POST-KIPPUR:
It’s a long-standing tradition in our family for each of us to mark down after Yom Kippur one resolution for the coming year, and like a time-capsule, to keep a copy in our mahzor. Thankfully, we haven’t been overly ambitious in past years, and so there’s great usefulness and mild satisfaction in being able to trace back a decade of pledges, remembering both where we stood spiritually in previous years and following the arc of change that’s resulted.
RECITING PSALMS
Introduction:
This brief comment is in memory of my late mother (Brainah Leah bat Moshe Aharon) and for all those who read Tehillim for the sake of others. [Note: Quoted verses are taken from the Mechon Mamre website at http://mechon-mamre.org.]
Chapter 12:
Authorship of the 12th Chapter of Psalms is attributed to King David. It is a Psalm of lament whose message is about treachery and deceit.
People professing friendship and loyalty to one another are often insincere and traitorous.
שָׁוְא, יְדַבְּרוּ–אִישׁ אֶת-רֵעֵהוּ: שְׂפַת חֲלָקוֹת–בְּלֵב וָלֵב יְדַבֵּרוּ.
They speak falsehood every one with his neighbour; with flattering lips, and with a double heart, do they speak. (Psalms 12:3)
In a generation that is morally corrupted, only Divine promises can be trusted.
אַתָּה-ה תִּשְׁמְרֵם; תִּצְּרֶנּוּ, מִן-הַדּוֹר זוּ לְעוֹלָם.
Keep them, O LORD; Preserve us from this generation for ever. (Psalms 12:8)
Coincidentally, this Psalm is read on Shemini Atseret.