Songs of Ascent

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1. Mizmor 121

   Shir HaMa'alot (Part 2)

   Rabbi Avi Baumol

   Mizmor 121 uses drama as a literary tool. As opposed to most Mizmors that involve direct or indirect speech between the poet and God, or between the poet and the Jewish Nation, Mizmor 121 describes a conversation between two people – one looking for help and the second encouraging the first that God will help.

2. Mizmor 122

   Shir HaMa'alot (Part 3)

   Rabbi Avi Baumol

   Mizmor 122 focuses on Jerusalem as the place where the Beit HaMikdash stands, a place of great social and judicial significance, and a place that represents the peace of the Jewish Nation. David’s special relationship to Jerusalem and the Beit HaMikdash is addressed.

3. Mizmor 125

   Shir HaMa'alot (Part 4)

   Rabbi Avi Baumol

   Mizmor 125 declares that those who have faith in God will be protected and will not falter. Jerusalem sits surrounded by mountains protecting it from her enemies; her inhabitants are worthy of the divine shelter.
   
    

4. Introduction to Shir HaMa'alot

   Shir HaMa'alot (Part 1))

   Rabbi Avi Baumol

   An introduction to the unit of the fifteen 'Songs of Ascent' in liturgy, history and spirituality. 

5. Mizmor 126

   Shir HaMa'alot (Part 5)

   Rabbi Avi Baumol

   Mizmor 126 is said weekly at the Shabbat table before Birkhat Ha'Mazon. Three interpretations of this Mizmor are analyzed and evaluated: A historical Mizmor incorporating an agricultural metaphor, an agricultural Mizmor, or a synthesis between a historical and agricultural Mizmor.
   
    

6. “From the Depths I Call to You” – Psalm 130

   Part 1

   Rabbi Elchanan Samet

   More often than not, biblical poetry is written in the form of prose and not in poetic form. Nonetheless, in order to understand the content of a psalm, one must determine its poetic structure. Psalm 130 can be divided into 4 stanzas and a concluding line which is both separate and integral to the rest of the psalm. 

7. Psalm 127: The Difference Between “In Vain” and “Tranquility”

   Part 1

   Rabbi Elchanan Samet

   The psalm is comprised of two halves, each addressing a different subject and each with a different atmosphere. The first half expresses the idea that man’s efforts alone will not bear fruit if God is not a partner to his efforts. This idea is formulated negatively: in the absence of God’s partnership in man’s actions, all of his endeavors will amount to nothing.

   The second half of the psalm (stanzas 4-7), in contrast, has a different subject: the blessing that comes to a man who has “children of his youth." What is the connection between the two halves? Is there one single idea which the psalm as a whole is trying to express?

8. Psalm 127: The Difference Between “In Vain” and “Tranquility”

   Part 2

   Rabbi Elchanan Samet

   It is not possible that it is the intention of the first two stanzas to nullify the value of man’s efforts to build his house and to protect the security of his city. It would be an offense both to common sense and to the prevailing biblical view that a person must exert effort for the sake of securing his own existence. Rather, man’s own efforts are a necessary but insufficient condition, and in the absence of God’s hidden involvement, man’s efforts will not attain their objective.

   The negative formulation utilized to teach this lesson indicates that the psalm is meant to serve as rebuke to people who act improperly and who believe that only through their own strength and might can they build themselves houses and cities, and ensure their own security and livelihood. 

9. Psalm 127: The Difference Between “In Vain” and “Tranquility”

   Part 3

   Rabbi Elchanan Samet

   The building of a house lasts for a limited time. When the action is complete, the house stands firm, and its inhabitant has satisfied his existential need for shelter.

   The guarding of a city, in contrast, is an action that continues – every day and every night. However, this action is not one that every person engages in. The city guards are a small, defined group of people for whom guarding is a permanent, professional occupation. Furthermore, while guarding the city is unquestionably a position of great responsibility, it does not involve much physical effort.

