Latest / Tehillim for the Soul with Dr. Miriam Menaker / Sacred Words for Life's Battles: A Journey Through Psalms 21–25

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Sacred Words for Life's Battles: A Journey Through Psalms 21–25 · Tehillim for the Soul with Dr. Miriam Menaker

• 0:00
  The Tehillim are a gift from Hashem.
• 0:03
  A gift of David.
• 0:04
  A gift that already express the words that I have to use in order to overcome my difficulties or my negativity.
• 0:17
  Because by default, we are negative.
• 0:22
  By default, we worries.
• 0:24
  This is not, happening to me in the way that I am expecting.
• 0:30
  Then.
• 0:31
  I need to change my way of thinking.
• 0:34
  What better to take a book of Tehillim and focusing enter in the secrets of the word of the Tehillim.
• 0:44
  Joshua: Is a wealth of abundance and wisdom, the Tehillim speak our own challenges in life.
• 0:55
  Joshua: You can find yourself in the Tehillim.
• 0:58
  Joshua: You find yourself when you read them,"This is me." It's not David.
• 1:04
  Joshua: David is only the image.
• 1:07
  Joshua: Right.
• 1:07
  Joshua: We are there.
• 1:21
  Welcome, my dear friends, to Psalm for the Soul, a weekly Torah study exploring the timeless wisdom, prayers, and praise of the Book of Psalm.
• 1:31
  Together, we'll uncover their historical context, spiritual depths, and practical application for everyday life.
• 1:41
  Whether you are seeking peace, encouragement, or deeper connection with God, you will find hope and inspiration, one psalm at a time HaMelech.
• 2:03
  I reviewed 21 to 25th, and I send you the notes..
• 2:10
  let's start with Psalm 21.
• 2:14
  I will talk first, and then you will have the opportunity to ask me any question that you will have.
• 2:22
  Psalm 21 expresses thanksgiving and appreciation to the master of the world.
• 2:32
  Those blessed with prosperity and fulfilled desires should not be ungrateful.
• 2:42
  They should praise and thank God, recognizing Him as the source of their blessings, and trust in Him, knowing that everything comes from the kindness, of the One above.
• 2:59
  Good morning, Natalie.
• 3:01
  Good morning.
• 3:02
  So we are talking now reviewing Psalm 21.
• 3:08
  So this psalm describes how God reigns supreme.
• 3:13
  It focuses on the human king of Israel, means to David HaMelech or Shlomo, or upon God as King of the Israel.
• 3:24
  Every time that in a scripture we read the word king, at the spiritual level always refers to Hashem as the King of the universe.
• 3:36
  So this psalm consists of 14 verses, so are divided.
• 3:42
  The first one is the introduction.
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  Then the two to seven is King David describes, describing the joy of the king who God blesses.
• 3:54
  In,, verses eight to thir- 13, he blesses the king and prays that he will be victorious over his enemies.
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  In verse 14, the people ask to see God's strength and proceed to praise Him for His power When to say the Psalm 21?
• 4:23
  When facing an important authority.
• 4:28
  It means if you have, a meeting with someone that is important to you, you are expressing thankfulness or, thanksgiving if- that you have the honor to be in front of someone that you expect some reward from that person.
• 4:48
  So verse three says,"His heart desire, you have given him, and the utterance of his lips, you have not withheld.".
• 5:02
  You use also for a storm at sea because verse fifth says,"Life he asks of you.
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  you gave it to him.
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  Good morning, Elisabetta, and good morning, Ashira.
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  Hi, good morning.
• 5:22
  It's nice, to have you t- today.
• 5:25
  Yes, thank you.
• 5:26
  We are reviewing today, Elisabetta and Ashira, eh, four Psalms.
• 5:31
  Five.
• 5:32
  And this Psalm, 21, is where we thanks Hashem about all the prosperity that we have and all the accomplishment that we have in life.
• 5:45
  But we have to temper that with knowing that if we receive a gift from Hashem, this is only a gift, and we have to return with praising and exalting Hashem as the king of the universe.
• 6:04
  We read it in a moment that we are in danger, like in a storm.
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  This is the example that we have in this psalm.
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  And also, a lesson, that we trust in Hashem.
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  We gain a sense of security knowing that God is always watching over us.
• 6:26
  When we feel that, when we know that we are connected, that make us feel that we have the best umbrella on top of us.
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  So Psalm 22 is a psalm that reflects the prayers and anguish over the lands of the exile and our fall from prestige to lowliness.
• 6:53
  We should take vows for self-improvement in our distress.
• 7:00
  So when we have, any distress situation, instead of feeling belittle, we have to feel that it's an opportunity for us to improve.
• 7:13
  This psalm alludes to Esther, called the Ayelet Hashahar.
• 7:19
  The word ayelet means a doe.
• 7:23
  A doe means like a type of animal that Disney used as a Bambi.
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  And Hashahar, the word Hashahar is the word of dawn.
• 7:36
  And shahar in Hebrew has a combination of shachor, that means dark, with the word of dawn.
• 7:46
  Represented the, the person that brought Yeshua, brought salvation to the Jewish people during the exile in Persia where they were under the terrible decree of Haman to exterminate all the Jews from, not only from Persia, but because at that time Persia was the dominant country over all the civilized countries at that time.
• 8:17
  It was not only a decree for the Jews of Persia, but a decree for all the Jews around the world.
