Chapter 111 in Tehillim is unique in its structure. Rashi notes that the psalm is arranged according to the order of the aleph-bet, with one letter opening the beginning of the verse and another letter opening its midpoint: "Odeh Hashem bechol leivav" - Aleph; "Besod yesharim ve'eidah" - Beit; "Gedolim ma'asei Hashem" - Gimel; "Derushim lechol cheftzeihem" - Dalet. The following psalm is structured similarly. The difference between them is that this first psalm speaks in praise of the Omnipresent, while the second psalm recounts the praise of the righteous person.
The Radak also observes that the psalm follows the order of the aleph-bet, adding that the final two verses are each composed of three letters. As is known, regarding psalms based on the aleph-bet, the very structure testifies to their elevated stature and importance. The Radak explains that regarding every psalm arranged by the aleph-bet, it appears that by virtue of its grandeur and the exalted matters within it, it was uttered with Ruach HaKodesh (divine inspiration). Of course, the entire Book of Tehillim was uttered with Ruach HaKodesh, as King David said, "The spirit of Hashem spoke through me, and His word was on my tongue" - yet these psalms undoubtedly hold a higher standing. The theme of the psalm is to contemplate the deeds of God, to constantly remember His wonders and the greatness of His might, and to engage in the fear of Hashem and wisdom.
הַלְלוּ־יָהּ אוֹדֶה יְהֹוָה בְּכׇל־לֵבָב בְּסוֹד יְשָׁרִים וְעֵדָה׃ - Halleluyah! I will praise Hashem with a whole heart, in the counsel of the upright and the congregation.
The Radak explains: The psalmist turns to the singers and says to them, "Halleluyah," for this is what I too shall do - I will thank Hashem with all my heart, with the full devotion of my heart. "In the counsel of the upright [besod yesharim]" refers to the counsel of the upright, which is the people of Israel, as it is written, "May my soul die the death of the upright," referring to the death of Israel. And why are they called upright? Because they align their deeds in accordance with the judgments of Hashem. "In the counsel of the upright and the congregation" - the letter beit in "besod" applies to both: in the counsel of the upright and in the congregation, and there I will praise Hashem; everyone will praise Hashem, blessed be He, along with me.
The Malbim explains: I will thank Hashem with all my heart, both "in the counsel of the upright" - who are the men of understanding, those who understand the ways of Hashem and delve into the secrets of His providence - and "in the congregation" - the multitude of the people assembled to hear my words. That is to say, I will praise Hashem everywhere. Do not think that I will give thanks only in the circle of the wise, or only among the common folk; rather, I will praise Him both in the counsel of the upright, among the wise and discerning, and within the congregation, among the common people.
גְּדֹלִים מַעֲשֵׂי יְהֹוָה דְּרוּשִׁים לְכׇל־חֶפְצֵיהֶם׃ - Great are the works of Hashem, sought out by all who desire them.
Here the thanksgiving begins. Great are the works of Hashem that the Holy One, blessed be He, performed among the creations, and even though they are vast, they are "sought out by all who desire them": whoever desires to contemplate them and investigate them finds that they are, as it were, available before him and readily present themselves to him. The word "cheftzeihem" [those who desire them] is patterned like "zikneihem" [their elders], the Radak notes, and therefore the chet is vocalized with a tzeireh.
The Malbim begins here by describing three kinds of perception we have of Hashem's providence: the deeds of Hashem (ma'aseh), the ongoing actions of Hashem (pe'ulah), and the wonders of Hashem (nifla'ot). First, one must distinguish between a ma'aseh (a deed) and a pe'ulah (an ongoing action). A ma'aseh is something completed and finished, with no continuity. A pe'ulah is something in which the hand of the maker continues to operate and act; the process is still ongoing. A ma'aseh is something that the Holy One, blessed be He, as it were, made and left alone, and does not continually engage with.
According to this, we view Creation through both lenses simultaneously. On one hand, Creation appears as a complete, finished entity: there are trees, seas, rivers, and celestial bodies. On the other hand, we know that this is not the full reality, for the Holy One, blessed be He, "in His goodness renews each day continuously the work of Creation." The sun is not here simply because it was here yesterday; it does not operate merely by inertia. Every day and every moment, the Holy One, blessed be He, as it were, pours fuel into it so that it will burn, constantly activating and creating it. This is the aspect of ongoing action (pe'ulah). That is to say, what appears to us as a finished act (ma'aseh) completed during the Six Days of Creation and existing ever since, is in truth a continuous daily operation, which the Holy One, blessed be He, sustains at all times as a new creation. Both the finished act and the continuous action constitute the order of nature - the fixed, routine governance that does not change: sunrise, sunset, rainfall, and the celestial bodies and their motions.
