The Litvishe Approach to Tehillim - It's Not Just Lip Service - Don't Just "Daven it Up"

תהלים is something that is an important part of our lives year-round, of course. However, at certain times there might be additional attention to it. 

But how should it be approached? Does הקב"ה need more lip service, עבודת הפה rather than עבודה שבלב?

The answer is emphatically no. Rather, כוונת הלב is what is sought and needed.

Rav Avigdor Miller z"l, in last week's תורת אביגדור booklet (p.7), gives some guidelines for its proper reciting. Say it slowly, with understanding and emotion (click to see what Rav Miller brings from the חובות הלבבות, and more, under the headline "How to Say Tehillim", on p.7 there).

 Elsewhere, in the excellent biography of Rav Miller, it is related that in his youth in Baltimore he would go to a Shul (although not explicitly stated there, based on other sections of the book, where it speaks about Rav Miller's youth in Baltimore, I think that the simple assumption and understanding is that it was a Litvishe Shul - if it was otherwise that would likely have been noted IMHO) where the men said Tehillim together with a beautiful melody (p.43). On Shabbos after סעודה שלישית they would sing the entire chapter 119 (תמניא אפי, the longest kapitel in Tehillim), the saying of which was a widespread minhag in ליטא, and considered a סגולה for חשק ואהבת התורה.

May we be זוכה to meaningful recitations, and כתיבה וחתימה טובה.

The Search for Meaning & Passion in Neo-Chasidus - Testing the Limits of Tradition

In the past, when questions were raised about Neo-Chasidus, a response given was along the lines of we do things the same way you do, except that we also want to have a relationship with Hashem (as if regular Yidden don't have such a relationship ר"ל).

And perhaps in the past they were more careful not to innovate in the area of practice. But lately they seem to be more feeling more confident, and more questionable practices are being seen.

Two recent examples illustrate this point quite clearly.

Firstly, ט' אב services at a congregation on Long Island, NY.

In the previous post, before 9 Av, we discussed the advertised Tisha Be'Av kumzitz

I figured that I should check firsthand to see what was going on, בשעת מעשה, at the places I wrote about, after all, that is only proper, as Rashi brings in בראשית.

When I checked out the תשעה באב morning קינות at Congregation KMH, led by Rabbi Yussie Zakutinsky, a close disciple (he is one of a few carefully chosen founding members of Rabbi Weinberger's new Kollel Emek Hamelech) of Yeshiva University Mashpia and Rabbi of Congregation Aish Kodesh of Woodmere, NY, Rabbi Moshe Weinberger, with assistance from talented singer Joey Newcomb, I discovered even more than I was expecting.

The abbreviated קינות service was accompanied by a significant amount of singing. And that does not mean that they just sang בצאתי ממצרים and אלי ציון a little more than in other places. Rather there were actual distinct songs between קינות.  You don't have to take my word for it, you can see for yourself, via the links below.

Selection one.

Selection two.

Selection three.

Selection four.

Selection five.

Selection six.

Selection seven.

Selections eight, nine, and ten.

Selection eleven.

Definitely very different than typical ט' אב services at both Non-Chasidic and Chasidic congregations.

The second example is the recent extensive singing (for almost an hour) at the funeral of the well known Lubavitcher scholar and writer, Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz. Perhaps it could even be called a funeral farbrengen. 

As with the first example, this is something that is not typically seen at such events, whether typical Chasidic or Non Chasidic ones. Neo-Chasidus is doing its own thing.

I like the idea of doing things with more כוונה, and making observances more meaningful. But does that give an unlimited carte blanche license for innovation? I don't think so.

May הקב"ה give us the wisdom to infuse our observances with meaning and passion without transforming them excessively.