14^th of Tishrei, October 13, 2008

The Talmud (Megillah 18a) quotes the following verse from the Psalms: "Who can express the mighty acts of Hashem?  Who can declare all His praise (Psalm 106:2)?"  From this verse, the Talmud concludes that only the individual who can "declare all His praise" is permitted to praise Hashem.  How then do we, with our human limitations, have the temerity to praise G-D in our prayers?  The answer resides with King David.  As humans, we rely on the precedent that David has established with his composition of the Psalms.  David is described in II Samuel 23:1 as "the sweet singer of Israel".  Rashi comments that this description means that all songs and praises in Israel have their origin with him.  It was with Divine inspiration that David wrote the book of Psalms, he alone being chosen to commit his words of praise to paper.  We, his loyal subjects, are then allowed to use his words to praise Hashem.

Copyright, 2008 Rachel Lerner