Introduction: The Concluding Song of the Book of Tehillim
Psalm 150 is the concluding chapter of the Book of Tehillim. The Me'am Lo'ez notes that King David composed this psalm specifically to conclude his book, and it contains praise and thanksgiving to Hashem for the privilege of completing it. Just as a book may conclude with an epilogue, offering gratitude and a song of praise upon reaching the finish - so too, this is the song and praise recited by King David as he merits completing the Book of Tehillim.
הַלְלוּ־יָהּ הַלְלוּ־אֵל בְּקׇדְשׁוֹ, הַלְלוּהוּ בִּרְקִיעַ עֻזּוֹ׃ - Praise the Lord! Praise God in His sanctuary; praise Him in the firmament of His power.
Therefore, he begins with "Halleluyah," and immediately begins to detail: "Praise God in His holiness" - these are the holy angels; "Praise Him in the firmament of His strength" - these are the celestial spheres, meaning the heavenly bodies and all their hosts. At the conclusion of Tehillim, David calls upon everyone and reminds them to give thanks to Hashem: to the entire host of heaven, to the angels, that they too should sing praise. This is just as it is written, "When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy" (Iyov 38:7) - first the morning stars sing, representing the people of Israel, and afterward all the sons of God, which are the angels. And now that the Book of Tehillim is concluded - Halleluyah, praise God in His holiness, praise Him in the firmament of His strength.
Ten Expressions of Praise or Thirteen?
The word "Hallelu" appears here ten times, corresponding to the ten utterances through which the world was created. Another explanation is that they correspond to the ten enemies David faced - five from among the nations of the world and five from Israel - and the Holy One, blessed be He, saved him from them all. Furthermore, Chazal teach that corresponding to these ten expressions of praise, the Sages instituted the recitation of ten verses each of Malchuyot, Zichronot, and Shofrot on Rosh Hashanah. Rav Yosef says they correspond to the Ten Commandments given to Moshe at Sinai.
However, the Radak writes concerning this psalm that it seals the book and contains thirteen expressions of praise. At first glance, it seems someone miscounted. Let us count: "Praise God in His holiness" - one; "in the firmament of His strength" - two; "for His mighty deeds" - three; "according to His abundant greatness" - four; "with the blast of the shofar" - five; "with psaltery and harp" - six; "with timbrel and dance" - seven; "with stringed instruments and pipe" - eight; "with clear-sounding cymbals" - nine; "with clanging cymbals" - ten. Here we have ten praises. Could the Radak have been mistaken?
In fact, both teachings appear in Chazal: both ten praises and thirteen. The ten are as we just counted, with each instance of "Hallelu" counted as one praise. But where do the thirteen come from? If we include the opening "Halleluyah" of the first verse, add "let everything that has breath praise Hashem" (Kol haneshamah tehallel Yah) as an additional praise, and add the final "Halleluyah" at the end as another praise - add these three to the ten, and you reach thirteen.
And what is the significance of thirteen praises? The Radak explains: this alludes to the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy through which Hashem guides His world. First, "Praise God in His holiness" refers to the world of the angels; and then, "praise Him in the firmament of His strength" refers to the ninth, uppermost celestial sphere, which encompasses the entire universe, surrounding everything. Thus it is called "His strength," for in it the power of God, blessed be He, is manifest. The Metzudat David likewise explains that "the firmament of His strength" refers to the celestial spheres, where the might of Hashem is revealed. We have already noted several times that the world of spheres refers to the heavenly bodies - the sun, the moon, and the stars orbiting in their courses - which were called spheres because the ancients conceived of physical spheres in which they revolved.
Two Modes of Divine Providence: Miraculous and Natural
The Malbim explains that there are two categories of praise here. The first praise, "Praise God in His holiness," refers to the Providence that the Holy One, blessed be He, conducts beyond the natural order - governance through the angels, through His holy Name, the transcendent realm. The second praise, "praise Him in the firmament of His strength," refers to the governance of the heavens, the lower celestial bodies, the cosmic order - what is known as natural providence. It turns out, then, that we praise Hashem both for His spiritual, miraculous, and wondrous governance, and for His natural governance - sunrise, sunset, and rain, all of which are workings of nature that also stem directly from Him.
