PESUKEI DEZIMRA / VERSES OF PRAISE “A person should first recount the praise of the Holy One, blessed be He, and then pray” (Berakhot 32b), hence the passages that follow, known as the “Verses of Praise.” The morning service from this point until the end is constructed in three movements, whose themes are: (1) Creation: God as He is in nature; (2) Revelation: God as He is in Torah and prayer; and (3) Redemption: God as He is in history and our lives. The theme of the Verses of Praise is Creation – God as Architect and Maker of a universe of splendor and diversity, whose orderliness testifies to the single creative will that underlies all that exists. The psalms tell this story not in scientific prose but majestic poetry, not proving butproclaiming the One at the heart of all. The core elements of Pesukei DeZimraare: (1) Psalm 145 (Ashrei), a prayer to which the sages attached particular significance, specifying that it should be said three times daily; and (2) Psalms 146–150, which form the culmination and crescendo of the book of Psalms as a whole. These six psalms correspond to the six days of creation; others are added on Shabbat and festivals. Around this inner core other passages have been woven: some from other biblical books and others from selected verses in the book of Psalms. The section begins and ends with a paragraph of blessings: “Blessed is He who spoke” (Barukh SheAmar) at the beginning, and “May Your name be praised for ever” (Yishtabaḥ) at the end.

בָּרוּךְ שֶׁאָמַר Blessed is He who spoke (previous page): An introductory blessing to the Verses of Praise, in two parts. The first is a ten-part litany of praise to God as Creator, each phrase introduced with the word “Blessed” (the second phrase, barukh hu, “blessed is He,” is not a separate verse but was originally a congregational response). The number ten corresponds to the ten times the word Vayomer, “And He said,” appears in the story of creation in Genesis 1, hence the rabbinic saying that “With ten utterances the world was created.”

Blessed are You: The second half of the blessing is a prelude to the biblical verses that follow, mainly from the book of Psalms (“With the songs of Your servant David we will exalt You”) but also from the books of Chronicles and Nehemiah (“extolled by the mouth of His people”). To emphasize the significance of this declaration, we recite it standing and, at the end, kiss the two front fringes of the tallit.

הוֹדוּ לַיהוה Thank the LORD: A psalm of thanksgiving composed by King David to celebrate the moment when the Ark of the Covenant was brought to Jerusalem. In many communities, the Leader says the verse, “For all the gods,” aloud to emphasize the need to make a pause between the word “idols” and the name of God.

רוֹמְמוּ Exalt: These paragraphs (until כִּי גָמַל עָלָי, “for He has been good to me”) are a selection of verses from the book of Psalms on the theme of hope and trust in God. It forms a moving transition from then to now, from the days of King David to today. We may no longer have the Ark, but we still have the covenant.

מִזְמוֹר לְתוֹדָה A psalm of thanksgiving: This psalm accompanied the korban toda, a thanksgiving-offering (Lev. 7:12), brought to express gratitude for coming safely through a hazardous situation (recovering from illness, completing a potentially dangerous journey or being released from captivity). Nowadays, we make the HaGomel blessing (which is said after surviving illness, childbirth or danger) in place of the sacrifice. The psalm first appeared as part of the daily service in Yemenite and French prayer books of the Middle Ages. Its presence here is to emphasize the mood of thankfulness that dominates this section of the prayers.

וַיְבָֽרֶךְ דָּוִיד David blessed: This passage is part of the prayer of thanksgiving said by King David at the end of his life after he had gathered the resources to build the Temple in Jerusalem, to be undertaken by Solomon his son. As with the Tabernacle, the Temple was made out of the voluntary contributions of the people as a whole. For that reason, many have the custom to give money to charity at this point in the service. Some give this as the reason we stand at this point of the service, since we stand to fulfill a mitzva, in this case, giving to charity. Others relate the act of standing to the next passage, “You alone,” taken from the gathering in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah after the Babylonian exile and return, when the people renewed their covenant with God. Immediately prior to this passage, we read that the Levites called on the people to “Rise, bless the LORD your *God” (Neh. 9:*5). Hence we too stand in remembrance of that gathering (Rabbi Eli Munk).