Tehilim Perek 36

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 36.

There are two parts to this chapter.

In the first half, Dovid relates how the Yetzer Hara slowly creeps up on us. It first tells us that what we want to do is not so bad, but before we know it, it seems that not only is not so bad, but in some way it is even a mitzvah!

In the second half of the chapter, Dovid relates God’s kindness towards His people. God’s loving kindness reaches the heavens, and His judgment is deep and perfect.

The Meforshim explain the connection between the two halves of the perek. The Yetzer Hara comes with clever arguments, distorting the truth. A person can claim that he is not to blame, but Dovid insists that God’s judgment is perfect. He will give both the reshaim and the Tzaddikim what they deserve.

נְאֻֽם־פֶּ֣שַׁע לָ֭רָשָׁע בְּקֶ֣רֶב לִבִּ֑י אֵֽין־פַּ֥חַד אֱ֝לֹהִ֗ים לְנֶ֣גֶד עֵינָֽיו׃ כִּֽי־הֶחֱלִ֣יק אֵלָ֣יו בְּעֵינָ֑יו לִמְצֹ֖א עֲוֺנ֣וֹ לִשְׂנֹֽא׃

Within my heart, Sin declares to the wicked not to keep the fear of God before his eyes. For Sin makes itself appealing to him, so that his transgressions be found out and be hated.

Inasmuch as Dovid speaks directly about how the Yetzer Hara, evil inclination, works, I’d like to add some practical advice about dealing with it.

It is said that more than the Yetzer Hara wants us to do the aveira, he wants the atsvut min haavera, the sadness that results from it. The Yetzer Hara wants to make us sad that we sinned. That’s human, we all slip up, but the Yetzer Hara will try to kick us when we’re down, making us even sadder and depressed.

“You’ve done such irreparable damage you can never fix it.” “You see what you’ve done! I knew that you’re a faker!” “What’s the use in trying, you’ve failed a million times!”

It’s no joke. The Yetzer Hara literally wants to kill us, to make us discouraged and ultimately fall into despair. If he can get us to feel downcast in enough aspects of our lives, we will just give up.

We need to outsmart our Yetzer Hara and never give up! We need the firm resolve to start over again, many times each day, and even start over again every moment of every day no matter how many times it takes. Even if it seems that we’ve been struggling for years on end with no progress, and constantly sinning against Hashem, don’t give up!

Slowly but surely, we’ll will find ourselves with renewed strength and self-confidence. Any iota of movement towards serving Hashem has the ability to lift us thousands of miles in the upper worlds even if it’s barely recognizable down here.

In verse 10, in the second half of the perek, while praising Hashem Dovid says:

כִּֽי־עִ֭מְּךָ מְק֣וֹר חַיִּ֑ים בְּ֝אוֹרְךָ֗ נִרְאֶה־אֽוֹר׃

With You is the fountain of life; by Your light do we see light.

The Malbim explains that Dovid meant that true life comes from seeing, feeling, and experiencing God’s light. This light is truly nitzchyus- eternal, in direct contrast to the way of the evil inclination that brings about death and decay.

The Malbim continues to explain that God’s exalted light flows up from the Mekor Elyon- highest place in Heaven. This light was placed in the Torah, and specifically in the mitzvos, which raise us up to God. The word mitzva comes from the word tzavtsa – connection, because each mitzva connects us to God, the Infinite Source of all life.

He therefore gave us the means to deal with our Yetzer Hara–our neshama Elokus, Divine soul that contains His light. This soul yearns for mitzvos to enable it to connect with the Creator.

May we merit getting in touch with our true desire to come close to Hashem. In return, may we have the ability to raise ourselves up and start over again every day of our lives, recognizing each day as a brand-new opportunity to come close to Hashem.

Thank you for listening and have a wonderful day.