Open the Gates — The Secret of the
Psalm of Parnassah 

Why
did לְדָוִד
מִזְמוֹר, לַה׳ הָאָרֶץ וּמְלוֹאָהּ become one of our
great prayers for parnassah?
We say it every Sunday as we begin a new week. In Moroccan communities it is
recited as Shabbat departs and we return to the working world. And on Rosh
Hashanah, in the Syrian community, people will bid extraordinary sums for the
privilege of opening the Heikhal as we recite this Psalm and pray for financial
blessing for the coming year. But there is something strange: the Psalm never actually asks for money. 

In
this morning’s Breakfast & Class,
Open
the Gates — The Secret of the Psalm of Parnassah,
we discover that perhaps this is precisely the point. David HaMelekh begins by
reminding us Who owns everything, asks whether our
hands are clean enough to receive His blessing, and finally calls upon the
gates to open. But when those gates open, it isn’t money that comes through: וְיָבֹא מֶלֶךְ הַכָּבוֹד — “Let the
King of Glory enter.” Perhaps the
greatest secret of parnassah
is not simply asking HaShem to send us more, but inviting Him into the way we
earn, spend, give—and live.