AND IT

CAME BETWEEN THE ARMY OF THE EGYPIANS AND THE ARMY OF ISRAEL. THUS THERE WAS THE CLOUD WITH THE

THROUGH THE NIGHT.

(Shemot 14: 20)

Rejoicing

Enemy's Downfall

Does God rejoice over the fall of the

wicked? It is written: as they went forth ahead of the vanguard, saying, "Praise

the Lord, for His steadfast love is eternal" (II Chronicles 20:

21), why

does this announcement not include the expression for He is good [as the

verse repeatedly appears in Tehillim]? Because God

does not rejoice at the casting-down of the wicked. And Rabbi Yochanan said: regarding that which is written: One

could not come near the other all through the night – The ministering

angels wanted to sing, but God said to them: "My handiwork drowns in the

sea and you want to sing!"

(Megillah 10b)

Thoughts

On Pesukei De-Zimra

Jonathan

Chipman

The Song of the Sea, generally

considered the high point of Parshat Beshalah,

serves as a kind of archetype for all songs of praises in the Jewish liturgy – whether

that of Hallel ha-Mitzri

recited on festivals, or for hymns, psalms, and piyyut

in general. Hence, the "Shabbat of Song" is an appropriate

occasion for discussing the "Hallel"

recited every day – Pesukei de-Zimra.

Pesukei de-Zimra – the collection of psalms of

praise recited at the beginning of Shaharit,

the weekday and Sabbath Morning Service, and framed by the blessings of Barukh Sheamar and Yishtabah – is among the most neglected

components of the Jewish liturgy. In many if not most synagogues it is treated

in off-hand fashion, literally raced through; many people arrive too late to

recite it properly, and chat with their neighbors during its recitation – even

on Shabbat, to say nothing of weekdays. In the following essay, I wish

to briefly discuss the halakhic sources of Pesukei de-Zimra

and to elucidate several of its underlying ideas. (This essay is an abbreviated version of

an essay (in English) circulated on my email parsha

sheet, Hitzei Yehonatan,

in Summer 2001, in honor of my father's yahrzeit. The full text is available at request to my email

address, <yonarand @ zahav.

net. il>)

The

only explicit mention of Pesukei de-Zimra in Talmudic literature appears in b. Shabbat 118b:

R. Yossi said: "Would that my portion

were among those who complete the Hallel every

day!" Really? And has it not been said: "One

who recites the Hallel every day commits blasphemy!"

Here, they are referring to Pesukei de-Zimra.

Rashi,

explaining this rather harsh comment, notes that the "early prophets"

instituted the recitation of Hallel at certain fixed

times, to commemorate acts of Divine deliverance or other Divine manifestations

in history (Pesahim 117a). If it were to be recited constantly, these hymns of praise

would be reduced to triviality, like an ordinary song sung for pleasure, making

a mockery of it. Rashi continues that Pesukei de-Zimra, a

term left undefined by the talmudic

text, refers to two hymns in which the words "praise" are repeated as

a leit-motif: Psalms 148 and 150.

What

is the point being made here? Why is the recitation of Hallel

proscribed except at certain times, and even considered blasphemous, and what

in the hymns of praise known as Pesukei de-Zimra males it permitted? The late Rabbi J. B. Soloveitchik ztz'l, in an important study of

this subject, states that Hazal felt that God's ineffability, His

transcendence, place Him beyond all praise – and hence we are only allowed to

praise Him within those frameworks of time and text specifically mandated by

halakhah. This approach is epitomized by the verses, "Who can tell the

mighty acts of the Lord, and make heard all His praise?" (Ps 106:2) and "To You silence is praise" (Ps 65:2). In this view, Pesukei de-Zimra is more an act of

