Komentaryong Sumisipi para sa Mga Awit 42:9

Second, even if one who does possess the mind or desire to reach such a level, it is possible for one to toil and exhaust himself with the Torah and to cling to it with love and yet never experience the clinging to or love of God, since he did not focus on [reaching this goal]. This is similar to how a specialized tool will not benefit a craftsman if he does not perform the task for which [the tool] is designed; the craftsman does not wish to perform that particular task. Similarly, the word of God does not benefit [even] one who meditates on [the Torah], to achieve the love of God, if one does not concentrate on achieving it. Even so, the love of Torah itself is precious and esteemed in the eyes of God to the extent as described by our Sages in Tractate Avodah Zarah, 3b: During the day, the Lord strings a thread of grace around those who study the Torah by night, as Scripture states, “In the daytime, God will command His lovingkindness. Even by night His song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life.”²⁰Psalms 42:9.

Using this tradition of truth, I offer an explanation through the sayings of [our sages] of blessed memory, who stated in Avodah Zarah 3b, “During the first three hours of each day, the Holy One Blessed be He, sits and engages in the study of Torah.” This statement is not susceptible to a simple understanding. In addition, the Gemara asks, “What does God do by night?… There are those who say that God sits and listens to songs uttered by the holy Hayyos [angels]. As it is stated in the verse, ‘By day God commands His kindness, and by night His song is with me.’”¹⁷Psalms 42:9. [During the day God commands his kindness. Since God is occupied with the study and teaching of Torah during the day, it is obvious that the kindness He directs to His creations during the day is related to the study of Torah]. This is difficult to understand, for what kindness does the One Whose name is to be blessed perform while He is engaged in studying Torah? Rashi’s commentary [in Avodah Zarah] explains that God employs his kindness by means of judging, sustaining and teaching Torah [to the souls of children who died very young].¹⁸The Gemara questions what God does during the fourth quarter of the day. It answers, “He sits and teaches schoolchildren Torah. As Scripture states, ‘To whom shall one teach knowledge? To whom does one explain a message? To those weaned from [their mother’s] milk, removed from the breasts’ (Isa. 28:9). The Gemara interprets this verse to mean that God teaches Torah to those who are “removed from the breasts,” which means that they died at an early age. Rashi’s interpretation of this Gemara is that for most of the day God engages in acts of kindness, but in the first three hours of each day, He engages in the self-study of Torah, so to speak. However, the inferences from the verse [in Psalms] do not seem to be as [explained by Rashi].

Look down from Your holy dwelling, etc. Since he previously said, I have done according to all that You have commanded me, Rashi explains that “I rejoiced and made others rejoice.” Therefore, Look down from Your dwelling [maon],as we say “that joy is in His dwelling,” and from there return and make us rejoice. In the tractate Chagigah (12b), they said that in Ma’on [the fifth heaven] are companies of ministering angels who sing praises at night and are silent during the day out of respect for Israel, as it is said, By day, the Lord will command His steadfast love, and at night His song is with me (Psalms 42:9). Rashi explains: “By day, the Lord will command His steadfast love” — He commands the angels to be silent in order to show kindness to those in need of kindness, and these are the lower beings [humans]. It seems reasonable that the Holy One, blessed be He, performs this kindness because of the kindness that people below do for one another, and tithing is included in acts of kindness. Therefore, he says: by virtue of the kindness I have done through this tithe for those in need of kindness, Look down from Your dwelling to show kindness to those in need of kindness. For those heavens that are called Ma’on are designated for this purpose and designated for joy, because where there is joy there is song, and not where there is no joy. Furthermore, by virtue of I have not transgressed [avarti] Your commandments — from the expression “one does not pass [ma’avirin] over commandments” — that I did not pass over a commandment to prioritize what should come later, similarly, Look down from Your holy dwelling without prioritizing what should come later, for the thought of Israel preceded the world, and they precede even the angels. Therefore, it is right that the angels should not sing praises until Israel first says them during the day, and afterward the angels at night, as it is written, The God of the first is a dwelling place (Deuteronomy 33:27). That is, the God of Israel, who came first, and below them are the angels who are called “the arms of the world,” for in the dwelling [Ma’on], Israel comes first, as mentioned. And our Sages said (Tanchuma, Ki Tisa 14), “Every instance of ‘look down’ [in Scripture] is for bad, except for [when it relates to] gifts to the poor, which transforms anger into compassion.” This is by virtue of the attribute of compassion in a person who transforms their attribute of cruelty into compassion, so too, the Holy One, blessed be He, transforms anger into compassion.