Tehilim Perek 137

Tehilim Perek 137 Hello everybody. Today’s NachDaily will discuss Tehilim perek 137, a very famous chapter. The Gemarah in Gittin 57B explains that Hashem gave Dovid Divine insight to foresee the destruction of the first Temple when Am Yisrael was at the rivers of Bavel, and the second, when Edom tried to uproot the earth of the Beis Hamikdash. This chapter is the lament and dirge of the Leviim after they were exiled. The author recalls sitting by the rivers of Babylon, weeping and remembering Tzion. The exiled musicians hid their instruments so that they wouldn’t be taken away by their enemies. They would be spoken to mockingly: “Shiru lanu, m’shir Tzion - Sing us a song from Eretz Yisrael.” This caused us great emotional anguish. How can we sing Hashem’s songs on foreign soil? The author now speaks even more emotionally: “Im eshkachech Yerushalayim, tishkach yemini, If I forget Yerushalayim, let my right hand forget what it’s supposed to do.” The perek ends with an attempt to evoke Hashem’s kindness on Yerushalayim, to remember the day of its destruction and punish those who destroyed it. The perek opens with the famous words of: אעַ֥ל נַהֲר֨וֹת ׀ בָּבֶ֗ל שָׁ֣ם יָ֭שַׁבְנוּ גַּם־בָּכִ֑ינוּ בְּ֝זָכְרֵ֗נוּ אֶת־צִיּֽוֹן׃ By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat, and also wept, as we thought of Zion. There’s an amazing Ramad Walli on this, a real gem. He explains that the connection between this perek and the previous one of “ki l’olam chasdo” is that this chapter is also about th