The third aspect is wonders (nifla'ot): a reality in which the Holy One, blessed be He, performs something miraculous and alters the laws of nature - "Sun, stand still at Gibeon, and Moon in the Valley of Aijalon," the Yam Suf splits before Bnei Yisrael, the Jordan River parts and the people of Israel cross through it into Eretz Yisrael, and so on. These are called wonders, in which the Holy One, blessed be He, acts wondrously, far beyond the ordinary course of nature.
Concerning this it is said: "Great are the works of Hashem" - great in multitude and grandeur, in quantity and quality, and yet, "sought out for all their desires." Every work has a "desire" (chefetz), meaning a purpose and goal. When a person makes something, he wishes to derive a purpose from it: he spent a year building a house - the purpose is to have a place to live; he spent two days crafting a chair - so that he will have something to sit on. Every act that a human being performs is designed to reach its ultimate purpose, its utility.
Yet regarding the Holy One, blessed be He, this cannot be said, for He did not create the universe for His own need: not so that He would have a place to dwell or a place to rest. The purpose of the act is not for the sake of Hashem, may He be blessed, but rather lies within the thing itself - an act done for the sake of the act: the very doing is the will of the Creator, blessed be He. Unlike us, where every action is aimed at a subsequent purpose - one sews a garment to have what to wear - with the Holy One, blessed be He, as it were, sewing the garment is an end in itself, because there is no outcome that He lacks or requires from that object. When a person makes something, prior to making it, he lacked it, which is why he made it: if one prepares a cup of coffee, beforehand it was lacking. With the Holy One, blessed be He, one cannot say this: if He created a world, shall we say that beforehand He lacked something? That would imply a deity that is lacking, a deity that has needs - something entirely unthinkable concerning the Holy One, blessed be He.
Here we must enter into a topic discussed several times: one must distinguish between the perspective from Him, may He be blessed, and our perspective on the reality of the world. When speaking from His perspective, we speak of the Ein Sof, blessed be He, Who has no intrinsic attachment to the world - an exalted and transcendent reality wherein no thought can grasp Him at all. When speaking from the perspective directed toward us, the Holy One, blessed be He, created the Ten Sefirot, which channel divine influence, and they, as it were, "require" our input and our prayers, because through this spiritual potency the flow of blessing descends. Yet the Sefirot are not His Essence (Atzmut), but rather a spiritual reality emanated from Him. When speaking of His Essence, may He be blessed, He has no need for our prayers: "If you are righteous, what do you give Him? Or what does He receive from your hand?" Rather, the Holy One, blessed be He, fashioned a framework in which it is meaningful to say, "Ascribe strength to God" - and through what do we give strength? Through prayer and the performance of mitzvot. Yet this is not directed to His Essence, for in His Essence nothing is lacking, but rather to the system He established of the Ten Sefirot. These influences function as a feedback loop: by channeling influence upward, a reciprocal flow is generated and we receive downward, the dynamic of "feminine waters" (mayin nukvin) eliciting "masculine waters" (mayin dechurin). In His Essence, however, He lacked nothing of a world, nor did He lack anything with which to complete Himself, and thus none of these concepts apply to Him.
The Ramchal writes that it is the nature of the Good to bestow good, and the Holy One, blessed be He, desired to bestow good upon His creations. For this to occur, there must be recipients of goodness; therefore, He created human beings to be the recipients of this benevolence, thereby fulfilling His will to bestow good (and whoever is interested can study this at length in the teachings on Derech Hashem and Da'at Tevunot). Yet one must not understand this "will" to be like human will, for with us, if we desire something and lack it, we are deficient; with the Holy One, blessed be He, no such deficiency exists.
Furthermore, one must realize: all of this is only what the Holy One, blessed be He, in His desire and will, revealed to us. There are many other reasons for His desire in Creation that He has not revealed to us, remaining concealed in the innermost secrets of the Creator of the universe. What His desire in Creation is, why He saw fit to create it, what His purpose is - what He revealed to us is all we know, and that is merely the outer fringe. There are many matters that even were He to reveal them to us, we could not comprehend: "Had I known Him, I would be Him." His perception is not like our perception, and His grasp is not like ours.
