Chasidut su Salmi 102:78
Kedushat Levi
Deuteronomy 26,18. “and Hashem on His part has guaranteed you this day to be His treasured people, as He had said to you.” The next verse spells out the result of G’d having avouched the Jewish people, i.e. ולתתך עליון על כל הגוים אשר עשה לתהלה לשם ולתפארת, “and to make you high above all the other nations that He has made in praise, in name, and in glory;”
In trying to explain this verse we are stymied by the fact that the word: לשם does not precede the words: לתהלה ולתפארת.
This apparent anomaly is explained with the help of the statement in the Talmud Sanhedrin 99 that repentant sinners occupy a spiritual plateau that is higher than that of the natural born righteous people, who have never sinned. It is explained additionally by a statement in the Talmud Yuma 86 that the effect of repentance is so great that erstwhile sins may be converted retroactively into being accounted as meritorious deeds.
G’d’s servants may be divided into two distinct categories. One category has a mental image of G’d and what He stands for in front of him at all times, whereas the second category arouses itself from time to time in order to summon up such an image of G’d’s Majesty, which in turn impresses upon him the duty to serve Him as befits a king. This latter type of individual does not present the Creator with a list of personal requests, however. He is content to be able to serve his Master the King of Kings, in fact he regards it as a privilege. This latter type of individual requests only that he be able to continue to serve the Lord, and while so engaged he shuts out any thoughts pertaining to his daily routine, pursuit of a livelihood, etc. He places his entire person at the service of the Lord. It is this type of individual that the psalmist in psalms 102,1 speaks of when he commences with the words: תפלה לעני כי יעטוף, “a prayer of the lowly man when he is faint, etc.” When such a person, notwithstanding the fact that he has urgent duties to attend to, duties that do not allow him the luxury of putting them on hold, offers his entire being in the service of the Lord, this is something that causes G’d to experience a great deal of pleasurable satisfaction. He reacts by saying: “look at this human being, who, although guilty of numerous sins in the past, has pulled himself together in order to serve Me;” he deserves that even his prior sins be converted to merits,” as it was the recognition of the futility of his former sinful lifestyle that eventually caused him to become a penitent. Someone raised in a devout family, who had accepted his family’s devoutness as something that did not need to be questioned, could not have entertained the kind of thoughts that went through the mind of the repentant sinner before he decided to turn over an entirely new leaf.
When G’d looks down on the Jewish people and compares them to the gentile nations, and He sees how none of them serve Him, He naturally glorifies in the Jewish people, considering the rest of mankind a bunch of fools by comparison.
In trying to explain this verse we are stymied by the fact that the word: לשם does not precede the words: לתהלה ולתפארת.
This apparent anomaly is explained with the help of the statement in the Talmud Sanhedrin 99 that repentant sinners occupy a spiritual plateau that is higher than that of the natural born righteous people, who have never sinned. It is explained additionally by a statement in the Talmud Yuma 86 that the effect of repentance is so great that erstwhile sins may be converted retroactively into being accounted as meritorious deeds.
G’d’s servants may be divided into two distinct categories. One category has a mental image of G’d and what He stands for in front of him at all times, whereas the second category arouses itself from time to time in order to summon up such an image of G’d’s Majesty, which in turn impresses upon him the duty to serve Him as befits a king. This latter type of individual does not present the Creator with a list of personal requests, however. He is content to be able to serve his Master the King of Kings, in fact he regards it as a privilege. This latter type of individual requests only that he be able to continue to serve the Lord, and while so engaged he shuts out any thoughts pertaining to his daily routine, pursuit of a livelihood, etc. He places his entire person at the service of the Lord. It is this type of individual that the psalmist in psalms 102,1 speaks of when he commences with the words: תפלה לעני כי יעטוף, “a prayer of the lowly man when he is faint, etc.” When such a person, notwithstanding the fact that he has urgent duties to attend to, duties that do not allow him the luxury of putting them on hold, offers his entire being in the service of the Lord, this is something that causes G’d to experience a great deal of pleasurable satisfaction. He reacts by saying: “look at this human being, who, although guilty of numerous sins in the past, has pulled himself together in order to serve Me;” he deserves that even his prior sins be converted to merits,” as it was the recognition of the futility of his former sinful lifestyle that eventually caused him to become a penitent. Someone raised in a devout family, who had accepted his family’s devoutness as something that did not need to be questioned, could not have entertained the kind of thoughts that went through the mind of the repentant sinner before he decided to turn over an entirely new leaf.
When G’d looks down on the Jewish people and compares them to the gentile nations, and He sees how none of them serve Him, He naturally glorifies in the Jewish people, considering the rest of mankind a bunch of fools by comparison.
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Hakhsharat HaAvrekhim
David HaMelech already hinted at this when he said, “In ancient days, the earth did You establish, and the work of Your hands are the heavens. They may perish, but You will endure, and all of them will wear out like a garment, like a cloak will You change them and they will pass on.”212Tehillim, 102:26 If every species in the world were a separate entity unto itself, then it would be impossible for anything to change from one form into another, but each one would be like a separate garment for the Godly illumination, and they would only be able to change form by removing the garment and dressing in a different one. The Godly illumination would first dress in the garment of the plant, then remove it and dress in the garment of the animal, and then in the garment of the man.
