אות - צח

When you say the Psalms, it is as great as if King David himself were saying them.

King David wrote the Psalms with Divine inspiration – the holy breath, ru’ach hakodesh (cf. Likutey Moharan I, 156) . This holy breath is still in the words of the Psalms. When you recite the Psalms, your own breath arouses the holy breath in these words. Thus, when you say the Psalms, it is as if King David himself were chanting them.

Saying Psalms is a remedy for a sick person as it brings him to put his trust only in G-d.

This trust is a support and a staff. One leans and depends on God just as one leans on a staff or cane. King David said, “God has been my staff” (Psalms 18:19) . He could lean on God as on a physical support.

It is written, “If he gets up and walks about outside on his staff , he shall be cleared” (Exodus 21:19) . One is healed through the staff of trust.

It is also written, “A staff shall come forth out of the stock of Jesse” (Isaiah 11:1) . This verse speaks of the Mashiach, who will emanate from David. (He will hold the healing staff of faith.) It is also written, “The breath of our nostrils, God’s Mashiach” (Lamentations 4:20) . (The staff of healing will arise through the holy breath that King David placed in the Psalms.)

Regarding the Messianic age, it is written, “There shall yet sit old men and women in the broad places of Jerusalem for many days, every man with his staff in his hand” (Zechariah 8:4) . From this verse, the Talmud learns that tzaddikim will resurrect the dead in the Messianic age ( Pesachim 68a; Zohar I, 114b, 135a) . The staff that they hold will be that of Elisha, which was used to resurrect the son of the Shunamite. Thus, it is written, “Place my staff on the boy’s face” (II Kings 4:29) . (This is the healing staff of faith.)

[This was not recorded completely or perfectly. Despite the fact that the major portion is no longer available, the little that was understood and recalled is here included.]

Winter is pregnancy and summer is birth ( Tzaddik #198 ).

The Rebbe then spoke wondrous words, but they were mostly forgotten. He spoke of the summer which was then approaching. This took place in Nisan, shortly before Pesach, on the third day after the brit milah of the Rebbe’s son, Shlomo Ephraim, of blessed memory. 174 The child was born shortly before Rosh Chodesh Nisan 5565 (March 1805) ( Yemey Moharnat #5; Tzaddik #153).

The Rebbe then said that in the winter, all plants and grasses die. Their strength dissipates and they are like the dead.

But when summer comes, they awaken and return to life. Meditation and prayer is SIChah . A bush of the field is a SIaCh (Genesis 2:5) . When every bush ( SIaCH ) of the field begins to return to life and grow, it yearns to be included in prayer and meditation ( SIChah ) (see “ His Wisdom ” #144, #227; Likutey Moharan II, 11) . It is written, “Isaac went out to meditate in the field” (Genesis 24:63) . The Talmud says that this meditation was prayer ( Berakhot 26b) . When summer begins to approach, it is particularly good to meditate in the fields. This is a time when you can pray to God with longing and yearning.

The Rebbe spoke at length about this. He also discussed several other matters.