Day 39 of the Omer

מְבָרְכִים רֹאשׁ חֹדֶשׁ סִיוָן. אֲמִירַת כָּל הַתְּהִלִּים בְּהַשְׁכָּמָה. יוֹם הִתְוַעֲדוּת. לִשְׁלִישִׁי עוֹלֶה הַבַּעַל קוֹרֵא, וּמֵעַצְמוֹ. אוֹמְרִים אָב הָרַחֲמִים.

1 [On Shabbos Mevarchim, it is our custom] to recite the entire Book of Tehillim early in the morning and to hold a farbrengen on that day.

[In years in which Parshas Bechukosai is read alone,] the third aliyah2 is customarily taken by the baal koreh,3 on his own initiative.4

[After the Torah Reading,] the passage beginning Av HaRachamim is recited.5

אִם בְּחוּקּוֹתַי תֵּלֵכוּ, אִם זֶה הוּא לְשׁוֹן תַּחֲנוּנִים כְּמַאֲמַר רַזַ"ל, שֶׁכַּוָּנָתוֹ הַלְוַאי בְּחוּקּוֹתַי תֵּלֵכוּ. וְזֶה שהקב"ה כִּבְיָכוֹל, מִתְחַנֵּן לִפְנֵיהֶם שֶׁיִּשְׁמְרוּ אֶת הַתּוֹרָה, זֶה עַצְמוֹ מְסַיֵּעַ וְנוֹתֵן כֹּחַ לָאָדָם שֶׁיַּעֲמוֹד בִּבְחִירָתוֹ הַטּוֹבָה. וְעוֹד זֹאת אֲשֶׁר בְּחוּקּוֹתַי תֵּלֵכוּ דְּנַעֲשֵׂית הַנְּשָׁמָה מְהַלֵּךְ.

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בְּבִיאַת הַמָּשִׁיחַ תִּתְגַּלֶּה מַעֲלַת הַפְּשִׁיטוּת וְהַתְּמִימוּת שֶׁיֵּשׁ בַּעֲבוֹדָתָם שֶׁל אֲנָשִׁים פְּשׁוּטִים שֶׁמִּתְפַּלְלִים וְאוֹמְרִים תְּהִלִּים בִּתְמִימוּת.

[It is written:]6 “If you will follow My statutes.” Our Sages say7 that G‑d is pleading here with the Jewish people: “If only you would follow My statutes!” The fact that G‑d entreats the Jews, as it were, to observe the Torah, in itself helps and empowers a person to stand firm in his positive choices.

Moreover, [the phrase Im bechukosai teileichu, here translated as “If you will follow My statutes,” literally means, “If you will walk in My statutes”]. [This implies that] by walking along the path of the Torah, the soul becomes a mehalech (lit., “one who walks”).8

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When Mashiach comes, the value of the simplicity and artless devotion of the common folk, who pray and recite Tehillim with heartfelt sincerity, will be manifest.9

Peering Over the Horizon

It is written,10 “Moshe was humbler than any man on the face of the earth.” As explained in the teachings of Chassidus,11 Moshe’s humility sprang from his prophetic vision of ikvesa diMeshicha, the generation that already hears the approaching footsteps of Mashiach. When Moshe foresaw how the Jews of that time would strive to observe the Torah and its mitzvos, despite their lesser intellectual and emotional capacity, he stood humbled. The simple faith and religious commitment they would exhibit in the face of persecution and rampant secularism made his own spiritual achievements small in his eyes.