"There Is No Strength Other Than Torah" - The Value of Every Minute
"Praise Him in the firmament of His might" - and our Sages said that "might" refers specifically to the Torah. Accordingly, the verse comes to tell us that we must praise Hashem primarily for the fact that the Holy One, blessed be He, gave us from the firmament of His might, meaning that He brought down the Torah to us from Heaven. This is the core of our thanksgiving: Hashem chose us from all the nations and gave us the Torah, in which He delighted 974 generations before the world was created. A person must therefore utilize every moment for the study of Torah, recognizing the tremendous privilege that Hashem chose us and gave us His might.
It is told of Rabbi Akiva Eiger that he was once sitting in the middle of the night learning with his son, Rabbi Shlomo Eiger. At that time, his grandson, Rabbi Leible Eiger, was walking in a snow-covered area, absorbed in deep thought and study, until he fell into a deep pit from which he could not climb out - a true life-threatening situation. Rabbi Akiva Eiger interrupted his study, went out, assisted him, and through Hashem's mercy succeeded in rescuing him. When he returned, he said to his son: "I have just saved your son; I pulled him from the pit and spared his life. Know this: I forgive him for everything, but for one thing I do not forgive him - for twenty minutes of bittul Torah." Now consider: with what feeling would we have walked away? "I was privileged to save a life!" Yet Rabbi Akiva Eiger says: "I could have learned Torah for twenty minutes, and I lost them." As we have noted: "And all your desires cannot compare to her." The Brisker Rav (the Gri"z), who related this story, added that when Rabbi Leible Eiger heard this, he fasted for twenty weeks corresponding to the twenty minutes he had caused his grandfather to lose from Torah study.
Rabbi Aharon Kotler once addressed in a discourse those who argued before him that one must go to bring joy to a bride and groom, and indeed there were those who spent every night doing so, constantly finding someone else to celebrate. He said: "Know this: even if a person were to go bring joy to a chassan and kallah every single night, to all the brides and grooms from the six days of Creation until today - it would not equal the value of a single word of Torah." One word of Torah.
In a related vein, it is told that his grandson returned from Kotzk, and he asked him: "What did you do for two years in Kotzk?" He replied: "I learned to know that there is a God." He said to him: "For that you wasted two years?" He called the maid and asked her: "Is there a God?" She answered: "Of course there is a God." He said to him: "The maid knows there is a God, and for that you had to go to Kotzk for two years?" He replied: "Grandfather, the maid says so - but I know it." This is a profound lesson.
So too it is told of Rabbi Yechezkel Abramsky, that when his grandson was staying with him and returned late one night, he asked him: "What happened, why did you return so late?" He told him that he had been at a wedding. He said to him: "Is this how you wish to grow into a talmid chacham? Do you have three hours to spend at a wedding? In my youth, I attended only two weddings - my sister's and my own." And that is how one achieves greatness.
And once someone came to ask Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach: "There is a wedding here and a wedding there, and I have third seder, and I regret the lost time because I want to learn; I do not know what to do." He replied: "When I was your age, I did not go to any weddings, whereas today I go to a wedding for a minute and for the groom it makes his entire evening." In other words: grow in Torah first, and then you will not need to waste much time. You will arrive at the wedding, stay ten minutes, say Mazal Tov, dance with the groom, he gets four hundred photos from the photographer from every angle - and that is it. Everyone understands that Rabbi Shlomo Zalman did not sit for two hours waiting for the chicken; he came for a minute to be with the groom. That is why people jokingly say: why do politicians love going to weddings? Because whoever brings joy to a bride and groom merits five voices (votes), and another five votes...
הַלְלוּהוּ בִגְבוּרֹתָיו, הַלְלוּהוּ כְּרֹב גֻּדְלוֹ׃ - Praise Him for His mighty acts; praise Him according to the abundance of His greatness.
Radak explains: "Praise Him for His mighty acts" - for Hashem showed them mighty deeds more than to any other nation; "Praise Him according to the abundance of His greatness" - that His Name, blessed be He, shall be magnified and sanctified among the nations over the redemption of Israel, for according to Radak's approach, this speaks of the time of the final redemption. Metzudat David explains differently: "Praise Him for His mighty acts" - praise Hashem by recounting His mighty deeds; not merely thanking Him for the mighty deeds, but the very recounting of them is itself the praise. And "praise Him according to the abundance of His greatness" - just as His greatness is boundless, so let the praise be abundant; according to the abundance of His greatness, so should be the abundance of His praise.