To offer a parable: even the simplest device, that pocket calculator everyone had in their youth, is beyond our comprehension. It performs calculations that would take us hundreds of years, yet we do not know how it works, what binary language it speaks, or exactly how it calculates. One who studies it may understand, but the point is that even a thing that seems simple and old-fashioned is beyond the grasp of the average person, all the more so advanced technologies and artificial intelligence. If we cannot comprehend the most basic human inventions, can we possibly fathom the "thought process" of the Creator of the universe - how the Holy One, blessed be He, plans Creation, what its ultimate purpose is, and where it is all heading? It is high above the highest. What we do know is only that tiny fraction that the Holy One, blessed be He, in His will, chose to reveal to us.
The Malbim explains: sometimes we observe a single law of nature that serves many different purposes. For example, the expansive force that Hashem instilled in the air: through it, vapors rise upward; through it, winds blow; and through it, vegetation blossoms. That is to say, there is one natural mechanism, yet the Holy One, blessed be He, has manifold purposes within that single reality. This is the meaning of "Great are the works of Hashem, sought out for all their desires": a single act that encompasses many aims and desires.
Take gravity, for example. The Holy One, blessed be He, created a reality where the Earth has a magnetic pull, and it is difficult to imagine the existence of the world without it. How would the planets remain in orbit around us rather than flying off into space? After all, an object spinning in a circle naturally flings outward: take a marble and spin it inside a bowl - the moment it exits, it does not keep spinning in a spiral; it shoots straight out and escapes. How do the celestial bodies rotate without flying off? To resolve this difficulty, the ancients developed a theory of celestial spheres: heavenly bodies rotate within spheres, perhaps transparent spheres, for otherwise why would they not fly outward? Today we know there are no physical spheres up there; rather, gravity - which acts like a magnetic force - prevents the planets from deviating from their orbits. Depending on the mass of the body and the gravitational pull drawing toward it, the celestial body revolves without spinning out of orbit. Thus, gravity sustains the planets and everything around us.
And imagine a person eating without gravity - the food would get stuck in his throat, requiring a constant effort to push it down. He tries to drink, and the water floats in midair. Consider how someone wrings out a rag in zero gravity: astronauts train in zero-gravity simulators to prepare for landings on the moon or elsewhere (the moon has one-sixth of Earth's gravity). When the astronaut wrings out the rag, the water comes out and simply stays floating in the air around him. How could anyone mop a floor like that? And when he speaks to explain what he is doing, he does not even hold the microphone; he simply leaves it suspended in the air and speaks into it. Imagine a world without gravity: you place something on the table - good luck finding it, let alone finding the table itself, not to mention the coffee inside the cup! In short, one cannot imagine a world without gravity.
This is what the verse means: consider how the Holy One, blessed be He, created a single phenomenon, a single reality, and yet they are "studied for all their desires (derushim le-khol heftzeihem)" - within that single desire and purpose, many purposes are fulfilled. The word chefetz denotes desire or purpose: many of the Almighty's purposes are accomplished through that very same creation. And whatever the Holy One, blessed be He, desires, the ultimate purpose lies in the thing itself, because that is what He willed. It is not that He seeks some personal benefit from it, as human beings do when they create something for their own use; rather, the purpose is inherent in the creation itself, because such was His will and His desire, "He spoke, and it came to be."
The sefer Tehillot Maharitz explains "Great are the works of Hashem, studied for all their desires" based on the Gemara: had the Torah not been given, we would have learned modesty from the cat, the prohibition of theft from the ant, marital fidelity from the dove, and proper conduct from the rooster. It follows that from the works of Hashem, one can learn morality and a way of life. Why does the Gemara say "had the Torah not been given"? Because once the Torah was given, we no longer learn about theft from the ant. And what is this lesson of theft from an ant? An ant does not steal from its fellow: if an ant touches a grain of wheat, another ant will come along and not touch it. Yet this is an imperfect, earthly morality - after all, where did the first ant get the grain? It took it from the field! Nevertheless, once one ant has touched it, the other leaves it alone, respecting that it belongs to its fellow. Thus, originally it would have been possible to learn proper conduct from animals, but once the Torah was given, everything is learned directly from the Torah.
