Tehilim Perek 37B

Welcome to NachDaily, covering the entire TANACH one perek at a time. I’m Rabbi Shaya Sussman, and today we’ll be discussing Tehilim, chapter 37. Due to its length, this is the second of four shiurim on it.

Just a quick recap:

Dovid Hamelech warns the generation not to be jealous when they see reshaim being successful in finances, status, marriage, etc., because there is concern that they might get lured into adopting evil attitudes and practices.

Trust in Hashem, and maintain your emunah. Hashem will reward us according to our needs and what we deserve.

We should be happy and content without waiting for some external goal to be met. There is no better time than now to relax and be calm.

In verse 7 it says;

דּ֤וֹם ׀ לַיהוָה֮ וְהִתְח֪וֹלֵ֫ל ל֥וֹ אַל־תִּ֭תְחַר בְּמַצְלִ֣יחַ דַּרְכּ֑וֹ בְּ֝אִ֗ישׁ עֹשֶׂ֥ה מְזִמּֽוֹת׃

Be silent before God and wait expectantly for Him. Do not contend with a successful man, with a man who carries out schemes.

Rashi and the Malbim explain that the word “dome” means to wait patiently and quietly, even when you don’t feel as if all of your needs have been met.

Rav Shamshon Raphael Hirsch, in his commentary on Tehilim, notes that this is the most profound verse in the entire chapter. No matter what God sends your way, silence yourself and don’t complain. Just the realization that whatever we’re dealing with is coming from God should be enough to silence us and give us respite.

Similarly, Rebbe Nachman says in Lekutey Maharan, Torah 6, that a person needs to turn his dom – blood, into dome- silence. Sometimes we feel that nothing seems to be working out – we’ve put in so much effort with no results. We may feel embarrassed, ridiculed and shamed, but when our blood is boiling, we need to learn how to quiet it, to feel calm again. We turn our dom into dome – our rushing blood into silence by being quiet not only when someone embarrasses us, but because we sometimes feel embarrassed by life itself!

Both Rebbe Nachman and Rav Hirsch compare this to the description of what the Torah says when Aharon Hakohen lost his two children. V’yidom Aharon – Aharon was silent. Aharon mastered the art of not questioning Hashem, and was thus able to stop his blood from rushing angrily through his body. He turned his dom into dome.

We are not Aharon. When we are raging with emotions how do we quiet ourselves?

Rebbe Nachman explains the difference between the words blood and silence. Look closely at the word for dam- silence, and see the answer. There is a small chirik dot on top of the letter daled which makes the “O” sound. When we humble ourselves to God and make ourselves as small as that little dot, we’ll be able to accept His plan and be quiet.

Alternatively, psychologically speaking, a thought left untouched will pass on its own. When we are riled up and keep rewinding, replaying and revisiting negative thoughts, we become even more upset. By allowing our minds to settle, we will reset significantly faster and be able to turn our dam to dome.

The average person has approximately sixty thousand to one hundred thousand thoughts a day. We don’t need to take every thought, especially the upsetting ones, so seriously. By understanding the temporary nature of thought we will reset significantly faster and feel calmer, be more resilient and experience more peace of mind.

May we merit being quiet in the face of embarrassment, and feel calm and mindfully present by connecting to God through thick and thin.

Thank you for listening and have a wonderful day.