Orach Chayim Way of Life - Jewish Life - Torah Insights - Current Events

Tehillim 119:7 odcha beisher levav belamdi mishpetei tzidkecha
I will give thanks to You with an upright heart, when I learn Your just ordinances.

Until here King David spoke in praise of the Torah.  From here on it is in praise of the mitzvot (commandments).

"I will give thanks to You with an upright heart," unlike those about whom it says, 'His mouth speaks and Him, but their heart is far from Him' (cf. Yeshayahu 29:13).  Thus we "learn" from "Your just ordinances" that everything depends on intention.  Hence the law of the city of refuge (BaMidbar 35) teaches that one who kills deliberately is executed, and one who kills unwittingly is exiled.

Because I have trained myself to accept "Your just ordinances," therefore "I give thanks to You" both for the good and for the bad, "with an upright heart."  As our Sages have said, one is required to recite the blessing (also for the bad) with gladness.  Thus Hillel once heard a voice of loud lament coming from his city, and he said, "I am certain that these are not my family lamenting."  This is explained to mean that he had educated his family to accept everything with gladness and to not shriek.

Torah is the antidote for the yetzer harah (evil inclination).  Torah study subdues the yetzer harah.

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

MeAm Lo'ez
Chazal

Tehillim 119:6 az lo evosh behabiti el kol mitzvoteicha
Then I will not be ashamed, when I look at all your commandments.

If I will "observe Your statutes" (v119:5), I will also observe Your ordinances.  As a result, when I open up the Torah and study it closely, "I will not be ashamed" that I did not keep "all Your commandments."

However, when one realizes that some aspect of his behavior is not in accordance with G-d's precepts, he should be filled with great shame for betraying his Creator and Father.  Moreover, he has betrayed himself and fallen short of his true potential.

If I will find a good reason for keeping the statutes, and subject myself to their observance, then I will assuredly "not be ashamed."  I will stand up to the prosecuting angel, "when I look at all Your commandments." For I will behold the reasons for all of them.

If I will keep the mitzvot, "then I will not be ashamed, when I look at all Your commandments."  For instance, if someone steals and then he sees written in the Torah, "You shall not steal!" (Shemot 20:13), he will be ashamed.  Therefore should every man be wary of every evil deed, so as not to be ashamed when he reads the Torah.

It was Rambam's custom to begin each of his works by citing a pasuk (verse). One such example is his introduction to the Mishneh Torah (as well as at the outset of each of the fourteen books that comprise the Mishne Torah). The verse used to introduce the Mishneh Torah is "Az lo evosh b'habiti el kol mitzvotecha" "Then I will not be ashamed, when I look at all Your commandments" (Tehillim 119:6). This verse serves as a "motto" that encapsulates the entire Mishneh Torah.

This verse teaches us that there is a supreme added value to having the Torah in its entirety laid out before us. Thus the Rambam in the Mishneh Torah summarizes the entire Oral Torah. The Midrash describes to us the shame one might feel upon reaching the Gates of Paradise without having learned all the sections of the Torah. By laying out the Oral Torah before us, the Rambam is assisting us in avoiding this very shame. (Rav Y. Steinberger)

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


MeAm Lo'ez
Chazal
Sefer Tehillim - Schottenstein Edition

Tehillim 119:5 achalai yikonu derachai lishmor chukeicha
My hopes: that my ways be directed to observe Your statutes!

"My hopes" - these are my pleas that I place before You: "That my ways be directed" so I should also "observe Your statues" whose reason elude us.

"[These are] my [fervent] prayers (hopes)," I desire nothing else but this. (Ibn Ezra)

Because the reasons for the statutes are not known, ha-satan and the other peoples condemn us.  But I say: "My hopes" and pleas are "that my ways be directed to observe Your statues" as well.

The mitzvah must be made possessions of the soul.  Therefore, I plead and petition that "my ways be directed to observe Your statutes."  Let none of my mundane affairs beset me.  I implore You to protect me from the diversions of the world, so that my heart and being are free "to observe Your statutes."

Let "my ways be directed to observe Your statutes." Let them not be directed towards bodily needs or towards any other diversion.

R’ Shmuel Shmelke Güntzler z”l (1838-1911; rabbi of Oyber-Visheve, Hungary for 45 years) writes: We read in Tehilim (119:5-6), “My prayer is: ‘May my ways be firmly guided to keep Your decrees; then I will not be ashamed when I gaze at all your commandments’.” In these verses, King David is noting the tension between our obligation to try to understand G-d’s Will, on the one hand, and our duty to serve Him as subjects, i.e., not because we understand or approve of His mitzvot but simply because they are His commandments. How can a person evaluate whether he is serving Hashem for the right reason (as a subject) or the wrong reason (because the person has evaluated the mitzvot and decided they make sense to him, in which case he is serving himself, not G-d)?

The answer is that one should look at how he performs those mitzvot that do not seem to be logical. If a person performs the decrees with the same enthusiasm with which he performs the “logical” mitzvot, then he knows that he is behaving as a subject. This is what King David meant: If I am firm in my commitment to Your decrees, then I will not be ashamed when I perform the “logical” commandments. Rather, I will know that those mitzvot, as well, I am performing as a subject and not because they make sense to me. (Meishiv Nefesh)

Tehillim 119:4
Tehillim 119:3
Tehillim 119:2
Tehillim 119:1


MeAm Lo'ez
Chazal