Tehilim Perek 112

Hello everybody, I’m Rabbi Shaya Sussman, covering the entire TANACH one perek at a time. Today’s NachDaily is Tehilim Chapter 112.

This chapter, as the previous one, was written according to the Aleph Beis. Each verse contains 2 consecutive letters of the Aleph Beis while the last two verses contain 3.

The previous perek was primarily focused on the praise of Hashem, while this one praises the Tzaddik who serves Him. It also should be noted that, as in the last perek, the author is unknown.

The author describes the happiness of a God-fearing person. Some of the benefits described are having a good family, financial wealth, and emotional stability. A person who has proper emunah possesses the ability to turn darkness into light, to illuminate suffering with the light of God.

The author praises those who act with compassion by lending people money, yet maintain proper boundaries in their personal lives.

The psalm goes on to describe more of the “fringe” benefits earned for living a life of emunah, following Hashem’s Torah. You will no longer need to be fearful, but will always be confident that Hashem will protect you from your foes.

The chapter ends by relating that people who are cynical towards you and your service of Hashem will be eaten up with jealously and rage. This will cause them a tremendous amount of suffering in this world, and they will ultimately lose their motivation to scorn you.

How fortunate are we to be able to serve Hashem! What a privilege! Often, we get so caught up in the details that we forget to remember the bigger picture. Hashem, the Creator of the world, gave us His Torah and actually desires our mitzvos and tefilos! Nothing could be greater than that!

Verse 9 says:

פִּזַּ֤ר ׀ נָ֘תַ֤ן לָאֶבְיוֹנִ֗ים צִ֭דְקָתוֹ עֹמֶ֣דֶת לָעַ֑ד קַ֝רְנ֗וֹ תָּר֥וּם בְּכָבֽוֹד׃

He gives freely to the needy, His beneficence endures forever, His fame is raised in glory.

The Arizal says that this is a lesson about giving tzedakah. Each mitzva is associated with one of the 22 letters of the Aleph Beis. When a person does a mitzvah, the corresponding letter shines on that person’s forehead for that moment, then disappears. When a person gives charity, however, the letter on his forehead shines for the whole week, his “karno, fame” is raised forever. Karno can also mean a ray of light—the letter for tzedakah shines on your head all week long.

The Shai Lemorah explains that the reward is so great that it lasts for all of eternity, as by giving tzedakah you are giving chaim, life. Hashem will therefore give you life from the source of chaim itself, which lasts forever.

May we merit not being stingy when giving tzedakah, to have proper faith that every dollar is really His. In this way we will merit true life for netzach netzachim.

Thank you for listening, and have a wonderful day.