Tehillim 8

Torat Imecha is dedicated by Mrs. Nechama Wolfson in memory of her grandmother, Riva Schwab, Rivka bat Alexander Sender. Visit the OU Women's Initiative to register for additional content!

Out of the Mouths of Babes

How mighty is G-d's Name throughout the world! It is fitting that He has placed His glory over the Heavens!

From the mouths of small children G-d demonstrates His might (through the miracle of nursing). The perfection of His world silences those who would deny Him. When we see the wonders He has made, the heavenly bodies that He has set in motion, we realize how insignificant man is. Why does G-d even notice us? Yet He raised us to just beneath the level of angels, then He gave us a soul and free will, which even angels do not possess. G-d gave man mastery over the world that He created, over all the other species. And man is nothing compared to G-d, so imagine how mighty He must be!

David's musical note on this Psalm indicates that it is to be accompanied by a type of instrument called a gitis. (There are a number of theories as to why it is called this. One is that David gave this Psalm specifically to a Levite musician named Oved-Edom the Gittite, whom we met in II Samuel chapter 6.)

Author: Rabbi Jack Abramowitz