Reading Tehilim (Psalms) - Introduction

To read Tehilim (Psalms) is an integral part of the Jewish life. Who has not seen his or her grandmother with his a book of Tehilim reciting - for hours - the sacred Words of King David? The Chofetz Chaim said that when he inherited the Book of Psalms that had belonged to his mother - after her death – he received an important spiritual energy at the sight of the hundreds of pages which wore the mark of his mother's tears.

Unfortunately, centuries have passed and too often, the Book of Tehilim has become synonymous with terrible news. An accident or an illness happened? We take a Book of Psalms and begin to recite the chapters for a successful conclusion, the healing of a loved one, another Jewish soul...

However, King David wrote the Tehilim for these verses to become a true guide of life, in all its aspects. It is with this idea in mind that their reading is rewarding, exciting, above everything else. Who is the person who can pretend to believe that he or she can live without the wonderful advices given by the "sweet singer of Israel"?

It is with this thought that I decided to undertake a long explanation of verses of Tehilim. If this serie of articles gives to only one person the desire to read the Psalms, I would not have wasted my time.

Meeting the challenges of life

For the majority of my readers, there is certainly no connection between everyday life and the Psalms. How can we find ourselves into all the wars that are described? Our life is made of concrete challenges: relationships within our marriage, education of our children, our search for a livelihood ... How King David could help us in this fight?

It was to discover the practical aspects that the reading of the Tehilim can give us that I started to write this commentary. It is because these verses are the real solutions to our problems that we have read them, as often as possible. Each chapter wich is read bring us closer to the solutions and the answers to our questions.

If we become aware of this, the Book of Psalms will quickly become the companion it would always have been. Some do not leave home without their mobile phone, a Jewish person has always at hand a book of Tehilim. In a taxi, an elevator, a traffic jam ... all these occasions are good to take it out and to read few verses, few chapters.

More than ever, I bring the utmost importance to your comments and your encouragement. My physical strength might not allow me to complete the commentaries for the entire book of Tehilim: 150 chapters! Only with the G-d's help I could possibly get there.

May we make the most beautiful tribute to King David: to read his psalms, as often as possible, to find ourselves in his verses and to discover the answers to all our questions. Amen!

I was born in France in 1963. After earning a master's degree in political science in 2001 and studied for a doctorate, I taught political science at the University of Quebec at Montreal (I was the first - and until now the only - Ultra-Orthodox lecturer of the University). In 2001, I moved to Israel where I study the Torah, since that day.

In addition to my studies, I translated in French some books (including some books of Rabbi Shalom Arush). From 2008 to 2010, I was responsible of the French version of the website Breslov Israel. I am now busy teaching the importance of peace of mind and joy in the lives each person, according to a spiritual perspective. To this end, I use the teaching of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov.

Current Projects

I am currently working on starting a website about Baalei Teshuva (people who become religious) and Gerim (people who converted to Judaism). The personal experiences of these two groups of individuals are often the same: need to establish new relationships with family members, a new network of friends, a new education to "invent" for their children...

I urge all those interested in participating in this project to contact me to decide what they could do in this vast project.

In conclusion

In 2004, Éditions Boréal published a book - " Identities Mosaics: Conversations on the cultural identity of Quebec Jews "- about my experience as a religious Jew in Quebec. I have not read the book, but I imagine that the authors have been faithful to the spirit of our conversation.