Halakhah su Salmi 31:78

In sum, according to the enactment of the Sages, one must recite the first paragraph of Shema and Ha-mapil before going to sleep, but the remaining psalms are not required. Nevertheless, many follow the custom of R. Yehoshua b. Levi and recite these psalms to ward off harmful entities (see MA 239:2).³Berakhot 5a states: “R. Naḥman says: A Torah scholar recite Shema on his bed (for his learning protects him). Abaye says: Even a Torah scholar must recite one verse invoking God’s mercy, such as, ‘Into Your hand I entrust my spirit. You redeem me, Lord, God of truth’ (Tehilim 31:6).” Rif and Rosh mention that a Torah scholar is not obligated to repeat Shema, but Rambam and SA do not mention this, implying that according to them, a Torah scholar must also repeat it. Perhaps the source for their opinion is y. Berakhot 1:1, which discusses Torah scholars who recited Shema several times in order to fall asleep while saying Shema. Nevertheless, regarding the other verses, the recitation of which is not obligatory, it seems that a Torah scholar may opt to fall asleep while learning from a book or while deep in thought. However, Kaf Ha-ḥayim 239:1 states that by reciting Arizal’s formula for the bedtime Shema, one effects a tikun, and therefore even a Torah scholar must recite it.

And this was the subject of what Moses asked when he said, “Please, let me behold Your Presence!”⁵⁰Ex 33:18. Here it should be asked, was Moses asking for something possible or impossible? If for something possible, why did God refuse him and say, “You cannot see my face”?⁵¹Ibid., 33:20. And if for something impossible, why did he ask? And the answer to this strictly speaking, is that Moses sought to perceive something while he was still in a material body what he would perceive only after he had been separated from matter. And the reason that it occurred to him to ask was because he saw that he had already stood on Mt. Sinai for forty days, and the power of his flesh had attenuated and the earthy matter in him weakened with the increase of light over him, by which the beams of light shone from his face. So he asked while he was still made of matter as if he were not, that he not be hindered from perceiving what he would perceive after the separation (of his soul from his flesh). And the Holy One Blessed be He replied to him, “For man may not see me and live,”⁵²Ibid. that is to say, no matter what, because you are still a man, it is impossible for you to perceive while you’re still material what you will perceive only afterwards. And so they said in the Midrash,⁵³Sifra, beginning of Vayikra 2. “‘For man may not see me and live:’⁵⁴Ibid. while alive they do not see, but upon their death the do see.” And this is after the separation of the soul from its material form. And it is possible to specify further that “upon their death” means when they are about to die, as in the topic they discussed in Midrash Deuteronomy Rabbah Parashat Ekev,⁵⁵Though it doesn’t appear in the printed editions of Deuteronomy Rabbah (Chavel). “How abundant is the good that You have in store for those who fear You.⁵⁶Ps 31:20. ‘It happened that when R. Abbahu was about to die, he saw the gift of his reward, what the Holy One Blessed be He was going to give him in the time to come, and all the good prepared for the righteous themselves in the time to come. So when he saw all these consolations which had been prepared, he exclaimed, “All these are for Abbahu!” and immediately he desired to die, and began reciting: “How abundant is the good that You have in store for those who fear You.”⁵⁷Ibid.

The main strength of piety from beginning to end is that although they scoff at him he does not forsake his piety, his intent is for heaven’s sake and he does not look at the countenances of women: especially so among other men where women are customarily seen, for example, if he has been in the wedding hall where the women were garbed in choicest ornaments and all were gazing but he did not stare, for that will he merit the great good that is laid up, as it is written, “which thou hast laid up for those that fear thee” (Ps. 31:20). And his eye will be satiated with the Divine Glory: “Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty” (Isa. 33:17). For this reason it is best for the individual when he meets a woman, whether single or married, whether a gentile woman or Jewish, whether she be of age or a minor, to turn his face aside from looking at her. Thus do we find in Job (31:1), “I made a covenant with mine eyes; how then should I look upon a maid.” And thus is it written in the book of Ben Sira, “Avert your eyes from a beautiful woman, lest you stumble and incur penalties for her.” ¹Ben Sira 9:5. (So Isa. 33:15) “And shutteth his eyes from looking upon evil” refers to him who gazes not upon women at the time when they stand by their wash.²Baba Bathra 57b. When they wash their garments and lift their skirts so as not to soil them, they uncover their legs, and we know a woman’s leg is a sexual incitement³Berakoth 24a.
/4/ Solomon Ibn Gabirol, Choice of Pearls, ed. Zvi Phillipawski (Warsaw: J. Lebenson, 1863), p. 9; also Jerusalem Talmud Berakoth 1:5. All future references to the Jerusalem Talmud will be designated J. T. and so said the sage, “nothing interposes better before desire, than closing one’s eyes.”

Because of these reasons things have come to such a pass that one says whatever enters his mouth to say, without first considering that it might enter the category of rechiluth and lashon hara. (In our many sins), we have become so habituated to this sin that in the eyes of many men it is not considered a sin at all — even if he would say something which is apparent to everyone as absolute lashon hara and rechiluth, as when he would speak of his friend and demean him to the very ends of degradation. And if one asked him: "Why did you speak lashon hara and rechiluth?" he would think in his heart that he [his chastiser] thought to make him a ["fanatic"] tzaddik or chasid, and he would not accept his words at all, regarding this [(lashon hara and rechiluth)], in our many sins, as completely insignificant.

And from this root itself is the matter of a false oath (shevuah), meaning to say when he swears to fulfill something and does not fulfill it. [This] is called an oath of speech, about which another separate commandment comes in the Order of Kedoshim Tehiyu, as it is stated (Leviticus 19:12), "And you shall not swear falsely by My name." As one who swears by the great name [of God] to say something was and [yet] he knows that there is falsehood in his mouth, behold, he is acting lightly with the awe of God; as if to say in his heart that He is not true - 'let his lips be silent.' And so the one who swears to do something and afterwards does not do it is, behold, also among the rebels against light, the deniers of truth. As the understanding of "swore," is, according to my opinion, that he concludes in his heart and says with his mouth to fulfill that thing that he swore about and that he will never change it, [just] as God, may He be blessed, exists and does not change forever and ever. And that is [why] the expression, sworn nishbaa always comes in the passive; meaning to say that he is acted upon by his words to make it exist, [just] like he said about His existence, blessed be He.