I have been reading with great interest as a new subscriber the Avodah list thread about<br>Tehillim, and their Tone.<br><br>IMHO, regarding tone, I think it's axiomatic, that once a group of people are gathered together<br>
for prayer for a severe situation R"L, it would be hard to change the nusach mid-tune so to speak<br>then suddenly switch to something upbeat, once the call and response psukim are being<br>read in a serious tone, which is certainly appropriate. In other words, there's probably <br>
no such thing as ending on an up note. <br><br>Regarding the psukim we sing on Friday night in Kabbalas Shabbos, and how a lot of those<br>pesukim are somewhat negative in comparison, ArtScroll Tehillim, in my 2-volume set<br>
goes on in some detail listing many mefarshim who commentate on the nature of these<br>kapitlach in the 90s that we sing on Friday night.<br><br>In short, the theme seems to be, Shabbos is M'Eyn Olam Habah, and therefore, come, let's<br>
realize that we are now zocheh to a taste of this, perhaps in contrast to the Dor HaMidbar,<br>which may not have been. I would be doing the ArtScroll's masterful job injustice to <br>describe the myriad pshatim, further, but that's essentially the pshat in the mix of<br>
themes in these psukim.<br><br>Best,<br><br>Harv Pechere<br>