Morning Blessings-Tenth of Tevet-You Are A Shelter

“You are a shelter for me; You preserve me from distress; You envelop me with glad song of rescue, Selah (Psalms 32:7).” Rabbi Yosi explained it is God, Who is a hiding place and a shield to the man who walks in the ways of the Torah; such a man in is covered by the shadow of His wings so that no one can do him mischief.

“You preserve me from distress,” that is, from the adversary on high and from the adversary here below, both of whom are the same Evil Inclination, who is the opponent above and the opponent below; and if not for the Evil Inclination, man would have no adversary in the world.

“You enveloped me with a glad song of rescue,” is an allusion to those songs that possess grades of potency to say; with which, therefore, “You will envelop me,” to afford me deliverance.

Observe that all the songs and hymns that David sang contained deep allusions of wisdom, because he compose them under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, which alone it was that prompted him. (Zohar II 178b–179a)

Application:

To prepare for the siege of Jerusalem of the Tenth of Tevet, we focus on being enveloped by God rather than the enemy. We are taught that the best way to protect ourselves is with, “Glad songs of rescue,” meaning, singing our prayers with joy.

We use our prayers to call on God to serve as our Shelter from our enemies. This is a good time of year to check the Mezuzot on our shelters.