אות-א

Reciting Psalms Is Intrinsic To Repentance Whoever wants to merit to repentance, should recite Psalms frequently, because the recital of Psalms is mesugal (propitious) for repentance. For there are fifty gates of repentance; forty nine gates, everyone is capable of entering and attaining, however the fiftieth gate is the aspect of the repentance of Hashem Yisburach Himself – so to say, for also by Him Blessed He we find the aspect of repentance, as it is written (Malachi 3:7), "Return to Me and I will return to you (plural)." And these forty nine gates of repentance are an aspect of the forty nine letters which compose the twelve names of the tribes of G-d (-the sons of Jacob), for each and every gate has a letter of the forty nine letters of the tribes. Now behold, everyone desires to fear Your name, and even still not everyone merits to repent, for there is one who has absolutely no arousal for repentance, and even someone who has arousal for repentance, does not merit to reach the letter and the gate of repentance which is applicable to him. And even if he arrives there, it is possible that the gate of repentance will be closed, and because of all this, the person will not merit to repent. And through the recital of Psalms, even someone who does not have any arousal to repent, he will be aroused to repent, and will also merit through the Psalms to reach the gate and the letter pertaining to him, and to open the gate. It comes out that through Psalms one merits to repent. And this is the aspect of (Samuel 2:23:1), "the words of the man who was raised high," and our Rabbis o.b.m. expounded (Moed Kuttun 16b), that (the words "raised high"- hookam oal, infer that) he raised (-established) the yoke (oal) of repentance, "and the pleasant songs of Israel (end of the verse)," because through the aspect of the pleasant songs of Israel, namely the Book of Psalms which he enacted, through this he established the yoke of repentance. Because through Psalms one merits to repentance, as mentioned above. And this is what our Rabbis o.b.m. said (Avoda Zura 4b), David was not behooving of that incident (-with Bas Shevah), only in order to teach repentance to the individual etc.. It comes out, that the main instruction of repentance that is through King David is the Book of Psalms, which he said with tremendous arousal and Divine Inspiration, to the extent that each and everyone, according to his standing, can find himself inside the Book of Psalms, and merit to repentance through the recital of Psalms, as mentioned above.