an MP4 player opens the door to trouble. Let me buy you an MP3 player and put music on it for you - that I can allow" - perhaps the boy would have been satisfied. But once you block everything, the child feels he has nothing, and he must have something, so he eventually arrives at even worse things; since he is doing something you disapprove of anyway, he will just do whatever he pleases, and tomorrow he will bring home a smartphone.
On the other hand, this matter requires much guidance from educators and careful examination, because it can also lead too far. I have known people who brought home all kinds of censored movies, and the children sit all day watching movies. Very quickly, the child realizes that the movies shown to him are not high quality; movies that have billions invested in them are of a different caliber, packed with action - and then he ends up going there as well. One must recognize that there are also areas where boundaries must be set, for when one stretches the permissible to its outer limits, sometimes the child is drawn specifically toward the forbidden. Therefore, great wisdom is needed here, and one cannot set uniform boundaries; it varies from person to person and from family to family. A person whose child grows up in a school that includes non-religious children is not comparable to one in an ultra-Orthodox school. From the outset, we strive to reach the strongest spiritual place, but one cannot ignore the reality of where the child currently stands; and if we ignore it, we will discover that the child's impulses are stronger than our wishes.
For example, if a child is in a setting where all his friends have smartphones, you cannot simply say to him, "Under no circumstances will you have a smartphone." The most you can do is provide a smartphone with a filter you can supervise, not something he will bypass tomorrow on his own. If you try to be overly rigid, you will ultimately end up with something worse. All this applies to someone who is already in such an environment; to begin with, we would not send children to such places, but sometimes it is beyond our control - a person who became a ba'al teshuvah and his child is already enrolled there, or his wife is not at his spiritual pace. I am not getting into the reasons why, but rather the principle: do not immediately say no; always prefer what can be permitted within safe boundaries.
This is what King David is hinting to us. Are you looking to sing? So that you do not sing provocative songs - "Sing to Him." You may sing, but sing permissibly. At one time, there was an individual - I will not mention his name - who ran an extensive campaign against the songs of Chareidi singers who performed before mixed audiences and did inappropriate things, producing songs whose style closely resembled non-Jewish music. He tried to get Rav Ovadia Yosef involved and have Rabbanim sign a ban against listening to these songs, but Rav Ovadia Yosef refused to sign. Why? He would say to him: "And what will they listen to then? Will they listen to secular non-Jewish music?" Rav Ovadia understood this point: it is true that this music is not ideal, but at least he is singing holy words, texts from our sacred sources. The music may not be authentically Jewish, but it is the lesser of two evils, for without it, they would go straight to gentile music. What do you gain by locking every door?
Therefore: "Sing" - if you wish to sing, sing to Him; sing to Hashem, blessed be He. "Sing praises to Him" - if you want to make melody, make melody to Hashem. "Speak" - if you want to talk, you are not told, "You are forbidden to talk, sit and learn," but rather: "Speak of all His wondrous deeds." Converse with God-fearing people, so that the conversation revolves around the wonders of Hashem, and thereby the Name of Heaven is sanctified. Those who attempted to say "no" to everything - in the end, as Rav Dessler says, when a spring is compressed tighter and tighter, it ultimately recoils far away. When you say no to everything, you suffocate, block, and suppress, and the result is sometimes children who drift to the most extreme places. Rather: sing to Him, sing praises to Him, speak of all His wondrous deeds - whatever you do, channel it into a path closer to holiness.
And sometimes, a person simply cannot immerse himself in Torah study; he does not have the head for it at that moment. A Jew, a great talmid chacham, related that for six months while studying in Ponevezh, he was unable to open a sefer. What did he do? The mashgiach told him to go up to the women's gallery - meaning the elevated section of the beis midrash - and read. He told me: "I would read stories of tzaddikim; for six months I sat and read stories." One might wonder: you are capable of learning, yet you sit and read stories? But one must understand that this was his reality at the time, and that was what he was capable of doing. Would it have been better for him to read a newspaper? Let him sit and read stories of tzaddikim. He said: "Only after those six months was I able to recover and return to my studies" - and this is a person who disseminates Torah, a great talmid chacham. From this we see that one should not assume that clamping down harder keeps things better secured; sometimes it produces the exact opposite reaction. And this is "Speak of all His wondrous deeds": unable to learn? Speak of His wonders, read about Hashem's miracles, read stories of tzaddikim - it is far better than occupying oneself with things that have no connection to Judaism at all.
הִתְהַלְלוּ בְּשֵׁם קׇדְשׁוֹ יִשְׂמַח לֵב מְבַקְשֵׁי יְהֹוָה׃ - Glory in His holy Name; let the heart of those who seek the Lord rejoice.
Rashi explains: Glory in the stronghold of His holy Name, for you have a Master and Patron like Him. That is, take pride in the fact that your Director and Patron is the Master of the Universe, that the Holy One, blessed be He, is our Father and our Shepherd. Radak explains: You can glory over all the nations in His holy Name, which has become sanctified upon you. After all, this speaks of bringing in the Ark, and before the eyes of the nations it became evident how Hashem was sanctified upon us: as long as the Ark was not returned, everyone suffered terribly, and Hashem struck the Philistines; wherever the Ark arrived, severe plagues struck. You can therefore glory in His holy Name, for now everyone sees that His Shechinah rests upon us - only when the Ark comes to us is its resting place found. Hashem dwells in glory with the Jewish people, not with the nations. "Let the heart rejoice" - you, the seekers of Hashem, for it is specifically among you that the Holy One, blessed be He, rests, whereas among the nations the Ark cannot endure being with them and strikes them until they return it to its place.