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  So the Baal Shem Tov taught that the Jewish people receive their sustenance from God.
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  This is very important to always keep in mind.
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  Yet how, so to speak, is God sustained and enthroned?
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  Through the praises of Israel and the angels who proclaims Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, Adonai Tsevaot.
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  When we recognize the source of our blessings and praise God, our words become His sustenance.
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  Our words, our speech.
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  The same way that Hashem created the world through a speech, through the 10 utterances, the same way when we praise Hashem through our speech we exalt Him, we elevate Hashem names, Our praises elicit and draw the endless light of the master of the universe.
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  So when we praise Hashem, we are drawing to us and to the whole world and in extension to everything around us, and that is the light of Hashem drawing down.
• 9:47
  In verse seven, the psalmists compare himself to a worm.
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  So that is a very strange way to say,"I am a worm." We have to understand what is the meaning of the worm.
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  The strength of a worm is in its mouth, with which the soft worm can fall or chop tough cedars.
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  In this case, they use cedars, but it means every plant.
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  Similarly, the Jewish people can fell their enemies with the power of their prayers.
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  Metaphorically, the worm has the power in its mouth, which is in us the power of speech.
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  The parallel to a worm teaches us that for our speech to have full impact, it must be imbued with humility.
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  When we speak words of Torah with humility, we allow our mouths to be a conduit for the divine speech.
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  If we, for example, we are worries about something that bother us and create a instability in our mood, in our emotion, instead to focus in that, turn yourself to read Tehillim, and that will bring you back and restore your peace of mind We have to define what is humility.
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  It is not self-abasement.
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  Rather, it is recognizing that our gifts come from God.
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  I didn't not created the power of speech.
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  Hashem speaks through me.
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  So that is the point.
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  If I have qualities and abilities, and I am a professor I am an artist, or I am a singer, that qualities are only a gift from Hashem.
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  Hashem used me or used that person in order, to do that actions.
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  When to use this Psalm?
• 12:16
  When preparing to face an enemy, for purification.
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  Why?
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  Because in verse 10, he says,"For you took me out of the womb." So this verse likens birth to the spiritual purification one attends upon emerging from a mikveh.
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  When we enter in a mikveh, the mikveh has- a fixed amount of water inside, the symbol of the mikveh is the symbol of the womb.
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  You, submerge yourself in water is like you are submerged in the amniotic liquid when we were in our mother's womb the other use it is to cross a river.
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  Why?
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  Because in verse 15, he said,"Like water, I am pour out." The Talmud compares this to a person whose fear make his stomach churn like water.
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  That's why it's good, for a situation of danger, like if you are crossing a river.
• 13:34
  To be safe from wild animals, because in verse 22, it states that,"Delivers me from the lion mouth, you have answered me." Hashem answer us in moment of danger, and this is the reason to read this psalm.
• 13:53
  To inspire one heart in Torah and closeness to God.
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  Because when we turn ourself, when we go through the words of Torah or any of the psalms, in this case, you know that the five books of Psalms, they equal to the five books of the Torah.
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  When we say the Tehillim, it's like we are we are reading, we are studying Torah.
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  And Torah represent food.
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  It's what nourish us we will see in Psalms 23, where Psalms 23 thanks the shepherds of the world.
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  Who is the shepherds of the world?
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  The Almighty Because he sustained David when he was near starvation and granting him nourishment that carry a taste of the world to come.
• 15:00
  In abundance in the world to come.
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  So for the reason we recite Psalm 20- for this reason, we recite Psalm 23 before the blessing over bread.
• 15:14
  In the Torah, bread represents sustenance and livelihood, and these Psalms reveals how Hashem nourishes us both physically and materially because in reality, spiritually, food contains two elements: an physical element that feed our physical body, and an spiritual element that is the energy which Hashem use in order to life in every, every existence in the world.
• 15:56
  Hashem life an animal, and we eat the meat of this animal.
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  So when we eat, we are also receiving the life energy of the animal.
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  The same when we eat a plant, or we eat something, a mineral.
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  We add salt that is a mineral or others, other substances that we may consider minerals.
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  The phrase, says,"God is my shepherd," expresses divine providence.
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  Just as faithful shepherds leads his flock to fertile pastures, providing food by day and shelter by night, Hashem provides for our needs and grants us peace and security.
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  It also restores our souls through Torah, as it says the Torah is perfect, restoring the soul.
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  Just as food sustain the body, Torah nourishes the soul Moreover, Hashem protects us even in moments of danger.
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  David therefore teaches us to place complete trust in him.
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  Even when I walk through the valley of shadow of death, I fear no evil, for you are with me.
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  Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
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  David concludes this Psalm with a messianic vision of abundance and prosperity expressed through the verse,"You prepare a table before me." Here, tables represent wealth, honor, and material blessing.
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  When we set our tables with all the delicacy, it represent our wealth and our honor.
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  When to say this out?
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  To ask for good and pleasant dreams, to seek sustenance and abundance, and during a funeral service.
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  In a funeral service because you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, is the connection psalm 24 is a psalm that proclaims God's ownership of the world.
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  The Levites recites it in the temple on Sunday.
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  The first day of the work- week, to recall the first day of creation.
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  When recited melodiously and with deep concentration, it draw blessing and sustenance for the year.
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  Business people benefit from reciting this psalm three times a day before closing a deal.
