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 * Bekiut Tehillim**

 Tehillim is a collection of some of the most contemporary and personally relevant writings in Tanakh. Given their beauty, one might wonder why they are not more frequently taught in day schools. This Wikispace is collaborative project to make tehillim more widely taught in the day schools.

**Why aren't tehillim taught in day schools?**
Some reasons are To address these issues, the following process helps clarify and provide access: [[home]]
 * The vocabulary of the tehillim is different from and more extensive than that of Chumash
 * They have less elements of a story with a beginning middle and end.
 * The literary structures in Tehillim draw on patterns distinct from Chumash, although parallels certainly exist.
 * They do not transition clearly from one to the next, which could make reading the entire sefer more challenging.
 * Outline / Peshattoc
 * Vocabulary lists to aid reading tehillim in Hebrew
 * References and roles
 * Source Criticism

**Approach**
[[home]]
 * Text of the Psalm: this is a link to a site that has the Hebrew text, multiple translations and a concordance. Although the site is Christian, I have chosen it because of the excellent dictionary concordance (Gesenius and Strongs)
 * **Outline / peshat:** Each of the tehillim starts with a brief outline that provides a WWYWW (Who What Why When Where) to the degree that this is possible. These outlines are descriptive rather than academic. They may be considered a “hook” in the sense that they allow the reader to begin creating connections with the tehillim.
 * **Vocabulary:** A preliminary look at the tehillim shows that a subset of the vocabulary is found mostly uniquely in נ " ך . To help the student of tehillim make progress not only in her learning the individual song, but also to advance in her ability to read נ " ך in general, words that reappear frequently will be listed for each song.
 * **References and Roles:** Building on the outline and vocabulary, each entry provides references from either Tanakh or the role in tefillah. For example, Tehillim 37:5 appearance in bensching or Tehillim 30's possible reference to **David dancing before the aron hakodesh**
 * **Source Criticism:** if helpful, source criticism and historical notes are included. These are provided less for textual comparison and more to explain a phrase or reference that otherwise would be obscure.

**Examples of Literary Structure in Tehillim**

 * 1) Petitionary Praise
 * Lament
 * God will act
 * 1) Declarative Praise
 * Thanksgiving/todah
 * God has acted
 * 1) Descriptive Praise
 * Hymn
 * God is God (we know He is God because we cried to Him and He acted)

**List of Tehillim**
 Tehillim 18 Tehillim 30 Tehillim 145 [[home]]

&v=1&t=WLC#1 Two Old Testament scholars have made observations about the Psalter that are helpful here. Claus Westermann has described the Psalms in terms of the unifying element of praise, supporting the observation above that the psalms are simply different modes of praise. Petitionary Praise Lament God will act Declarative Praise Thanksgiving///todah// God has acted Descriptive Praise Hymn God is God (we know He is God because we cried to Him and He acted) There is a sequence to this understanding of the Psalms whereby the attitude expressed in Hymn becomes the basis for a new petition, a new Lament. Walter Brueggemann picks up this dimension and describes the psalms in terms of the dynamic of life experiences. <span style="display: block; height: 1px; left: -40px; overflow: hidden; position: absolute; top: 20962px; width: 1px;">http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=vbm%20psalm%2030&source=web&cd=2&ved=0CCkQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fvbm-torah.org%2Farchive%2Ftehillim%2F32miz30.doc&ei=UzaLT-HVKMig4gTxhri2CQ&usg=AFQjCNFCQDYArmly4mBMJPmlVRnKjXKWZw&cad=rja