[Avodah] Using Psalms Liturgically

[Arie Folger]

Rabosai,

One of the basic building blocks of our liturgy is Tehillim. They are
also used as ad hoc tefillot. On a simple level, they cultivate the
worshipper's relationship to G"d, and thus, any recitation, even
thematically unrelated to whatever one wants to express at the moment,
is good. However, it may be even more meaningful to express ourselves
through Tehillim, which requires an awareness of the underlying
themes.

this is not only important for ad hoc tefillot, but also to understand
what we are doing during our tefillot qevu'ot.

In this spirit, I have written a blog post exploring the themes of
Mizmor 20, ya'ankha HASHEM beyom tzarah, particularly in light of (a)
its inclusion in the weekday morning liturgy, and (b) as being
appropriate for women in labor.

The blog post may be accessed here:

http://ariefolger.wordpress.com/2009/12/14/the-warmongering-laboring-amazons/

Your comments are most welcome.

Good 'Hanukah,
-- 
Arie Folger,
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