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  This psalm offers wisdom and guidance for living a godly life.
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  Who may ascend the mountains of the Lord?
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  Who may stand in His holy place?
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  One who is virtuous and pure in thought, speech, and action.
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  Leave your heads, gates, be raised infinite portals so the King of glory may enter.
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  Who is He, this King of glory?
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  The Lord of host, ruler of all forces in heaven and on earth.
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  He is the King of glory.
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  In the Messianic age, God's eternal kingship will be fully revealed and never hidden.
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  When to say?
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  For protection.
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  Second, to strive for a spiritual greatness.
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  And third, for success in every endeavor And finally, Psalm 25, offers 22 affirmation of David faith and devotion to the Almighty, arranged according to the Alef Bet.
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  First, David lifts his soul to God, expressing his inner devotion.
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  Second, he places his trust in Hashem, subdues selfish desires, and dedicates his life to divine service.
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  Third, David prays for justice for Israel against rebels.
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  Fourth, David asks God to teach us and guide our path.
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  Fifth, he asked to be rescued from life's hardship and inspired to pursue the world to come.
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  Sixth, remember your boundless kindness and mercy, which you bestow upon the world seventh,, do not recall the sins of my youth.
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  Remember the me instead with your kindness.
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  Eighth, Hashem is good and gracious, desiring to extend kindness in all.
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  Ninth, Hashem guides the humble and these who return to him in tshuva.
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  10th, all of God's way are kindness and truth.
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  11th, he forgives sins.
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  12th, fear God, follow his ways of goodness, and do not let past deeds discourage you.
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  13th, his descendants will inherit the fruits of his tshuva.
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  14th, God reveals his secrets to those who fear him.
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  15th, Hashem frees me from both inner and external enemies.
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  16th, Hashem cares for each person individually, not in collective.
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  Hashem looks to each and individually each of us.
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  He cares for all of us because every one of us, we are his children.
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  17th, rescue me from hardship.
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  18th, atone for my sins so they do not hinder- my prayers for Israel.
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  19th, save me from enemies who hate me without cause.
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  20th, guard my soul and deliver me through the merit of my trust in you 21st, may integrity and uprightness protect me.
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  22nd, redeem Israel from all its affliction.
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  This psalm is recited after the Amida following the worshipper's prayer for personal and communal needs.
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  That's why this psalm is written when we are the confession, that we read normally.
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  Not in Shabbat, but only during the weekdays.
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  So as you see, this psalm is, has in it everything that we can desire and we need in our daily life.
• 24:06
  so please, I would like to hear from you.
• 24:09
  This is very, very fascinating, and having not been here for quite a while, I'm just absorbing all of it, and I just find every line was, like, more special than the one before.
• 24:20
  So thank you very much.
• 24:22
  Okay.
• 24:23
  Julie?
• 24:26
  You said something that really struck me today.
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  You were saying that you say psalms when you're in a situation.
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  For example, I've been really working really hard on pausing, we talked about, before I respond to something, in the moment is very stressful to me and I don't know what to do where I take that pause where I'm working on taking that pause,?
• 24:53
  So what you're saying is pick up your Tehillim at that moment and say some Tehillim?
• 25:00
  Is that what I'm hearing you say?
• 25:02
  Is that what I heard you say when you were talking about...
• 25:05
  I think it was Psalm 22 that you were talking about.
• 25:08
  Was it Psalm 22?
• 25:09
  Yes.
• 25:10
  Yes.
• 25:11
  Does- doesn't matter whi- which psalm Yes.
• 25:13
  The most important thing is, when we have negative ideas entering in through our brain, into our mind- we need to divert that negativity.
• 25:27
  what is better is to change our way of thinking to a holy way Thanks to reading the Tehillim.
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  The Tehillim are a gift from Hashem.
• 25:40
  A gift of David.
• 25:41
  A gift that already express the words that I have to use in order to overcome my difficulties or my negativity.
• 25:54
  Because by default, we are negative.
• 25:59
  By default, we worries.
• 26:01
  This is not, happening to me in the way that I am expecting.
• 26:07
  Then.
• 26:08
  I need to change my way of thinking.
• 26:11
  What better to take a book of Tehillim and focusing enter in the secrets of the word of the Tehillim.
• 26:21
  Joshua: Is a wealth of abundance and wisdom, the Tehillim speak our own challenges in life.
• 26:32
  Joshua: You can find yourself in the Tehillim.
• 26:35
  Joshua: You find yourself when you read them,"This is me." It's not David.
• 26:41
  Joshua: David is only the image.
• 26:44
  Joshua: Right.
• 26:44
  Joshua: We are there.
• 26:46
  Joshua: So we are portraying David
• 26:49
  HaMelech.
• 26:50
  You will find in him what is affecting you, what is bothering you, what is worrying you.
• 26:58
  Instead dig more deep in that negativity, I am going to, to transform.
• 27:07
  In 180, I will transform completely that using the holy words of, of the Tehillim.
• 27:18
  So that's the- So when it says, when it says, for example, I'm doing the 60 days, by Rabbi Jacobson.
• 27:25
  And it talks about one of the exercises was to be able to f- find what your pattern is that you're struggling with, for example, and to find that in the Torah.
• 27:38
  Does it, is it really, when it says to find it in the Torah, the Torah, or is it really this Book of Psalms that I find it in?
• 27:45
  Could be everywhere.
