[Avodah] L'Dovid Hashen Ori

[T613K at aol.com]

In a message dated 9/5/2008, dov_kay at hotmail.co.uk writes:

>>....the source for reciting L'Dovid in  Elul/Tishrei is the book Chemdat 
Yamim.  R. Yaakov Emdem attributed this  work to Nathan of Gaza, who is a 
Sabbatean ideologue....Second, most of  the poskim I have access to, for all their 
brilliance, are not bibliographers  or historians, and therefore lack the 
background knowledge to make a judgement  as to the origins of this custom. They 
are more likely to  adopt a dismissive attitude to scholarly research than I do, 
and I cannot in  good faith accept their attitude in this regard.   <<

>>>>
This is exactly the kind of situation where da'as Torah  comes into play.  
Obviously the historical researches of professors are of  no concern to most of 
the poskim today, and there is nothing about L'Dovid  Hashem Ori that offends 
their sense of what is right and proper in Torah.   If you feel that it makes 
davening rushed and crowded, then you personally  should leave it out.  But 
you should not say you're leaving it out because  you have a better 
understanding and knowledge of what is right and proper than  all the other poskim.  I 
know you don't mean it that way but it sounds  arrogant.
 
You do not know that Rav Emden was right about the authorship of Chemdat 
Yamim, and in addition, Nathan of  Gaza, though a Sabbatean (in fact, he was "the" 
original Sabbatean -- the "navi"  who persuaded Shabtai Zvi that he was 
Moshiach), nevertheless was by all  accounts a genuine scholar, and IF he wrote 
that sefer he may well have based it  on earlier sources which were perfectly 
acceptable.   Certainly today  when hundreds of thousands of Jews have been 
saying L'Dovid Hashem Ori in Elul  all over the world for centuries, there is no 
Sabbatean taint, no fear that it  will somehow influence their neshamos 
adversely.   How could it?   It's Tehillim!  Personally I love that particular kapitel 
(if you can have  favorites among different perakim of Tehillim) and 
certainly will not stop  saying it.  You can stop but don't set yourself up as a 
greater authority  than all the poskim based on what you believe is your superior  
understanding.  
 
Although you wrote that you are "following one set of  poskim against others" 
the only posek you actually named was Rav Emden, who  fought a fierce pitched 
battle against Sabbateanism and sometimes suspected  certain individuals who 
in fact were innocent.  Kol hakovod to him for his  fight for kovod Shamayim 
but that battle is over, that war is won.  We do  not need to worry about 
Sabbateanism anymore.  
 
Other than Rav Emden you cited no contemporary or past  poskim, but only 
unnamed "modern scholars [who] have generally confirmed  this attribution."  I 
would not follow modern  academic scholars in preference to da'as Torah, 
especially since one may well  have reason to suspect that most such academics NEVER 
say L'Dovid Hashem Ori  or any other perek of Tehillim.  Their devotion to pure 
halacha may  well be doubted.




--Toby  Katz
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