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Kedushat Levi
Yet another interpretation of our verse proceeds from the premise that the donor benefits more from his generous deed than the recipient of the charity dispensed by him. (Based on Vayikra Rabbah 34,8) When reflecting on man’s condition vis a vis G’d, man, especially when presenting his requests to G’d in his prayers, is like the beggar asking the rich man for a handout. David described this in psalms 102,1 when he says: תפלה לעני כי-יעטוף ולפני ה' ישפוך שיחו, “a prayer of the lowly man when he is faint and pours out his plea before the Lord”. The psalmist’s message is that when man thinks of himself as important, this triggers Satan into presenting the heavenly tribunal with a list of his shortcomings, failings, etc. Not only that, his arrogance will prevent his prayers from being able to tear down the barriers between him and G’d, seeing G’d hates nothing more than arrogance. When he humbles himself however, considering himself as if he were a beggar, he will be able to ascend all the rungs of the spiritual ladder so that he can scale whatever wall separated him from His Father in heaven. In the words of Yaakov, when גד acts as a donor, גד גדוד יגודנו, he can conquer like a regiment, גדוד, any obstacles that would prevent his prayers from reaching G’d’s throne. He can reach the ultimate rung of that ladder, the one known as עקב.
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Kedushat Levi
[There follows a paragraph that I have not been able to follow completely, so that I am not able to translate into English without possibly misrepresenting the author’s meaning. Ed.]
An alternate approach to the verse: “Yitzchok went for a stroll in the field close to evening, when he raised his eyes and beheld camels approaching” The Talmud (B’rachot 26), when commenting on this line says that Avraham, (compare Genesis 19,26) composed the daily morning prayer, the word ויעמוד “he stood,” meaning that he stood engaged in prayer, whereas Yitzchok composed the daily afternoon prayer, מנחה. According to the Talmud, the word שיחה when used in the Torah always refers to prayer, תפלה. [It does not occur again in the Torah, although it does occur in psalms 102,1.Ed.] Yaakov, the third of the patriarchs, introduced the evening prayer, מעריב. This is based on Genesis 28,11 ויפגע במקום וילן שם כי בא השמש, “he met G’d there as the sun was about to set and spent the night there.” [The word המקום, meaning G’d, is not unusual. Ed.] We need to examine why a prayer is called מנחה, “gift.” The morning prayer being called שחרית, is easy to understand as the word שחר means morning, when the sun begins to shine. Calling the evening prayer מעריב is also easy to understand as it is offered in the evening, ערב. But naming the afternoon prayer מנחה appears somewhat difficult. Tossaphot Yom Tov, already recognized this anomaly and answers it by referring to the period when it is recited as מנוחת השמש, “when the sun rests.”
I propose a different explanation. I believe the root of the word מנחה is simply “gift,” not “rest.” This prayer is presented at a time, when man does not think that he has to either thank the Lord for having awoken well from his sleep, or after having completed the day’s chores without problems and entrusting our soul to G’d once more when we lie down, confident that He will restore it to us in the morning. Neither of these considerations motivates us to devote time to prayer in the middle of our daily activities. If we take time out to pray during the day nonetheless, G’d may consider this as a gift from us to Him.
An alternate approach to the verse: “Yitzchok went for a stroll in the field close to evening, when he raised his eyes and beheld camels approaching” The Talmud (B’rachot 26), when commenting on this line says that Avraham, (compare Genesis 19,26) composed the daily morning prayer, the word ויעמוד “he stood,” meaning that he stood engaged in prayer, whereas Yitzchok composed the daily afternoon prayer, מנחה. According to the Talmud, the word שיחה when used in the Torah always refers to prayer, תפלה. [It does not occur again in the Torah, although it does occur in psalms 102,1.Ed.] Yaakov, the third of the patriarchs, introduced the evening prayer, מעריב. This is based on Genesis 28,11 ויפגע במקום וילן שם כי בא השמש, “he met G’d there as the sun was about to set and spent the night there.” [The word המקום, meaning G’d, is not unusual. Ed.] We need to examine why a prayer is called מנחה, “gift.” The morning prayer being called שחרית, is easy to understand as the word שחר means morning, when the sun begins to shine. Calling the evening prayer מעריב is also easy to understand as it is offered in the evening, ערב. But naming the afternoon prayer מנחה appears somewhat difficult. Tossaphot Yom Tov, already recognized this anomaly and answers it by referring to the period when it is recited as מנוחת השמש, “when the sun rests.”
I propose a different explanation. I believe the root of the word מנחה is simply “gift,” not “rest.” This prayer is presented at a time, when man does not think that he has to either thank the Lord for having awoken well from his sleep, or after having completed the day’s chores without problems and entrusting our soul to G’d once more when we lie down, confident that He will restore it to us in the morning. Neither of these considerations motivates us to devote time to prayer in the middle of our daily activities. If we take time out to pray during the day nonetheless, G’d may consider this as a gift from us to Him.
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