• 27:47
  the Psalms are part of the Torah.
• 27:48
  You focused on Psalm, I specifically remember, Psalm 34 you focused on.
• 27:54
  That's all about resetting your mindset.
• 27:56
  So take that pause that I'm talking about so I don't say something that I don't wanna say, to really change that mindset.
• 28:05
  I wanna get out of here.
• 28:06
  I can't.
• 28:07
  So that's pretty powerful what you said as far as Because I'm learning how- to create a sequence- Yeah this year, I'm trying to create a sequence- I can't get out of this that really has the power in me to really say,"Wait a moment, you didn't follow those steps.
• 28:25
  And if you followed those steps, you wouldn't be in that situation that you're in right now," for example.
• 28:32
  So I think that could be really powerful, what you're saying.
• 28:35
  So that just added another dimension to what I wanna work on this year, is So thank you very much for that,'cause that was extremely helpful, because I haven't found, okay, then what do you do in that situation?
• 28:52
  Well, you just taught me, you just taught me a s- what I can do.
• 28:57
  I can go pick up my Book of Psalms, say, kind of energy, and then go pick up my Book of Psalms and read some psalms.
• 29:05
  So thank you very much for that.
• 29:06
  Exactly.
• 29:07
  When you say,"I have to pause." I have to pause.
• 29:10
  Correct?
• 29:11
  Yeah.
• 29:11
  So when you pause, use and read the Tehillim.
• 29:15
  Okay.
• 29:16
  In that moment of pausing, because then, immediately you are connected with holy words that will transform your thought.
• 29:31
  Thank you for that gift.
• 29:32
  It's a good tool.
• 29:34
  I know, but there's- But learning Torah is more complicated.
• 29:38
  There's something very significant that you said today as far as it's a real gift because it teaches this is a sequence that you can follow.
• 29:48
  Exactly.
• 29:48
  Instead, it just gets stuck in the pause.
• 29:51
  No, you have an order to follow, and that's powerful.
• 29:55
  Yeah.
• 29:55
  So thank you very much for that gift.
• 29:56
  Yes, exactly.
• 29:57
  Because when you pause and your mind doesn't think anything, it's not the mind constantly needs to be feed with thought, and we have thousand and thousand, million of thought constantly- Right moving in our head.
• 30:16
  Correct?
• 30:16
  Rolling, so immediately I, I focus in something that bring me back to my place- Right and keep me online.
• 30:29
  This is the- Yeah benefit.
• 30:30
  That's beautiful.
• 30:32
  Thank you very much for that gift.
• 30:33
  Elisabetta I need a clarification a little bit, if you can expand a little bit on the concept.
• 30:50
  You said that the five books of Psalms correlate to the five books of the Torah.
• 30:55
  I guess,,"Okay, there are 150, psalms, so the first 30 correspond to Genesis, and the second 30 correspond to Exodus." And then, okay, so in what way, and how do they correlate?
• 31:09
  If I would have to make a chart, let's say, correlation of Psalm to Torah, books, how is that correlation?
• 31:16
  How does it work?
• 31:17
  If you pay attention and read at the end of your book of Psalms- you will find a blessing after the Tehillim.
• 31:28
  You have a blessing before and a, blessing at the end.
• 31:31
  Okay.
• 31:32
  In that blessing at the end is written there that the the book one correspond to Genesis, the book two rep- correspond to, to Exodus, and for and on.
• 31:45
  So that is here the same book of Tehillim is teaching us that is correlates to the Torah.
• 31:56
  Now, if you want to, to ask me which words are connected with the creation of the world that will be Bereshit, that I cannot answer that question because is the Tehillim has a, a, a secret that is like a, a, when- Y- you, you form a, How you know that?
• 32:27
  When you form a change, you put different, pearls in, in it.
• 32:33
  Correct?
• 32:33
  Every pearls that you have i- in it correspond of a word of the Tehillim.
• 32:41
  We don't know at our level, and I d- don't know, there is very few books that explain that or teaches that, but there is a, a rabbi, Italian rabbi, by the way Yeah rabbi, from Fano, a city in Of Fano..
• 33:00
  I know where it is.
• 33:01
  Menachem of Fano, he discover, he shows the letters and the meaning of the secret of that in connection with the 72 names of HaShem, that are the 72 names which we were safe and we were able to cross the Red Sea.
• 33:29
  This rabbi is, was one that make this huge work, because it's a huge work, to go from one psalm to the other and find those 72 names, and they are in connection of the first letter of the word, the second letter of a word, and the third letter of the word that follows.
• 33:56
  So there you can find holy names of HaShem and the 72 names of HaShem, even to the 42 names of HaShem that is the Anabe Koh.
• 34:11
  That is immersed in the Tehillim.
• 34:14
  But to tell you which one, correlates Genesis with the first book, I is more in a, hide way, hidden way You, you follow me?
• 34:31
  Yeah.
• 34:31
  Okay.
• 34:32
  Yes.
• 34:32
  And the reason why the Tehillim are different from the Torah in the, in o- all are differentiated from the rest of the book of the Torah is that they speak in the language of men..
• 34:49
  Even that David Hamelech, he used a lot of poetry and prose, but are written in the n- in the words, in the speech of human being, and they are talking about our own possible situation in life that we confront daily.
• 35:12
  Mm-hmm.
• 35:12
  So that, that is the reason that they are a huge gift of Hashem.
