Tradition tells us that Dovid Hamelech passed away on Shavuos. What better time, then, to explore some of the minhagim that have developed throughout the ages regarding the precious gift he gave to Am Yisrael: Sefer Tehillim
Rav Eliyahu de Vidas, author of Reishis Chochmah, writes in Shaar Ha’ahavah (Chapter 1): “Among the things that bring a person to dveikus are saying some verses from the songs of Dovid Hamelech of blessed memory.” Many of our Sages have written about the power of Sefer Tehillim to instill both awe and love for Hashem. But when did the sefer take on its present form?
The tradition of dividing Sefer Tehillim into five books is a longstanding one, for as Midrash Sochar Tov states: “Moshe gave Israel the five books of the Torah, and Dovid gave Israel the five books of Tehillim.”
Yet the reasoning behind how the individual psalms are ordered within those five books is a mystery. In addition to Dovid Hamelech, several other authors composed Tehillim — Adam Harishon, Moshe Rabbeinu, Shlomo Hamelech, Asaf, the sons of Korach, etc. — and their contributions are interspersed with those of Dovid’s. Therefore, the division isn’t based on authorship, nor is Sefer Tehillim divided accorded to theme.
Another mystery concerns the number of chapters. Today, a standard edition of Sefer Tehillim has 150 chapters, but Maseches Sofrim (16:11), among other sources, says there are only 147, corresponding to the years of the life of Yaakov Avinu. This doesn’t mean three psalms were added later. The Gemara (Berachos 9b) tells us that Psalms 1 and 2 used to be one long psalm.
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