Torah study than of praise; and as praise, it is of a limited, essentially

personal, private nature, not a formal part of public prayer – and only thus

permitted. (Rav J. B. Soloveitchik "On Matters of Pesukei

de-Zimra," [Hebrew], Shiurim

le-Zekher Aba

Mari z"l (Jerusalem,

1985), vol. I, pp. 17-34, esp. 17-24. Cf. in this light the story about

R. Hanina in b. Berakhot

34b, and its parallel in j. Berakahot 9.1

Indeed,

this same idea of the innate contradiction involved in the act of praising God

is eloquently expressed in the concluding section of Pesukei

de-Zimra itself on Sabbaths and festivals, in the

piyyut Nishmat kol Hay. "Even if our mouths were filled with song

like the sea, and our tongues jubilation like the multitude of its waves, and

our lips were filled with praise like the span of heaven… and our hands

spread forth like eagles' [wings], and our legs swift as deer, we could not

thank You… for even one part of the thousands upon thousands of thousands,

myriads of myriads of goodness, You have done for us…"

But

Pesukei de-Zimra

may be understood in another way as well. This institution as we know it is

essentially a translation into practical terms of the idea that prayer requires

preparation, a certain divesting of one's thoughts of the everyday world, and a

turning of ones mind and soul to totally different spheres. This is expressed

in a brief mishnah dealing

with the mental attitude required for prayer, in Berakhot 5.1:

One does not stand up to pray save with a serious demeanor. The

pious men of old would wait one hour and then pray, so as to direct their

hearts toward their Heavenly Father.

We are not told precisely what these

pious men did during this hour of preparation, of "sitting" or "staying."

Presumably they engaged in some form of contemplation or directed thought – what

in today's idiom would be called "meditation" – clearing their minds

of the concerns and worries of everyday life and directing their minds to

awareness of the Divine presence, as a prelude to the worship of God. The gemara on this

passage (32b), as

well as Rambam and other poskim,

add that this is a normative halakhic requirement: every

worshipper must sit and prepare himself before prayer, be it for a full clock

hour or a few moments. In any event, it seems to me that the recitation of Pesukei de-Zimra may

be seen as a suitable fulfillment of this requirement – provided that it is

recited calmly and slowly, and not rushed through. (Inter alia, I heard this in the name of the late Rav Joseph Kapah ztz"l, by one of his disciples, Rav Hananel Seri.)

But the Tur

Shulhan Arukh, at Orah Hayyim §51,

derives the reading of Pesukei de-Zimra from yet a third text: a saying in Avodah Zarah 7b (=Berakhot 32a):

Rabbi Simlai

expounded: A person should always arrange (or: order) the praise of the Holy

One blessed be He, and then pray.

This idea, as explained by the Bah and

Beit Yosef there,

expresses an ethical principle: there is something self-centered, almost

sacrilegious, contemptuous towards God, in asking for one's own needs, and only

thereafter reciting His praise. It is more polite and respectful to begin with

His praises. But the formulation of things in the Tur

also suggests that Pesukei de-Zimra is an entity unto itself, a significant religious

obligation in its own right, albeit one placed in a particular location in the

liturgy for a reason. (Incidentally, it should be noted that this saying of Rav Simlai is explained elsewhere

as referring to the internal structure of the Amidah

itself, and not to our subject.)

What is meant by "ordering the

praises of God"? The phrase seems to imply more than just a chance

stringing together of inspiring psalms, as if to suggest that there is a

natural "order" or "sequence" to the proper praise of God. Let

us briefly survey the two main opinions as to the components of Pesukei de-Zimra. Rashi, Ran and Maharsha limit it

to two psalms of praise: "Praise the Lord from the heavens" (Psalm 148) and "Praise

God in his holy place" (Psalm 150). A second view, that of Rambam and Rif, identifies it

with the six psalms that conclude the Book of Psalms: Pss

146-150, each of which begins and end with the word "Hallelujah,"

plus Psalm 145, known to us (with the addition of Ps 84:5, 144:15 and 115:18) as "Ashrei,"

to which Hazal attach special importance (see b. Berakhot 4b). The second opinion shaped the

core of Pesukei de-Zimra

as we know it today, with the addition of various other verses and passages

over the course of time.