• 35:18
  And you have to know that David was a neshamah.
• 35:22
  When Adam, before the Chet, before the sin of the eating of the tree of, of knowledge, he saw a, all the neshamot that existed in the world.
• 35:37
  From the future he was able to see, and he saw one neshamah, and he asked Hashem,"Why this neshamah," that was the neshamah of David,"doesn't come down to the world?" And, and God This is the Midrash.
• 35:55
  This is what, uh, our This is the story.
• 35:58
  The Midrash says that Hashem answered that this neshamah is too pure, too holy, so it is not able to It doesn't have years to c- of life to come down in this world.
• 36:12
  So Adam, he exchanged 70 years of his life and gave them, to David.
• 36:21
  Yeah.
• 36:21
  That's why he lived only 70 years.
• 36:26
  Was a gift from Adam HaRishon, from the first man, that is Adam.
• 36:33
  Interesting.
• 36:34
  Correct?
• 36:35
  Where When you read the end of When you read, when you recite the prayer at the very end, it says, if you It says,"First, second, third, fourth, and fifth," or Bereshit Shmot.
• 36:48
  How do you know what to say then in that when you have to fill in the blank?
• 36:53
  I just looked at that because I, I don't really say that.
• 36:56
  No, in the Tehillim it's, it is there.
• 37:00
  All the Tehillim- Yeah, but in the very back if you look at that, at the Tehillim, it says after reciting the prayer, the prayers, then it says,"First, second, third, fourth, and fifth," and then it lists the different books of the Torah.
• 37:16
  Correct.
• 37:16
  How do you know which corresponds at that moment?
• 37:21
  It, it's I never read exactly how it correspond or correlates like- I wonder how- I am telling to Elisabetta.
• 37:31
  I cannot tell you that because the words of the first book doesn't say anything of the creation of the world.
• 37:39
  Doesn't say anything about Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
• 37:42
  How you can say that this is Genesis?
• 37:45
  Well, how do you read this then?
• 37:47
  How do you read this then?
• 37:48
  You, you simply, with your pure, innocent w- a way that we have to connect with Hashem, we accept that.
• 38:00
  Oh, okay.
• 38:00
  That is what it is.
• 38:00
  We accept with mimut, with a simple, a, a simple devotion of a simple person.
• 38:11
  Got it.
• 38:12
  The, there is no I, I don't have the answer of the correlation.
• 38:18
  I don't have that.
• 38:19
  I never read it.
• 38:20
  Will be wonderful to ask to a very important rabbi and ask him that exactly the same question.
• 38:27
  Okay.
• 38:27
  I don't have that opportunity, so that will be a very good question to ask, for example, to Rabbi Ya din Stanford if he will be alive.
• 38:36
  Or to, Rabbi Ginsburg, that I also,..
• 38:39
  he is a tzadik of our generation.
• 38:43
  Mm-hmm.
• 38:43
  But I don't have that opportunity, so.
• 38:46
  Got it.
• 38:46
  Maybe he has an answer.
• 38:48
  I don't have that answer I, I also have another quick observation here.
• 38:53
  Mm-hmm.
• 38:53
  so in here it's very nice at the end of each psalm you wrote when to say.
• 39:00
  Okay?
• 39:00
  So can we do that for each psalm, when to say, just in such a concise way like you have here so I can make myself a chart?
• 39:12
  It's like, okay, feeling, and, anxiety, Yes protect, whatever.
• 39:17
  And then corresponding in that chart- you know- Yes then psalm.
• 39:22
  So.
• 39:22
  Yes, you can do that.
• 39:23
  Okay.
• 39:24
  And, it's already, written, stated, that what are the psalms from healing, what are the psalms for business, what are these are for success, what are the psalms for, for praising Hashem.
• 39:40
  Like, the 22 is a psalm for praising Hashem.
• 39:45
  It's a psalm No, no, no, the 22, no.
• 39:47
  These, the psalm- Okay 21, I think that it was the, the one for thanksgiving.
• 39:53
  So- Yes you already have that, and, and I think that will be wonderful if you will do that, uh, task.
• 40:03
  And, and, and, and at, in base of whatever I am teaching, you can have this is what, Julie wanted from me to do.
• 40:16
  So the problem is, I That's why I found a Sefer Tehillim that he teaches that.
• 40:26
  So that's why I added to each of the review.
• 40:30
  Okay, so, s- Okay, so somebody else already made that chart, you're saying.
• 40:35
  Somebody- Yes, there is a few intents, but I never saw someone that coll- in a more integrate and full way did it.
• 40:45
  Yeah.
• 40:45
  Like we, we will like to be.
• 40:48
  Yeah.
• 40:49
  You want e- everything very, in a very structural way.
• 40:54
  Uh-huh.
• 40:54
  So that, that structure, because you are a structure person, and this is part of your personality to be very, very structure- Find that way and, and add that and, and have your own, uh, task of doing it and, and share it with us I'll be happy to do it.
• 41:17
  I, I like that here it s- it says clearly when to say and- Yes in just a few lines.
• 41:22
  Okay, good.
• 41:23
  So it's easy to extrapolate.
• 41:25
  So, I would like to see that for all of the sounds in- Okay.
• 41:29
  we can do that in the next reviews, and even the one that I, review in the past and I didn't write down who- when to say, I can- Okay I can write it down.
