Pesukei d’Zimrah: Elul Kavanot: Baruch Sh’Amar: I Know How to Sing

“A person should constantly praise the Holy One, Blessed is He, because God desires the songs and praises of Israel. One who knows how to properly praise God, has his prayers accepted, and he will be protected by God and saved from his troubles (Zohar I, 178b).”

Who can honestly say that they know how to properly praise God?

Tradition teaches us that Baruch Sh’amar was presented by Heaven on a golden tablet engraved with its 87 words. It is our spiritual authorization to claim that we know how to properly sing God’s praises (Sha’ar ha’Kavanot).

It is difficult to approach prayer with confidence after all the destruction of Av. During Elul, we should recite the Baruch Sh’amar with the Kavanah that it is this prayer that allows us to offer our praises to God as authorized singers of His praises, so that our prayers regain the power they lost in the destruction.