Commentaire de citation sur Les Psaumes 145:1

Seeing the word ויהי is emanated from the tetragrammaton, this indicates that the tenth emanation belongs to G’d. The meaning of the word מלך in our verse may be similar to what David had in mind when he said in psalm 145,1 ארוממך אלוה-י המלך, “let me extol You, my G’d and king.” It may also correspond to the way the word is used in Numbers 23,21 ה' אלוה-יו עמו ותרועת מלך בו, “the Lord their G’d is with them and their king’s acclaim in their midst.” Solomon may have used the word in a similar sense when he said in Kohelet 5,8 מלך לשדה נעבד, “even a king is indebted to the soil.” The expression מלך is used in that sense (also by Solomon) in Song of Songs 7,6 when he said מלך אסור ברהטים, “a king is held captive by (nazarite) tresses.” The common denominator of the verses we have mentioned is that even a king is subject to restrictions. When G’d is described as king, this does not necessarily mean His total independence, but His dependence on His subjects in a certain way. [All of this is part of what our sages call His ענוותנותו, “His self-imposed humility.” Ed.] Similarly, the verse ה’ צבאות הוא מלך הכבוד סלה, “the Lord of Hosts, He is the king of the attribute כבוד.” [If I understand the author correctly, the latter expression, i.e. king of an attribute, even that of כבוד, is less encompassing than the title represented by the tetragrammaton. All of this shows that G’d imposes restrictions upon Himself. The reason that the psalmist added the word סלה was so that we should not err and think that when G’d manifests Himself as an attribute, כנוי, that this represents His essence. Ed.]

This verse contains a clue to the whole mystical dimension of the concept that man “blesses” the Lord. The whole idea of the creature blessing the Creator instead of vice versa is somewhat strange. We do not find any other place in the whole Torah except here where G’d commands us to “bless” His name. This is the verse which prompted David to say in Psalms 145,1 “and I will bless Your Name.” He also said הודו לו ברכו שמו, “give thanks to Him, bless His Name” (Psalms 100,4). We find many similar quotes in the Book of Psalms.

I wonder why the Torah bothered in this instance to tell us that while the Israelites were in the desert that one of them cursed the name of the Lord thus causing disrespect for G’d? Surely if all the Torah wanted was to teach us the penalty for such a blasphemer, all it had to write was a verse informing us (as it did anyway in verse 15) that anyone who curses the Lord employing His holy Name the tetragrammaton when doing so is guilty of being stoned to death? Even the Gentiles had been warned not to curse the Lord (compare Sanhedrin 56) seeing it is one of the seven commandments which is applicable to all of mankind. There certainly was no need to teach Israelites that this is a cardinal sin!
I suppose we must answer that the Torah hoped to achieve two objectives when not only spelling out this legislation here but illustrating it with a personal example so that we would remember this better. 1) The fact that this individual who was guilty of this sin is named is a compliment to the Jewish people, seeing that only one single person had been guilty of that sin during the forty years in the desert and even that person had been the son of an Egyptian father. 2) the story teaches the important principle that the only way to become guilty of this ultimate crime is to first pronounce the holy Name and then utter a curse upon it. This we derive from the wording of the Torah: ויקב בן האשה הישראלית את ה' ויקלל, “the son of the Israelite woman pronounced the name of the Lord and cursed it” (verse 11). The sequence in which the blasphemer acted made him liable to the death penalty. When someone means to bless the name of the Lord he has to do so in the reverse manner, i.e. first to concentrate on the individual letters of the tetragram and on their meaning and subsequently to pronounce the name (in the permissible formula). When done in such a manner one qualifies for the reward due to people who bless the Lord. There is an allusion to this sequence in Psalms 145,1, a psalm we recite several times a day, where David wrote ארוממך אלוקי המלך ואברכה שמך לעולם ועד, “I will extol You my G’d my King, and bless Your name forever and ever.” The reward for following this procedure perfectly is long or infinite life. David preceded the sages in Berachot 8 who directed that a person should make a point of not beginning to pray until he has walked a distance of the width of two entrances to the Synagogue. (He should take time to concentrate before commencing to say the words).