• 41:41
  Okay.
• 41:41
  Psalm this and when to say and that, and in this way will be a...
• 41:47
  You can add more because, actually, when you read the psalm has more than what they, they give us, they extract in a summary.
• 41:57
  Mm-hmm.
• 41:58
  So that- Yeah that is good.
• 42:00
  Good.
• 42:00
  You see that every psalm is, has his, uh, his blessing and his benefits, all of them.
• 42:08
  All of them.
• 42:09
  it's a question of, of being there, but I think that what I said to Julie to, to use the psalms when you want to pause and- Mm-hmm divert your mind from negativity, I think that this is the, the more, the, the best teaching that we can get here.
• 42:29
  Because, it's very hard to remove when you are worry.
• 42:34
  You are worry, the mind constantly go back and back and back, and you are eating yourself in this way.
• 42:43
  And, and that is the cause, the leading cause of diseases.
• 42:49
  Mm-hmm.
• 42:50
  So we, we have to be very careful of that.
• 42:54
  Okay?
• 42:55
  N- n- and last, the things doesn't, doesn't comes in a, in a easy way.
• 43:01
  And you see in the Tehillim constantly, David HaMelech is saying,"My enemies, enemies and enemies," and repeat that.
• 43:08
  He's at work and he has seen enemies.
• 43:11
  So those are our enemies, and we fight constantly.
• 43:14
  We struggle constantly in life with our own enemies that are our own thought, or with external peoples that are a reflection of what you are thinking.
• 43:28
  Because what you see in others is what you have in front.
• 43:33
  Everything is a mirror image.
• 43:37
  And when you And this is what is written in Genesis.
• 43:41
  At the beginning, Hashem created the world as a mirror.
• 43:45
  In His image, he says.
• 43:48
  So, and the other thing that, as through the times that I am, I am having those, Zoom class, you see that whatever we think is a reflection.
• 44:01
  There is the image of us.
• 44:05
  Okay?
• 44:06
  Ashira good morning.
• 44:11
  I like everyone's insight Good morning, Nasira.
• 44:15
  Thank you.
• 44:15
  Yeah, I, I think a lot of times when I'm so anxious that it's hard to sit alone with my thoughts, that pulling out the Psalms can be a, a very comforting thing to do.
• 44:27
  Because you're right, there's a lot of just listening to, like, his own personal struggles in some of them.
• 44:34
  And, and you're right, talking about enemies, whether it be personal enemies or, just character refinement.
• 44:41
  I think overall it's been great.
• 44:43
  So it's just taking the time, daily to sit down and reflect, and I appreciate that.
• 44:50
  Excellent.
• 44:52
  Uh, Dr.
• 44:52
  Yoon, good morning Good morning.
• 44:57
  Oh, this is, uh, this class is so much, in it to learn, and I feel like the, the more that we study, the, much more questions we have, and, how much we discuss here is unbelievable, and how much we don't know.
• 45:14
  so it's very humbling.
• 45:16
  the things that, especially touched, touched me today was, the Psalm 22 when you mentioned, the Jewish people receive, the sustenance from Hashem.
• 45:30
  So our sustenance comes from Hashem.
• 45:33
  The more that I study also with you and in the class, it, it, sustenance is way beyond just the physical abundance and, our...
• 45:43
  I don't wanna just say spiritual, um, being, but, just I think it goes way beyond the, the nature.
• 45:52
  and, I just keep reminding myself also when we deal with, uh, difficulties, as, Rabbi Natohav once said, then I just uh, go to besides and then have Hashem be in my sit, and then have Hashem deals with it.
• 46:10
  And, that was such a powerful kind of, the word.
• 46:14
  so I was related to that.
• 46:16
  And then after actually we went through, instead of psalm, I added Psalm 25 on a daily prayer after Hameida, it said, it says, and then that's, like it gives me a sense of like always Hashem kind of guide us, guide me, and, He's there in front of me.
• 46:33
  And this was great that you reviewed, yes, actually Psalm 25 is, has everything there inside.
• 46:41
  All the needs of a human being is there.
• 46:46
  Okay, thank you.
• 46:48
  Uh, Natalie I have a question.
• 46:54
  eh, we, we talk about the, the reasons for saying all of these psalms.
• 47:01
  Um, and Well, I, I, I, I, my question is, should we be I, I don't speak, I don't speak Hebrew.
• 47:10
  I don't, I don't comprehend Hebrew, but I read it.
• 47:13
  And so when, when we, when we are wanting to say I, I, I do Tehillim daily as part of the Tehillim group, and it's just, we're, we're following numerically and I, whatever Psalm it's the turn for, that's what I do today.
• 47:32
  But if in, in terms of saying Psalms,, and I guess this would also go for prayer in general.
• 47:39
  It, when saying Psalms for a reason, u- this Psalm is for this reason, this Psalm Should we be I, when I read in Hebrew, it feels more spiritual to me.
• 47:52
  I feel like, I don't know, Hebrew is the language of Hashem.
• 47:56
  I'm not sure exactly what it is, but I feel more of a direct connection to Hashem when I'm, when I'm praying or reading in Hebrew- Mm-hmm not understanding a single word that I'm saying, other than, Baruch and what, you know, simple words that everybody knows.
• 48:15
  So when you're saying a, a Tehillim for a reason, should we be reading it in English instead of in Hebrew?
• 48:23
  Yes.
