From Rosh Hodesh Elul through Shemini Atzeret, Ashkenazic Jews recite L’David Ori- Psalm 27 every morning and every evening. What is the origin of this custom? Why do we recite this particular psalm at this particular season? And what is its message to us today?

This custom is not mentioned in the Talmud, the Geonim, Maimonides (12th century), Rabbi Jacob ben Asher’s Tur (14th century), the Shulhan Arukh by Rabbis Yosef Karo and Moshe Isserles (16th century), or even many late codes of Jewish law. It is first mentioned in the siddurim of Rabbi Ya’akov Emden ( 1745) and Rabbi Shabtai Rashkov (1866), a pupil of the Baal Shem Tov.

According to Talmudic tradition, the Book of Psalms was written by King David (Bava Batra 14b) and King David devoted most of his life to war. In this psalm, he requests that God grant him physical and spiritual refuge from his warfare. The most basic explanation is that Psalm 27 was chosen to be recited at this time of year because it contains words of encouragement during the Days of Awe, when every Jew is fearful about his fate, and a supplication to God for salvation. There we read:

One thing I ask of GOD,
only that do I seek:
to live in GOD’s house
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon GOD’s beauty,
to frequent the temple. ( Psalms 27: 4)

The arc of experience is that we should end up in the safety of God’s home.

Rabbi Shabtai Rashkov gives an Kabbalistic explanation. Psalm 27 mentions God’s name 13 times that corresponds to the 13 attributes of God that we say in our High Holiday prayers. If we recite it, it will protect us from an evil decree when we are judged by the heavenly court at this time of year. Rabbi Ephrayim Zalman Margaliot and others refer to a midrash found in Midrash Tehilim on this psalm. There the Rabbis explain this chapter as referring to Rosh Hashanah “The Lord is my light” and Yom Kippur “And my salvation”. Rabbi Margaliot quotes this midrash and then adds a connection of the psalm to Sukkot “‘He will shelter me in his Sukkah ”. In this explanation this psalm connects Rosh HaShanah, Yom Kippur, and Sukkot.

I wanted to build on these ideas based on the Mishnah in Sukkah. There we read:

There was an incident involving Tavi, the Canaanite slave of Rabban Gamliel, who was sleeping beneath the bed, and Rabban Gamliel lightheartedly said to the Elders: Did you see my slave Tavi, who is a Torah scholar and knows that slaves are exempt from the mitzva of sukka? Therefore, he sleeps under the bed. Rabbi Shimon continued: And by the way, as Rabban Gamliel was not issuing a halakhic ruling, we learned that one who sleeps beneath the bed did not fulfill his obligation. ( Mishnah Sukkah 2:1)

What do we learn from Tavi? Actually very little regarding the legal obligation of how to sleep in a Sukkah. Since it is a positive, time-bound mitzvah, Tavi who was a Canaanite slave is exempt from the obligation to fulfill the mitzvah of Sukkah, but he still slept under the bed in the Sukkah. But he was a scholar. So, while we learn little about our legal obligation we learn a ton about the nature of the commandment.

As the joke goes, Goldberg goes to synagogue to talk with God, I go to synagogue to talk with Goldberg. Tavi had no obligation to be there, but he was sleeping in the Sukkah to be close to Rabban Gamliel, God, or both.

In the arc of the experiences from the advent of Elul through now , we pile on a myriad of mitzvot. After the apex of Sukkot we get to Shemini Atzeret. Now there is no obligation to take the four species or stay in the Sukkah, but, like Tavi, we yearn for proximity, community, and even relationship with God. Many of us tarry and eat in the Sukkah but with no blessing.

Building on Rabbi Margaliot maybe we say Psalm 27 because it takes us from Rosh Hashanah “The Lord is my light”, to Yom Kippur “And my salvation”, to Sukkot “‘He will shelter me in his Sukkah ”and finally to Shemini Atzeret – to “live in GOD’s house.” We can aspire that we like Tavi might do it out of relationship and not just obligation.

-Much of the history was borrowed from an excellent article by Rabbi Prof. David Golinkin