Halakhah sobre Exodo 33:13

What goes for this blessing, al netilat yada’im, that it is worded with both the explicit second person singular pronoun “You” and the “hidden” pronoun implicit in the third person singular past tense verb form,⁴²The original Hebrew is much more elliptical: “be-lashon nigleh ve-nistar.” These are technical grammatical terms. See note 46. is the rule for the rest of the blessings that are fixed according to this formula. This is the secret of blessings, that “the World” is what “sanctified us by His commandments,” and we bless it with the phrase melekh ha-‘olam – “King of the World,” and thus you will find it in the Song at the Sea, “Adonai yimlokh le-‘olam va’ed” – “YHWH will be King for ‘olam forever.”⁴³Ex 15:18, ordinarily translated “The Lord will reign forever and ever” (JSB). And this has been evoked by the expression “YHWH will be King,” the word “world” and the word “forever.” This is a reference to the three names for God in “The Thirteen Attributes,” which is similarly evoked by the expression “Barukh YHWH ha-mevorakh le-‘olam va’ed” – “Blessed be the Lord to Whom blessing is due as ‘World’ forever,”⁴⁴That is, the usual communal liturgical response to the call to worship: “Barekhu et YHWH ha-mevorakh.” Clearly, R. Bahya is interpreting it midrashically, not in its ordinary sense. and likewise in the prayer “Aleynu le-shabe’ah” by the expression, “Before the Kings of Kings, the Holy One Blessed be He, Who spread out the heavens and established the earth.”⁴⁵Here too, the title melekh (King) is associated with “the World,” that is, “the heavens…and earth” which He spread out and established. It is precisely in this manner that the phrasing of blessings was fixed and ordered. But for the experts on the literal meaning of the text, it seems grammatically inconsistent, since it would be better to say, “us whom You sanctified and by Your commandments You commanded.”⁴⁶Asher kidashtanu bi-mitzvotekha vetzvitanu as opposed to asher kidshanu bi-mitzvotav ve-tzivavanu. However, there are pretty good reasons for it to be phrased exactly as it is with its literal meaning, in order to fix in the heart that the Holy One Blessed be He is both revealed and hidden:⁴⁷Nigleh ve-nistar, which are also the grammatical terms R. Bahya uses at the beginning of this paragraph. See note 41.revealed in regard to His ways and actions; hidden in regard to His essence and His very Selfhood. Therefore you will find that when Moses Our Teacher (peace be upon him) asked about knowing Him (may He be Blessed) in regard to his ways, he said to Him, “Pray let me know Your ways.”⁴⁸Ex 33:13. He replied, “I will make all My goodness pass before you.”⁴⁹Ibid., 33:19. But when he asked to know Him in regard to his very Selfhood, and said to Him, “Oh let me behold Your Presence,”⁵⁰Ibid., 33:18. He replied, “You cannot see My face.”⁵¹Ibid., 33:20. He explained to him these two ways: that He is revealed, and that it is possible to conceive of Him in regard to His ways and actions; and that He is hidden in regard to His Selfhood, and there is no power or device to conceive of Him in this way. And therefore, here when we say “Barukh Atah” – “Blessed are You” – with a present participle [and the pronoun “You”], we should focus on how He (May He be Blessed) is revealed through His actions. And when we continue speaking using the third person singular (be-nistar), saying “asher kidshanu bi-mitzvotav ve-tzivanu” – “who sanctified us by His commandments and commanded us” – we should focus on how He (May He be Blessed) is hidden and invisible to our power of conception. An analogy to this is that the sun, which is one of His servants,⁵²R. Bahya’s Hebrew wordplay here “she-ha-shemesh she-hu ehad mi-shamsav” is lost in translation.and of which human beings can conceive through its actions, such as how it works in the lower world with its heat on the speaking species, animals, and plants, and through its light and heat. And thus it is written, “nothing escapes (nistar) his heat.”⁵³Ps. 19:7 (JSB); “his” refers to the sun. But if trying to conceive the sun itself, one looks into the light itself, the light of his own eyes will be extinguished, and understand this! So in order to hint at Him being revealed and hidden, Scripture has said, “And your faithful ones shall bless You,”⁵⁴Ps. 145:10. that is to say, “in this way they shall bless You:” revealed and hidden, and this what is meant by “They shall talk of the majesty of Your kingship [kevod malkhutkha],”⁵⁵Ibid., 145:11. using the present tense, to teach about Him being revealed.⁵⁶Actually, in the Hebrew the verb is in the imperfect tense. And it said, “to make His mighty acts known among men,”⁵⁷Ibid., 145:12. to teach about Him being hidden.