[Avodah] The Custom of Reciting l'Dovid HaShem Ori

[Prof. Levine]

 From 
http://seforim.blogspot.com/2006/09/custom-of-reciting-ldovid-hashem-ori.html


<http://seforim.blogspot.com/2006/09/custom-of-reciting-ldovid-hashem-ori.html>The 
Custom of Reciting l'Dovid HaShem Ori

A fairly universal custom is to recite the passage from Psalms 
l'Dovid Hashem Ori twice a day during the month of Elul. A question 
which has received renewed scrutiny recently is where this custom 
came from. The most obvious answer is the work Hemdat Yamim. This 
work, however, is rather controversial. Many claim this book (which 
has many other well-accepted customs) was written by Nathan of Gaza, 
the prophet of the infamous false-Messiah Shabbetai Zevi. Thus, if 
the Hemdat Yamim is in fact the source, that would not be a good thing.

So, some have claimed that in fact there is another source for the 
recitation of l'Dovid HaShem during Elul. They point to the book Shem 
Tov Kotton. In this book, which is a collection of additionally 
kabbalistic prayers, there is a mention to say l'Dovid HaShem during 
Elul. The problem, however, is that a) Shem Tov Kotton only says to 
do so on Monday and Thursday and the 10 days of repentance but not 
everyday in Elul; (b) he also says that not only one should say 
l'Dovid but also additionally prayers some of his own compilation and 
others such as the 13 middot haRachmim and the Psalm Rananu Tzadikim; 
(c) finally, he says to say l'dovid HaShem immediately after Shmonei 
Esreh. So it would seem that in all likelihood the Shem Tov Katton is 
not the source of our custom to say l'Dovid daily, at the end of 
prayers, without any additional prayers.

So we are back to square one.

See the above URL for more.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.aishdas.org/pipermail/avodah-aishdas.org/attachments/20070818/91938cca/attachment.htm>