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Tehillim 119:29
דֶּרֶךְ-שֶׁקֶר הָסֵר מִמֶּנִּי וְתוֹרָתְךָ חָנֵּנִי
dereh sheker haser mimeni vetoratcha chaneni
Remove from me the way of falsehood; and favor me with the grace of Your Torah.

Standing in opposition to this system of “Emet,” (Truth) is the system of “sheker,” (falsehood) run by the yetzer hara and his forces—“the sitra achra” (literally, the “other side”). Their sole objective is to mislead mankind away from the Torah’s path of “Emet”to the path of “sheker” opposing the laws and precepts of the Torah. To this end, David Hamelech prays.

Remove from me the way of “sheker” and graciously endow me with Your Torah. For only by adhering to the Torah of “Emet” is it possible to overcome the deceptions and lies of the yetzer hara. In the words of the Gemara:

Thus has HKB”H said to Yisrael: “My son, I have created the yetzer hara and I have created the Torah as its antidote; if you occupy yourselves with the Torah, you will not be delivered into its hand.” (Kiddushin 30b)

A person cannot have knowledge of the Torah so long as he cleaves to "the way of falsehood" - he wastes his time in futile activities. Accordingly, David Hamelech entreats, "Remove from me the way of falsehood; and favor me with the grace of Your Torah."

"Remove from me the way of falsehood" - the empty pursuits of this world - so that I may conduct myself according to the way of the Torah.  Let me eat bread with salt, drink water from the cup, and may You "favor me with the grace of Your Torah." Then I will merit to possess the Torah and become refined through her.

David Hamelech pleads further that G-d "remove from me the way of falsehood." Liberate me from the path of arrogance and deception, and "favor me with the grace of Your Torah." Let my study be solely for the sake of attaining Torah truth.

A man will toil in the study of Torah, and come to realize that his earlier views were mistaken. That is his way to possession of truth. But David Hamelech asks for immediate knowledge of the truth. "Remove from me the way of falsehood; and favor me with the grace of Torah" truth, at once.


- Me'am Lo'ez; Chazal

Tehillim 119:8  אֶת-חֻקֶּיךָ אֶשְׁמֹר אַל-תַּעַזְבֵנִי עַד-מְאֹד
et-chukeicha eshmor al-taazveni ad meod
I will observe Your statutes; do not forsake me utterly.

"I will observe Your statutes," therefore "do not forsake me utterly."

Although everything is in the hand of Heaven except fear of Heaven, I plead, "Do not forsake me utterly."  Rather give me some help to dispose my heart towards You.  You will help me, for when one comes to be purified, he is helped.

"There is no doubt how hard a person must strive and toil to be able to observe all of G-d’s commandments, for the Evil Urge prevention, the external influences preventing, suffering prevents them and all sorts of stumbling blocks will do all they can to prevent this person from guarding all the Commandments. Therefore, King David sings, that no matter what rises up against them he will do all he can to observe all of G-d’s Statutes.

However, he is not simply stating that he will observe G-d’s commandments, he is saying that he will strive to observe all the Commandments even with his Small Mind so that he will be blessed by G-d to be able to fulfill them with his Great Mind. He understands that the Commandments themselves will transform him from one who approaches G-d with his Small Mind into one who can attach to G-d with his Great Mind, however, the only way he will succeed is if, “do not forsake me.” (Ramchal)

Tehillim 119:7
Tehillim 119:6
Tehillim 119:5
Tehillim 119:4
Tehillim 119:3
Tehillim 119:2
Tehillim 119:1


MeAm Lo'ez
Ramchal