The Malbim explains that "His holy Name" always denotes the governance through which the Holy One, blessed be He, conducts the world in holiness - the spiritual, transcendent providence, as distinguished from the natural order through which Hashem governs His world day to day according to the laws of nature. "His holy Name" represents a miraculous, holy providence that operates in accordance with the stature of the Jewish people and the sanctity of their deeds, and through this His Name is sanctified, as it says, "And I shall be sanctified in the midst of the children of Israel." And this is our praise, says the Malbim: that His holy Name is sanctified through our sanctity, His holy Name is exalted and channels spiritual bounty to us in accordance with our level, and the closer we draw to Him, blessed be He, the more He bestows upon us.
This demonstrates our lofty status: the only ones who have an impact on the upper realms are the Jewish people. No other nation in the world, and not even the angels, have the ability to affect the celestial realms, to influence the Sefirot and the channeling of divine bounty down to the world. A non-Jew, even if he were to bring a harlot into the Holy of Holies and commit a sin with her, has not touched, damaged, or caused any blemish in the upper worlds. It is as if a dog entered the Holy of Holies - what happened? The dog will not be punished, nor will the Beit HaMikdash be destroyed on account of it. So too, a gentile entering the Holy of Holies has caused no spiritual effect, for a gentile possesses an animal soul, and as the Ben Ish Chai writes, and as discussed in Mishnat HaGilgulim, he exerts no influence whatsoever upon the upper worlds.
Therefore, as discussed at length in the lessons on Nefesh HaChaim, it was said of Titus's deed, "You have ground flour that was already ground." The Beit HaMikdash was not destroyed by a gentile; a gentile has no power whatsoever to harm a holy entity, having no access to it. Rather, it was we, through our misdeeds, through the strife among us and the damage of the sins during the First Temple - we were the ones who destroyed the Beit HaMikdash, and only afterward did the gentile come and strike the blow that brought the building down. He did not topple the Beit HaMikdash; he possessed no such power, for the Beit HaMikdash has its roots in the upper realms. Rather, the Beit HaMikdash had already been laid waste by our deeds, and once the Divine Presence had departed and the holiness had flown from it, the gentile came and performed the physical act of demolition. It turns out that everything that occurs in the world is the result of the actions of the Jewish people, and herein lies praise and glory for the Jewish people, that His holy Name is sanctified through their holiness. Even the angels cannot say "Holy" in the heights until "Holy" is recited here below; only when "Holy" is proclaimed on earth do the angels sanctify the Holy One, blessed be He.
And when we see our elevated status - "let the heart of those who seek Hashem rejoice." We see how the Holy One, blessed be He, interacts with us in accordance with the degree to which we seek Him: the more one seeks Hashem, the more He bestows His goodness upon him.
The Malbim notes: Anyone seeking an object does not rejoice until he finds what he is looking for. If you lose your wallet, you have no peace of mind until you find it; you search here, head down to the car, search in the closet, in the bathroom. And so it is with everything. There are two reasons for this: first, because there is uncertainty whether he will find it at all - perhaps I will never find the wallet, and I will have to cancel all the credit cards, and who knows what was done with them in the meantime; and second, because he has not yet reached his ultimate objective, for the goal is to find it, and he has not yet found it. This does not apply only to a lost object; a person set on buying a car also cannot relax and feels stressed until he makes the purchase. Joy arrives only when he acquires the thing he desires.
Yet despite all this, it says here, "Let the heart of those who seek Hashem rejoice" - and note the wonderful precision: it does not say "those who attain Hashem," but "those who seek Hashem," rejoicing in the very act of seeking. The Malbim explains two reasons for this. First, because they are certain to attain what they seek: when one searches for a wallet, there is no guarantee it will be found, but when one seeks Hashem, attainment is guaranteed, for He is found by those who seek Him. Second, with the Holy One, blessed be He, the seeking itself is the ultimate purpose, not the full attainment; for no matter how much one seeks Hashem, one cannot grasp the Essence of Hashem. It is impossible for a person ever to outgrow the status of "a seeker of Hashem": even the Baba Sali and the Baal Shem Tov, even Rebbe and Moshe Rabbeinu, are always classified as seekers. This is not something that you sought, attained, and now keep in your pocket; one remains forever a seeker. When seeking a material object, the purpose is to attain it; but one can never fully grasp Hashem, and therefore the ultimate goal is to be a seeker of Hashem - the aspiration, the longing, the closeness to God. This is the meaning of "Glory in His holy Name; let the heart rejoice" - the very reality of being seekers of Hashem already brings joy to their hearts.
Psalm 105 was recited when the Ark was brought up to the City of David, and its counterpart appears in Divrei HaYamim (Chronicles). It comes to give thanks to Hashem for the miraculous providence unique to the Jewish people, in contrast to the alilot - the order of reward and punishment - which are made known among the nations. "Sing to Him, chant praise to Him, speak of all His wonders" also teaches us a fundamental approach in divine service and chinuch: for everything the Holy One, blessed be He, prohibited, He provided a permissible counterpart. Therefore, rather than simply suppressing everything, one must find for a person and for a child the permitted avenue through which their natural drive can find peace. And "Glory in His holy Name" - the glory lies in the fact that specifically through the sanctity of Israel, His Name is sanctified and abundance is channeled into the upper worlds. Finally, "Let the heart of those who seek Hashem rejoice" - the seeking itself, the aspiration for closeness to God, is the ultimate goal and is itself the joy.