2 Psalms of the Ramchal That Have Survived to This Day

2 Psalms of the Ramchal That Have Survived to This Day

Few people know that, in addition to his 40 works, the Ramchal also had a book of Tehillim. At the age of 20, the great Ramchal (Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto) wrote 150 psalms modeled on the psalms of David HaMelech. In 1781, one of his close associates, Moses Mendelssohn, wrote to a friend about the Ramchal: “A great genius in many respects. He wrote several new Psalms, which I have not had the opportunity to see.” These “new psalms” were unable to stem the opposition from the Ramchal’s opponents, who further accused him of attempting to “replace” or “supplement” David’s psalms. Nevertheless, two of the 150 psalms survived and were printed in “Bikkurei Ha-Ittim” in 1825. P.S. Both surviving psalms can be found on our website in the photo accompanying this post. (“Bikkurei Ha-Ittim” (1825), Rabbi Gavin Michal)