• 48:24
  Yes.
• 48:24
  It is not bad to read in your own language, that you understand.
• 48:29
  This is the- Somehow I don't feel like I'm- You should that when I, when I read in English, I don't feel like I'm praying.
• 48:35
  It's true.
• 48:35
  What you read in English doesn't have the same energy.
• 48:40
  But- No, I don't feel like I'm praying.
• 48:42
  I feel like I'm- Yes, but, the, Reading a book.
• 48:47
  Le- let's understand the languages.
• 48:49
  What I heard from Rabbi, DovBer Pinson, I wrote he explains that the Hebrew language is the essence of everything, because through the words, Hashem created the, the world.
• 49:07
  And, and but doesn't mean that the ex- ex, uh, no Hebrew words are not useful.
• 49:15
  They are very useful, but they form the external part of, of the language.
• 49:24
  You understand?
• 49:25
  If, there is the inner, everything has a inner part and an ex- and a external part.
• 49:35
  The Hebrew will be the inner energy.
• 49:39
  The other languages, French, English, Spanish, all of them, Japanese, if you want to use something like that, Chinese, is external.
• 49:49
  So- Because we are growing in, in these, in, in our culture.
• 49:59
  For ex- for example, you are an American, so this is the way that you grew up.
• 50:05
  So the English is your maternal, language.
• 50:09
  It is the language that you will understand the best.
• 50:12
  So read it in, in English after that you read in Hebrew.
• 50:17
  Or, for example, you are reading in Hebrew and you don't understand one word, and that word is, is clicking to you and telling you something.
• 50:27
  So okay, go back to the verse and try to read the English of that verse, and then that will give you another insight That's, that's it Uh, can I, can I add something real quick?
• 50:44
  Um- Yes.
• 50:45
  Yes, of course I read it in English, and then I have this small book of Tehillim in Italian, and- Mm-hmm I read it in Italian.
• 50:53
  I'm like,"Ha ha, that's what it meant." I don't know.
• 50:57
  Many times, uh- Exactly times I read in Italian and it doesn't sound qui- And then, so I wish I would know all the languages in the world, because- it appears that every translation gives you a different nuance of, of the meaning.
• 51:11
  And, uh- That's right, but, yeah I wish I really would Hebrew well enough to understand.
• 51:15
  that would be the ideal, of course.
• 51:17
  Correct.
• 51:18
  But in absence of that,, it's interesting how translations.
• 51:21
  Mm-hmm, yes.
• 51:22
  Yes, it's true.
• 51:23
  So, so when you're reading, when you're using Tehillim for a purpose, then would it be best to re- to do it in both languages, to read it in, in S- Yes Hebrew just feels more like I'm praying.
• 51:36
  It feels more spiritual.
• 51:36
  I, I- But I have no idea what I'm saying.
• 51:39
  Use both.
• 51:39
  So what, what would make more sense to, to read?
• 51:41
  Use both.
• 51:41
  I, I think I would do it both.
• 51:43
  I would do, do both.
• 51:43
  Both.
• 51:44
  Use both, because you know how to read in Hebrew.
• 51:47
  Right.
• 51:47
  So the Hebrew will g- will feed your neshamah.
• 51:55
  But- Right.
• 51:55
  That's- But the English will, feed your mind and your understanding.
• 52:00
  Correct?
• 52:01
  So both are- Yeah important.
• 52:03
  Okay.
• 52:04
  100%.
• 52:04
  But I have a question.
• 52:05
  I, I want to say something.
• 52:07
  W- we're going over all of these, and you're explaining what's the importance of each of these psalms.
• 52:14
  When you're reading the Hebrew, even though you don't know every single word that you're reading and understand it, you have the understanding of why you're doing that particular psalm, though.
• 52:25
  Mm-hmm.
• 52:26
  Right?
• 52:27
  So if you're reading a psalm and it's focusing on you're really feeling a thanksgiving toward Hashem, you don't, as my understanding is, you don't have to understand every single word you're reading, but to have in mind why I'm reading this particular psalm and why I'm doing it in Hebrew.
• 52:45
  Exactly, and if you pay attention-, I said that- One second.
• 52:48
  If you pay attention, every psalms has an introduction.
• 52:52
  That's right.
• 52:52
  In English and in, in ev- every language.
• 52:55
  So read the introduction.
• 52:57
  That will give you a s- a type of summary of what is the psalm about.
• 53:04
  At least you can do that, Natalie.
• 53:07
  Yeah.
• 53:07
  If you don't have time, because the life is very busy, and you have plenty of things to do.
• 53:13
  So what you do, if is have time, Shabbat, for example, is the day for, to do that Shabbat is a wonderful day in where we are not constricted by the weekly work of, of the week.
• 53:33
  We are not, we, we, we have more, uh, liberty.
• 53:38
  We, we are more free.
• 53:40
  So use Shabbat for, for reading, detailing with more calmness and more pause, and that will help you a lot.
• 53:51
  And slowly you will learn more and more.
• 53:54
  That's it.
• 53:54
  That is for sure.
• 53:56
  Okay, my dear Rene I, I think this conversation among everybody's been amazing.
• 54:04
  I don't necessarily have anything to add.
• 54:07
  But I like, in the past, Miriam, you've mentioned that Hebrew letters carry...
• 54:13
  Each letter carries energy, carries a meaning.
