Why the Entire Book of Tehillim Is Read During Shovavim
The word Shovavim, as we have already learned, is an acronym for the names of the Torah portions read during this period: Shemot, Va'era, Bo, Beshalach, Yitro, Mishpatim.
As we can see, the first letter, "shin", corresponds to the Torah portion "Shemot."
The Book of Shemot begins with the sentence:
«Ve-eleh Shemot bnei Yisrael haba'im Mitzrayim et Yaakov ish u-veito ba'u» — (And these are the names of the children of Israel who came to Egypt; each man and his household came with Jacob).
The last letters of the first five words of the Book of Shemot: «Ve-eleh shemot bnei Yisrael haba'im Mitzrayim» — (ואלה שמות בני ישראל הבאים) form the acronym of the word תהלים — Tehillim.
Important!!!
In this sentence, the word Tehillim is formed and appears before the word Mitzrayim.
Since Mitzrayim (Egypt) is associated in the spiritual world with the yetzer hara and all its manifestations—spiritual decline and every form of impurity—Chazal conclude that it is specifically through the holy Book of Tehillim, composed by David HaMelech with Ruach HaKodesh, that one can overcome and neutralize all the problems, illnesses, spiritual decline, and negative phenomena in our lives that are represented by Egypt.
The letter "shin" is the first letter of the word Shemot.
The portion Shemot is the first in the word Shovavim.
Chazal, of blessed memory, teach that everything contained in the first element is present in potential within the whole. This Jewish principle is also reflected in the status of the firstborn, who receives a double portion.
Speaking of the firstborn:
The Arizal, of blessed memory, teaches that 84 ta'aniyot are prescribed for the sins of violating the brit.
Where does this number come from?
We know from the Torah that Jacob married at the age of 84. When blessing Reuben, Jacob says: "Reuben, you are my firstborn, my strength and the first fruit of my vigor, exceeding in rank and exceeding in power." Rashi explains what is meant by "the first fruit of my vigor": it is the first drop, not spilled before marriage. This was Jacob's holiness: he did not waste his first drop, but sat in the tents and studied Torah, unlike Esau, who wandered in search of adventure and had already experienced the grave sin of violating the brit at the age of 15.
The principle that the first contains the potential essence of everything that follows is also found in the Book of Tehillim itself: the number of words in the first four psalms equals the gematria of one of the names of the prosecuting angel and thereby completely neutralizes its influence.
In addition, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef teaches that there is a remedy for atoning for the most serious sins: read the entire Book of Tehillim twice. This is connected to the fact that the gematria of the word "kipper" — (atoned) = 300, just as the sum of reading the Psalms twice—150 and 150—equals 300.Thus, the fact that Chazal instituted the reading of the Book of Tehillim specifically during Shovavim has profound significance: by reading the entire Book of Tehillim on the days when the Torah is taken out—namely, Monday, Thursday, and Shabbat—we neutralize the forces that stand opposed to the Torah.
(Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef in his commentary on Pirkei Avot, chapter 4, Mishnah 4, Rabbi Daniel Cohen)
