Tehillim 115 | “Why Should the Nations Say, 'Where, Now, Is Their God?'”

This psalm opens with a claim that appears several times elsewhere in the Tanakh (see for example Shemot 32:12; Yoel 2:17; Tehillim 79:10) — the name of the Lord is profaned when the people of Israel suffer. The backdrop to the psalm is the dire state of the Israelites, which allows the nations to mock them, thus desecrating the name of God. In a shiur delivered at the Yemei Iyun Be'Tanakh, Rav Itamar Eldar points to a significant difference between our psalm and the other appearances of the claim of 'chillul Hashem' in the Tanakh: usually, the claim is part of a prayer to God, pleading with Him to show compassion and deliver the people of Israel. But here, the psalm continues instead with mockery of the nations’ idols: “Their idols are silver and gold, made by human hands” (v. 4), followed by a call to the people of Israel to place their trust in the Lord: “Israel, trust in the Lord – He is their help and their shield” (v. 9).

When Israel is at a low point, and the nations are thriving and mocking us, there is a real danger that the people of Israel themselves might begin to believe that the gods of the nations are more powerful. That is why the poet addresses the people of Israel directly, explaining that the idols of the nations are meaningless, and urging them to trust in the Lord alone.

In the second half of the psalm, only after the Israelites demonstrate their willingness to trust in God even during times of distress, does the blessing arrive for all who placed their trust in Him: “The Lord remembers us and will bless us – He will bless the House of Israel; He will bless the House of Aharon; He will bless those who fear the Lord, small and great alike” (vv. 12–13).

The two halves of the psalm are often perceived as separate psalms, since the first half is skipped when reciting the abridged 'Hallel'. What is the reasoning behind this omission?

The first half wrestles with hardship, while the second half transitions to blessing and joyful hope. Rav Eldar explains that it is precisely on truly joyous occasions, on days when we recite the full 'Hallel', that we are able to look back squarely at the difficult situation and recognize how we should have trusted in God, who was present all along. Through that perspective, we can draw ethical insight and guidance for the future, and the challenges to come. That is why on such days we read both halves of the psalm. On regular days, which are less joyful occasions, Chazal did not require us to engage in this confrontation, and so we skip straight to the second half of the psalm.