And this is what the verse means by "Great are the works of Hashem." Hashem, blessed be He, is "great in counsel and mighty in deed," and He embedded within His great works all the noble traits and upright character that He desires the world to adopt, so that through these creations we might know how to conduct ourselves and acquire good character traits. And what is meant by "studied for all their desires"? When a person investigates and contemplates all existing creations, he will find in them all the guidance, ways, and conduct "which a man shall do and live by them." If you investigate and contemplate the patterns of nature, you will discover within them the path for how a person should live and how he ought to conduct himself.
Rabbi Tzadok HaKohen of Lublin teaches on the verse "Great are the works of Hashem, studied for all their desires": whatever crosses a person's path does not occur by chance, but in order that he learn from it. This concept has been discussed on several occasions, including in discussions on the weekly Torah portions. Our Sages teach: one who sees a sotah in her degradation should abstain from wine. Now, seemingly, if wine is harmful, what difference does it make whether one witnessed it or not? And if wine is not harmful, why should witnessing it affect me? Just because this woman acted corruptly, must I take a nazirite vow? She sinned, but I am not sinning! And if the concern is that one might stumble, why does this apply only to the onlooker and not to everyone?
Rather, the meaning is: if you were shown it, something is being asked of you. Why was it that you specifically came to bring your offering to the Beit HaMikdash and at that exact moment were exposed to the sotah in her degradation, as she was brought to drink the bitter waters? It did not happen to this person, nor to that person; you alone were shown it because there is a message meant for you. Heaven expects you to understand, to take this to heart, and to separate yourself from wine. In other words, what happens to a person is a Heavenly communication: you were shown this matter so that you would draw a lesson from it.
This is the meaning of "Great are the works of Hashem." Wherein lies their greatness? In that they are "studied for all their desires" - whoever desires to draw a lesson for the service of Hashem can take it from what the Holy One, blessed be He, shows him, from those very events brought before his eyes.
It is told of the Rebbe Reb Zusha that he was once walking along when a non-Jew approached him and asked for help lifting his overturned wagon, needing a helping hand. Reb Zusha told him, "I cannot; I do not have the strength." The man replied, "You can, you just do not want to." At that moment, Reb Zusha realized that this non-Jew had been sent to deliver a message: in the service of Hashem, you can; you just do not want to. We tend to make excuses for ourselves: "I cannot, it is too heavy for me, it is too hard, I am incapable." But the truth is: you can, you just do not want to.
The Midrash says that the Holy One, blessed be He, speaks through everything - He sends His word through any address, even through an uncircumcised Gentile and even through a promiscuous woman. As the Gemara recounts regarding Rabbi Elazar ben Dordaya, when she told him: just as this breath does not return to its place, so too you will never be accepted in repentance - and he went and repented. What brought him to repent? Through where was the word of God sent to him? Through the impure gutter. The Holy One, blessed be He, makes use of everything. It can come through an uncircumcised Gentile, through a fallen woman, and in any way possible - because Hashem wanted you to hear this speech, and wanted you to receive this message.
A story is related about Rabbi Yaakov Yosef of Polnoye, the author of Toldot Yaakov Yosef, that initially, before he became acquainted with the Baal Shem Tov, he wished to go and observe him to see if he was indeed a great man; for at that time opinions were divided, and many were apprehensive about the new path established by the Baal Shem Tov. When he arrived, the Baal Shem Tov began speaking with him about the fundamentals of faith, explaining that the whole earth is full of His glory, and that a Jew must believe and know that the Holy One, blessed be He, speaks with him through everything that happens to him. Everything occurring around us is a way in which the Holy One, blessed be He, instructs us how to act, teaches us a lesson, and shows us the proper path of conduct; all of this is an ongoing dialogue that the Holy One, blessed be He, conducts with us through what we see in daily life.
In the midst of their conversation, a Gentile knocked on the window of the Baal Shem Tov's house - a handyman who repaired broken utensils - and called out: Yisrael, do you have anything to repair? He replied: No, I have no vessels right now, everything of mine is fine. The Gentile asked: Perhaps after all? Search, search, maybe you will find something to repair. He went inside and emerged with a broken vessel to mend. In a slightly different version of the story, he told him, "I have nothing to fix, everything is already repaired [metukan], I do not need to repair anything," to which the man responded, "Search, search, you will certainly find what you need to fix." Then the Baal Shem Tov said: Heaven sent this Gentile to me to corroborate what I just told you. The Holy One, blessed be He, speaks to us in every way, even sending an uncircumcised Gentile to tell you: You think you are completely perfected and have nothing left to rectify? Search, search - and you will find that you have something to fix.