   In a league of its own is the Sisyphean effort to make a living. This ongoing effort is the lot of every person, for all of his life. It requires that a person devote his days, from early in the morning until the evening, to hard work involving physical and mental exertion.

   Not only the relatively brief endeavors (such as building a house) or professional specializations (like guarding) whose success depends on Divine involvement and help, but also – and especially – the endeavor that is most characteristic of the human condition, and the most demanding: making a living.

10. Psalm 127: The Difference Between “In Vain” and “Tranquility”

    Part 4

    Rabbi Elchanan Samet

    The classical commentators, along with most modern scholars, understand the word “shena” as though it ended with a ‘heh’ instead of an ‘alef’ – in other words, “sleep."  This interpretation serves to link this phrase with the preceding stanza, which spoke about people who arise early in the morning and settle to sleep late, all because of their work.  Thus the verse depicts a contrasting picture of God granting to “His beloved” the “sleep” that they need. However, these commentators introduce new difficulties – ideological and exegetical ones - into understanding the verse and the psalm.

11. Psalm 127: The Difference Between “In Vain” and “Tranquility”

    Part 5

    Rabbi Elchanan Samet

    A new interpretation of the word “shena” means the honor that God gives His beloved. In the context of the psalm, this should be understood as the success bestowed upon the efforts of God's beloved, in that he enjoys the fruits of his actions.

    Thus it follows that this difficult clause to understand is the key to the psalm, for it sets up a positive antithesis to the whole first part of the psalm. This clause clarifies that the lack of success described in stanzas 1-3 stems from the fact that the active characters in these three stanzas are not the beloved of God, and do not deserve that God should bestow success upon their efforts.

12. Psalm 127: The Difference Between “In Vain” and “Tranquility”

    Part 6

    Rabbi Elchanan Samet

    This psalm, with its two halves, deals with the fundamental values of man's life, with his most basic existential needs: a roof over his head, a city to defend him from enemies, and food for the subsistence of himself and his family. The family is the crown of all the other values mentioned before it, and they all constitute conditions and preparations for its establishment. This is because family is not merely a necessary aid to the survival of its members, but rather, with the establishment of a family, a person realizes his most basic human mission: to emerge from his solitariness and give rise to progeny who will perpetuate his existence over the course of the generations.

    Our psalm in its entirety describes adult life from the building of a house and attaining a livelihood, to the siring of children and their reaching adulthood, when they can already assist their father.

13. 176 Verses?? How to Identify the Narrative of the Longest Mizmor in Tehillim?

    The Structure & Story of Book V (107-150)

    Dr. Beni Gesundheit | Hour and 7 minutes

    Mizmor 119: Structure, Meaning and Context

    This long Mizmor praises the Torah in an 8-fold alphabetic order which seems to be very repetitive and monotonous. Is there a structure and a message or is this just a long collection of verses with the same ideas? And why is it placed between the Egyptian Hallel and the Shirei Hamaalot collection?

    Contextual interpretation, as has been shown through the course, will be applied to identify the story and messages of this mizmor, comprised of  22 units each composed of 8 verses. In addition, contextual interpretation will show how well positioned Mizmor 119 is between the adjacent Egyptian Hallel (113-118) and the Shirei Hamaalot (120-135) and how it correlates with the beginning and end of the entire book of Tehillim.

14. Standing on the Steps of the Holy Temple

    The Structure & Story of Book V (107-150)

    Dr. Beni Gesundheit | Hour and 9 minutes

    Shirei HaMaalot (Mizmorim 120-134): Their Structure and Story

    What characterizes these 15 short songs and what connects them?     

    Contextual interpretations shows the structure of 3 units (120-124; 125-129, 130-134), describing the return of the Jewish people from the exile to Jerusalem, building of the city and establishment of religious life in the Temple. The entire collection of these mimzorim is well integrated into the narrative of Book V as a bridge between Mizmor 119 and the Great Hallel (135-136).