The Malbim explains that this is a continuation of what we established earlier: corresponding to "Praise God in His sanctuary," which is the transcendent, supernatural providence, it says "Praise Him for His mighty acts" - for Hashem performs mighty deeds through miraculous providence, overriding the laws of nature. And corresponding to the second mode of providence, "in the firmament of His might," which is the governance of the celestial spheres and stars, the natural order, it says "according to the abundance of His greatness" - according to how Hashem has guided the world since Creation, rather than through supernatural intervention.
"According to the abundance of His greatness" - Blessing for evil just as one blesses for good
In the sefer Tehillot Shmuel, a wonderful insight is cited in the name of Rabbi Shimon Sofer: the verse does not say berov godlo ("in the abundance of His greatness"), but rather kerov godlo ("as the abundance of His greatness") - with the letter chaf of comparison. The Gemara states: "A person is obligated to bless for the bad just as he blesses for the good." As is well known, Gevurah (might) corresponds to strict justice (Din), while Gedulah (greatness) corresponds to lovingkindness (Chesed), as we recite: "Yours, Hashem, are the greatness, the might, the glory, the victory, and the majesty," where the seven lower sefirot are enumerated, and Gedulah is Chesed. Likewise, "the great, mighty, and awesome God" - "great" corresponds to Chesed, as in "Your kindness is great" and "For Your lovingkindness is great upon me." The concept of Gedulah always signifies boundless bestowal, the realm of Chesed. This, then, is what the verse conveys: even if Hashem conducts Himself with you through His mighty acts, which is the attribute of strict justice - praise Him "as the abundance of His greatness," in the very same manner that you praise Him for the abundance of His greatness and the abundance of His lovingkindness. This is what our Sages meant when they taught: "A person is obligated to bless for the bad just as he blesses for the good."
הַלְלוּהוּ בְּתֵקַע שׁוֹפָר, הַלְלוּהוּ בְּנֵבֶל וְכִנּוֹר׃ - Praise Him with the blast of the shofar; praise Him with lyre and harp.
The Ibn Ezra explains that the nevel (harp) has ten holes. And "Praise Him with the blast of the shofar" also includes the sounding of the trumpets, with which they would likewise praise Hashem in the Beit HaMikdash.
In the sefer Tehilot Shmuel, a thought is cited in the name of the Chiddushei HaRim: Chazal ask why this instrument is called a nevel - because it puts to shame (menavel) other forms of music. That is, its sound is so extraordinary that it makes all other musical instruments seem lowly and inferior beside it. The Chiddushei HaRim asks: if so, why call it by such a name, one that evokes a carcass (neveilah) and disgrace, when its melody is so pleasant? Rather, learn from this: even if something is admirable in its own right, if it leads to others being degraded on its account, it is viewed unfavorably and labeled with an unseemly name. For although it is exceptionally fine on its own, since it brought about the humiliation of another, it is deemed negative and flawed.
הַלְלוּהוּ בְּתֹף וּמָחוֹל, הַלְלוּהוּ בְּמִנִּים וְעֻגָב׃ - Praise Him with drum and dance; praise Him with stringed instruments and pipe.
Minim and ugav are types of musical instruments. The Radak writes that minim is the name of an instrument unknown to us. Rav Saadia Gaon explains: praise Him with many varieties (minim) of instruments, and with the pipe (ugav). In other words, the question is whether minim is the specific name of an instrument, or whether it denotes numerous kinds of musical instruments.
The Malbim explains that there are two categories of praise here, continuing the division we learned earlier. If we praise Him "in His sanctuary" (bekodsho) and "for His mighty acts" (bigvurotav) - which will be in the World to Come, for the people close to Him, when we behold the celestial, spiritual conduct that transcends nature, the conduct of the angels - then they will praise Him "with drum and dance." This alludes to what we mentioned, that the Holy One, blessed be He, will lead the circle dance of the righteous, and everyone will surround Him and say, "Behold, this is our God... this is Hashem for Whom we hoped." And then they will also praise Him "with the blast of the shofar," for the shofar expresses trembling and awe before His exaltedness, as it says, "Can a shofar be blown in a city and the people not tremble?"; while "with harp and lyre" serves to express joy.
