Praise And Prayer 1

The first in what I hope will be a series on prayer, starting with פסוקי דזמרה.

The Gemorah in Berachos 32a says in the name of Rav Samlei לעולם יסדר אדם שבחו של מקום ואח"כ יתפלל.  The Rif and Rosh bring in accordance with this teaching the Gemorah in Shabbos 118b that a person should say halllel every day and the Gemorah says its referring to פסוקי דזמרה.  They cite this Gemorah as a fulfillment of לעולם יסדר אדם וכו'.  It should come out from here that פסוקי דזמרה functions as an intro. to the beseeching of God by praising Him first.  This is clearly the understanding of the Tehillah L’dovid who questions why there is no need for פסוקי דזמרה before mincha and maariv and if one has to do תשלומין for shacharit why there is no need to say פסוקי דזמרה (see siman 52 and 108.)  Rabbe Akiva Eger siman 52 also suggests that one who has to repeat שמונה עשרה because of a mistake made in the prayers that פסוקי דזמרה would have to be recited before the repetition.  That is also based upon this premise. 

The poskim in siman 52 say that if one comes late to the prayers and will miss praying with the quorum then the individual should skip parts (or even all) of פסוקי דזמרה in order to pray with the tzibbur.  The Tur brings that it’s a machlokes Rishonim if one must make up the parts of פסוקי דזמרה that was skipped after the rest of the services are over.  The Shulchan Aruch hedges his bets and says one should fill in the missing mizmorim but not say the berochot of ברוך שאמר וישתבח.  According to the aforementioned understanding, we understand why one wouldn’t make it up for the whole enactment of פסוקי דזמרה is only an intro. to the prayer service but why is there an opinion that one must make it up later? It must be they hold that the main reason for saying פסוקי דזמרה is based upon the Gemorah in Shabbos, that one should praise Hashem daily.  That isn’t just a means of starting the payers; its an independent תקנה.  Since this תקנה can also fulfill לעולם יסדר אדם וכו', Chazal placed it at the beginning of the prayers but even if they weren’t recited in the optimal place, one still must say them later. 

What we need to understand is if one is in a situation where they skip פסוקי דזמרה, how will he fulfill לעולם יסדר אדם וכו'?  Rashi in Avodah Zarah 7b (last one on page) explains that לעולם יסדר אדם וכו' is referring to the first three blessings of שמונה עשרה which are all praises of Hashem.  The פסוקי דזמרה is lengthier and enriched fulfillment of לעולם יסדר אדם וכו', but at its most barebones level it is built into the fabric of שמונה עשרה itself.  The Alter Rebbe Shulchan Aruch writes תְּפִלַּת צִּבּוּר הִיא רְצוּיָהּ וּמְקֻבֶּלֶת לְעוֹלָם, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר:, "כַּבִּיר לֹא יִמְאָס", וְאוֹמֵר:, "פָּדָה בְשָׁלוֹם נַפְשִׁי מִקְּרָב לִי כִּי בְרַבִּים הָיוּ עִמָּדִי". לְפִיכָךְ מִי שֶׁבָּא לְבֵית הַכְּנֶסֶת וּמָצָא צִּבּוּר בְּסוֹף פְּסוּקֵי דְּזִמְרָה – יֵשׁ לוֹ לְדַלֵּג פְּסוּקֵי דְּזִמְרָה כְּדֵי לְהִתְפַּלֵּל עִם הַצִבּוּר, שֶׁפְּסוּקֵי דְּזִמְרָה גַּם כֵן לֹא נִתַּקְּנוּ אֶלָּא בִּשְׁבִיל הַתְּפִלָּה שֶׁתִּהְיֶה רְצוּיָה וּמְקֻבֶּלֶתו עַל יְדֵי שֶׁמְּסַדֵּר שִׁבְחוֹ שֶׁל מָקוֹם תְּחִלָּה וְאַחַר כָּךְ יִתְפַּלֵּל, וְאִם כֵן מוּטָב לְהִתְפַּלֵּל עִם הַצִּבּוּר שֶׁאָז תְּפִלָּתוֹ מְקֻבֶּלֶת וַדַּאי.  According to this explanation, it could be that when one skips he isn’t fulfilling לעולם יסדר אדם וכו', but its worth it to skip anyway for the whole point is to make the prayer better and that is enhanced more by praying with a quorum (based upon Eyuin Teffilah (Kohan) and Pnenei Halacha-Teffilah (Melamed).)