Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Lewis Reich" <LBR AT sprynet.com>]

On 3 Mar 99, at 10:43, Matthew Anstey wrote:

> Pardon my ignorance, but I was wondering if someone could inform me of
> contemporary Jewish practice regarding daily/weekly readings from the
> Tanakh. Specifically, I would like to know how the psalms are read. Are they
> assigned each day/week to accompany the Torah readings? Are all the psalms
> used in this way, or a selection? Are they read in order?

 For a good summary, see the last couple of pages of the article on Psalms in 
the Encyclopedia Judaica.  Some of the psalms are part of the daily prayer 
service.  There is also a psalm for each day of the week that is read on that 
day, 
with an introductory sentence declaring that this was the psalm that the 
Levites 
would recite in the Temple.   The psalms are included in their entirety in 
most 
large prayerbooks.  In addition, the Pslams are divided into five books, into 
seven sections for recitation on the respective days of the week, and into 
thirty 
parts for each day of the month,  Psalms are also recited as part of the 
night 
prayer before retiring, prayers by or for the sick, the burial service, the 
memorial service for the dead, and the service at the consecration of a 
tombstone.

Lewis Reich
LBR AT sprynet.com