And the second category of praise: if they praise Him "with stringed instruments and pipe," it corresponds to "with resounding cymbals." That is, the conduct by which the Holy One, blessed be He, guides us through the natural order - for which He is praised "in the firmament of His strength" and "according to His abundant greatness," which is the governance of the celestial spheres and heavenly bodies - does not possess the joy of the dance, because they have not attained the manifest indwelling of the Shechinah, but are rather governed through nature without the Shechinah resting overtly among us. Even so, they will praise Him "with clanging cymbals" (tziltzelei teruah), for teruah denotes dread, from the expression "You shall break them (tero’em) with an iron rod" - fear of retribution. It emerges, then, in summarizing the Malbim's words, that in both types of praise, whether through the shofar or through the teruah - where the shofar signifies awe of His exalted majesty and the teruah signifies fear of being shattered - awe will always be blended with joy in every praise, as it is written, "and rejoice with trembling": joy accompanied by trembling.
הַלְלוּהוּ בְצִלְצְלֵי־שָׁמַע, הַלְלוּהוּ בְּצִלְצְלֵי תְרוּעָה׃ - Praise Him with sounding cymbals; praise Him with clanging cymbals.
Tziltzelei shama are cymbals that project a loud sound, as written in Divrei HaYamim, "and with copper cymbals to sound aloud"; and tziltzelei teruah are cymbals that produce a piercing blast. And what were these instruments precisely? The Ibn Ezra writes: As a general rule, we cannot know what these musical instruments were, for there are many instruments found in the land of Ishmael that the people of Edom have never seen, and likewise there are instruments in Edom of which the scholars of Ishmael have never heard. That is, it is impossible to identify which instruments are meant, since even within a single era, one part of the world has instruments that the other part has never even heard of. Today, of course, far more is known due to modern communication, but he comes to teach us that if contemporaries living at the same time do not know all instruments, how much more so regarding eras of two or three thousand years ago, where we have no grasp of what instruments are being described.
The Concluding Verse
כֹּל הַנְּשָׁמָה תְּהַלֵּל יָהּ, הַלְלוּ־יָהּ׃ - Let every soul praise God; Halleluyah!
The Ibn Ezra cites a literal explanation in the name of Rabbi Yehudah: Since a musician plays melodies upon the lyre, and the melodies vary according to the length or shortness of breath, the pitch, the softness, or the tempo - the psalm concludes with "Let every breath praise God," neshamah in the sense of breath (neshimah). According to the length of your breath is the manner in which you can offer praise. Yet he also cites the interpretation of Rabbi Shlomo the Spaniard (Ibn Gabirol), that this is an allusion to the heavenly soul on high, the soul in its spiritual sense. And the Ibn Ezra concludes in verse: "See, the book of praises is finished and complete, and Avraham son of Meir has gathered them" - for his father was named Meir - "Yet the praises of God are never exhausted forever, and who is he who has begun and concluded them?" - meaning, who could ever claim to have begun and completed the praises of Hashem?
The Radak explains: "Let every soul praise God" - above all other praises, this is the praise of the soul, for the soul contemplates the works of Hashem, blessed be He, and perceives Him according to the capacity of the soul while it still dwells within the body. And addressing the entirety of souls, he proclaims, "Halleluyah." And the Radak concludes: Complete is the Book of Tehillim; therefore let every person utter praises to the Supreme God, the God of gods and Lord of lords.
And the Malbim concludes: In every way, the praise of Hashem will spread from His holy heights to all of creation collectively; everyone will praise Hashem, until "every soul will praise Yah" - for each and every breath by which they inhale the spirit of life and lovingkindness, they will praise Hashem for all His kindnesses, His goodness, His deeds, and His wonders, for His mercies never cease and His kindnesses never end. Completed and finished, praise to God, Creator of the universe.
In summary: The psalm that concludes the Book of Tehillim is King David's song of thanksgiving for having merited to finish his book, and he calls upon all creations - the angels, the heavenly bodies, and every soul - to praise Hashem. The ten praises within it are expounded as corresponding to the Ten Utterances, to David's ten enemies, and to the Ten Commandments; and together with the "Halleluyah" and the closing verse, they total thirteen, corresponding to the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy. The Malbim teaches that the entire chapter is built upon two forms of Divine guidance: "in His sanctuary" and "for His mighty acts" - the miraculous guidance that transcends nature; and "in the firmament of His strength" and "according to His abundant greatness" - the natural order of guidance. In both of them, the praise is blended from both awe and joy together, "and rejoice with trembling." From "there is no strength other than Torah," we learned how precious every single minute of study is; and from "according to His abundant greatness" - that a person is obligated to bless over the bad just as he blesses over the good. And finally, every soul, for each and every breath, will praise Yah, for His compassions have not failed and His kindnesses have not ended.