• 54:17
  And I- that stuck with me, and you didn't say it necessarily in those words today, but passing that on to Natalie- Yes as you're thinking about it, Absolutely.
• 54:26
  Every letter is a body of the energy of Hashem.
• 54:33
  There is a Midrash in Kabbalah before Hashem created the world, he was playing with the Hebrew letters, and that was his game, his playing.
• 54:48
  So every letter brings a message, and you can analyze every letter.
• 54:56
  I am not going to speak to that, but for example, the letter Alef.
• 55:00
  The letter Alef has two youth, one on top from a, a same and another.
• 55:06
  Is like a, and you have, a diagonal line that is the valve that connects the world above and the world below.
• 55:17
  So those are many things that we...
• 55:20
  And every letter has their meaning.
• 55:23
  If you...
• 55:23
  Another thing that I can de- say quickly, every letters in Hebrew, they are closed in the r- in the dri- in the right side and open in the left side.
• 55:37
  Is like this is, that is the opening.
• 55:41
  So there is many meaning, and that will take a whole class in order to learn So let's do the m- meditation, and I like the meditation very much because this is a meditation of And I think that we'll You can use always, in all your time.
• 56:04
  We have Shiviti Hashem lenegdi tamid.
• 56:08
  I have always place Hashem in front, to me always.
• 56:14
  Yud-Heh-Vav-Heh, like you see in the image here.
• 56:19
  The Yud also represent a point, is the spark of an idea.
• 56:28
  And then you have the Heh.
• 56:31
  The first Heh is an expansion of that idea.
• 56:36
  Then you have a connector, that is the Vav, that connects the higher Yudkei, and then connect with the lower Heh, that is another expansion, that is the expansion of this world.
• 56:52
  So the Yud is the world of Atzilut.
• 56:55
  The Heh is the world of Briah.
• 56:59
  The Vav is the world of Yetzirah, of formation, and Heh is the world of action.
• 57:07
  Also, why I put it in this, way is because the Yud represent our head.
• 57:15
  The Heh represent our first part, our arms.
• 57:20
  It looks like an arms.
• 57:22
  The Va- the Vav represent our torso.
• 57:27
  And then the lower Heh represent the legs.
• 57:43
  Let's close our eyes Breathe to relax Make it pause Connect Be mindful We are connecting between us and between Hashem Because when we connect with, between us, we receive the energy of every one of us, that we are here in this meditation, or everyone that will listen to the meditation in the future Then I see myself, we see ourselves at the center of a Magen David, a shield to protect us for any negativity.
• 58:48
  In front of us, there is another Magen David, and in this Magen David appears the holy letters of the name Yud Hey Vav Hey.
• 59:02
  And this time we are going to illuminate all of them like one candle.
• 59:11
  Is one candle, is like a fluorescent board that is in front of us, and that is a shield that always in front of us.
• 59:23
  But our mission is that we are at the head, we are at the arms, we are at the torso, we are at the legs.
• 59:34
  And this is our figure.
• 59:38
  This is the figure of a human being And here, this light of Yud Hey Vav Hey is attracted to our brain, penetrates our Magen David, penetrates through our skull, enter in our brain, and illuminates our brain.
• 1:00:06
  Imagine a room full of light, a light that is fluorescent.
• 1:00:14
  Everywhere is this light.
• 1:00:16
  There is no space.
• 1:00:17
  That is the light of Hashem.
• 1:00:20
  And then this light descend to this part of our body that is the heart, the heart that pumps constantly blood through our arteries, and reach every cell of our body, nourishing every of our cells.
• 1:00:44
  And there is an exchange of blood, and we are receiving the oxygen of the purity of the name of Yud Hey Vav Hey.
• 1:00:58
  Now we want to fix it in our material physical bodies, and that's why the light descend to the liver.
• 1:01:10
  And from the liver, moves back and forth between the brain and between the heart.
• 1:01:21
  Heart, brain, heart, brain, heart, brain, heart, brain, heart, brain, heart, brain.
• 1:01:27
  Increasing the intensity And this light increase so much that we cannot contain anymore in us.
• 1:01:39
  So that light diffuse, and now we have our three guest, Malach Metatron, Malach Sandalphon, and Moshiach.
• 1:01:48
  They are our guides that help us in our mission in the world, each of us at our own level, each of us by their own necessity, and we feel that we are united with Asher.
• 1:02:09
  We are part of the, as sparks of this light that enliven us, enliven the whole universe.
• 1:02:19
  Now that we reach this level, we want to share with everyone.
• 1:02:26
  So we want to send beams of light to the whole world, and this beam of light surrounds the world, like you see, like a storm, but a, a good storm.
• 1:02:41
  A storm of light that is moving, moving, moving, surrounding, surrounding, everything around, and it's transforming all the darkness, all the pain, all the suffering for the whole world, transforming the minds, transforming the thought, and transforming the actions of everyone in this world, giving them the correct attitude and the correct solution at all our problems, our individual problems, or our collective problems as nation, as part of the whole world, and more than that, as part of the whole universe.
• 1:03:42
  Now, I leave you.
• 1:03:44
  I stay, keep silence, and I leave you with your thought and your connection.
• 1:03:51
  And we are thankful to Asher for the opportunity to be here in this moment, and to see and perceive and feel the warm of the light of Yud Hey Vav Hey.
• 1:04:11
  יוד היי, ויו היי