It is related that it was difficult for the author of the Toldot Yaakov Yosef to accept these words: How could it be that the Holy One, blessed be He, speaks through a crude Gentile, and that he is an emissary from Heaven to convey such things? The Baal Shem Tov said to him: You are able to understand, you simply do not want to; you can understand these matters, you simply have no desire to understand and accept them.
He returned to his inn, and there an incident occurred similar to what happened with Reb Zusha: he saw a Gentile with a donkey carrying bundles of straw, and the straw had fallen from the wagon. The Gentile asked him to come and help him lift the straw back onto the wagon. He replied: Do you not see that I am an elderly, frail man? How can I help you? The Gentile answered: You can, you just do not want to. Immediately, the words of the Baal Shem Tov spoken to him moments earlier echoed in his ears: "You are able, you simply do not want to." And behold, who is saying this to him? A Gentile! From Heaven they sent this Gentile to confirm the words of the Baal Shem Tov. It is recorded that he immediately returned to the home of the Baal Shem Tov, accepted him as his rebbe, and from then on all his ways conformed to his teachings.
We thus see the meaning of the verse, "Great are the works of Hashem, sought out by all who desire them" - we must examine all the works of Hashem to understand what the Divine desire is of us, what the Holy One, blessed be He, is saying to us, and what message He has given us in this matter, and thereby learn moral guidance and rectify our ways.
It is told of Rabbi Chaim of Volozhin that a meeting took place in his home regarding an informer [moser] in the town who terrorized the community, caused harm and ruin, informed on others, and brought terrible suffering upon the local Jews. The community gathered to discuss what could be done to thwart his schemes. In the course of the discussion, one of the attendees stood up, and the tablecloth caught on his belt; the cloth was pulled, and all the porcelain dishes upon it crashed onto the floor with a great racket. Rabbi Chaim immediately told them: There is no need to worry; nothing is broken. Now, porcelain dishes are extremely delicate, and even a slight fall can snap a handle - how could nothing be broken? They picked them up, gathered everything, and saw that indeed everything was completely intact.
They asked him: Rebbe, is this Divine inspiration [Ruach HaKodesh]? He answered: No. I simply know that every penny in my home is kosher, and when money is kosher - it incurs no loss. Incidents of loss that befell Rabbi Chaim of Volozhin have already been noted several times, where he immediately pinpointed the root of the matter: once a Sefer Torah was stolen from him, another time an axe fell; and he immediately investigated why this had happened, paid what he realized he should have paid but had omitted - such as an error in calculating his tithes [chomesh] and the like - and immediately what was stolen was returned to him. Kosher money suffers no damage.
Then he stood and said to them: I do not believe Heaven showed us this right now in vain. We are presently discussing how to deal with this informer, and Heaven is telling us: make sure your money is kosher. If your money is kosher, do not worry - you need not fear any informer, any thief, or any damager; no one will take anything from you, everything remains yours. This is what we must understand from this incident.
In other words, for great people, everything that happens to them serves as living mussar. Small-minded people, on the other hand, even if struck with a hammer of rebuke, will not understand; they may even draw reinforcement for their distorted outlook, as several examples have already illustrated (there is no need to elaborate on this here, as it digresses from our present study of Tehillim). A person needs a measure of truthfulness to understand what is demanded of him and how Heaven seeks to rectify him through the messages transmitted to him. And one must know: if damage is caused to a person and that loss was deserved - it is because he was liable for various matters; and if it was not deserved - Heaven will restore his money and ensure that he receives back what is rightfully his.
Psalm 111, arranged according to the alphabetical acrostic due to its great importance, opens with wholehearted thanksgiving with the entire heart and in every setting - both in the counsel of the upright, among men of understanding who delve deeply into the ways of Hashem, and in the congregation, among the general public. From there, the Psalmist proceeds to the praise of Hashem: "Great are the works of Hashem, sought out by all who desire them." Creation appears to be a completed act, but in truth it is an ongoing process that the Holy One, Blessed is He, renews continuously each day, alongside the wonders through which He alters the systems of nature. In contrast to us, where every action of ours is aimed at an external purpose and at fulfilling a deficiency, with the Holy One, Blessed is He, the purpose is within the thing itself, for He lacks nothing - and a single act of His contains within it multiple desires and purposes. From this derives our practical duty: to examine and seek meaning in everything that comes our way, for every event the Holy One, Blessed is He, shows us is a message and a dialogue He conducts with us, provided we are people of truth who are ready to listen and rectify.