The rather narrow identification by Rashi and others of Pesukei

de-Zimra with Psalms 148 and 150 is puzzling. Why

these two in particular? I would offer two possible explanations. The first is

based on a simple linguistic pattern: the invocation of praise by means of the

repeated use of the infinitive of the verb hl"l

is seen as the quintessence of praise. A second explanation is that these two

psalms, precisely because of their simple, repetitive structure, invoke a sense

of God's comprehensive, all-embracing nature – and hence of the concomitant

praise that is His due. Psalm 148 calls upon all parts of the cosmos to praise

God: beginning with the celestial bodies and luminaries,

and moving to the earth, from the titanic, inanimate forces of nature, through

the vegetable and animal kingdoms, to mankind – from the high and mighty down

to the ordinary folk: old and young, maiden and youth. Psalm 150 takes us, so

to speak, on a round of the instruments of the Levitic

orchestra of First Temple days,

which together made a joyful sound of song to the Lord, concluding with the

most sublime instrument of all, the human voice: "All that has breath

praise the Lord, Hallelujah." One can easily understand why these two

psalms, taken together, were described as the "Hallel

of every day."

We may now return to our original

question: in what sense is Pesukei de-Zimra a special category, that

constitutes "Hallel" but at the same time

is not an act of mockery or blasphemy? The miracles and wonders for which the

classical Hallel was introduced were exceptional

events, irruptions into history of the Infinite, of the God who ordinarily

allows the world to run its course according to the laws which He established

at the Creation. Pesukei de-Zimra, by contrast, celebrates, not the God of history,

but God the Creator, God of Nature, God of the "day of small things"

(yom ketanot),

whose presence is felt in everyday life, in the small, hidden miracles of the

ordinary.

To

return to R. Yossi's saying in Shabbat: "Would

that I were among those that complete the Hallel every day" means: Would that I had the

religious fervor and sensitivity to praise God every day, to see Him in the

here and now, and not only in the great dramatic events of history. It is

through such awareness that we are asked to prepare all the powers of our soul

for the encounter with the Holy One that constitutes prayer.

Rabbi

Jonathan Chipman is a translator by profession, and a

scholar in Jewish studies. He writes a weekly sheet (in English) on the portion

of the week and the Haftara, titled "Hitsei Yehonatan".

(Anyone interested in ordering a sample of subscription can write via email

to: yonarand@internet-zahav.net.)

Song

Joins Together Different Worlds and Times

Then Moses sang- He

sang in the past, but others said he will sing in the future [the grammatical

tense of the Hebrew is ambiguous].

(Mechiltah Beshalach Masechet Deshirah 1)

He

Planted In Us Eternal Life: A

Proper Ordering of Preferences

Rabban Zakai ben Gamliel

would say: If you have a sapling in your hand, and they tell you: "Behold,

the Messiah [has arrived]!" – first plant the

sapling, and then go out to receive him.

(Avot DeRabbi Natan, b version, 31)

Rabbi Shmuel

taught in the name of Rabbi Yehudah: If someone tells

you when the redemption will come, do not believe him, as it is written, for

it is a day of vengeance in My heart (Isaiah 63:4). My

heart did not reveal it to My mouth, to whom shall My

mouth reveal it?

Rabbi Brechiah

and Rabbi Simon said in the name of Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi: I have given you three indications of [the

location of] Moses' grave, for it says, he buried him [1] in the valley[2] in the land of Moab, [3] near Beit-peor

(Devarim 34: 6), but even so, no one knows his

burial place to this day (loc. cit.). If no mortal can come to know that

for which I have given several indications, how much more so is the End [hidden

from you], for it is said: for these words are secret and sealed to the time

of the end (Daniel

11: 9).

(Midrash Tehillim

9)

But those who fool themselves and say

that they will stand in their place until the Messiah arrives in the West

country (Morocco), and then they will go forth to Jerusalem – I do not know how

they will avoid this sh'mad [religious

persecution and campaign of forced conversion]. They transgress [against the

Torah] and cause others to sin. The prophet, may peace be upon him, said of

their ilk: They offer healing offhand for the wounds of My

(Jeremiah

8: 11). For there is no set hour for

the Messiah's arrival on which we can depend, and say that it is near or far. And

the obligation to fulfill the mitzvot does not depend

on the Messiah's arrival – rather, we are [simply] required to occupy ourselves

with Torah and mitzvot, and to try to fulfill them

perfectly. And after we do what we are required to do, if God grants us or our

grandchildren to see the Messiah – that will be even better. And if not – we

have lost nothing, but rather gained by performing our obligations.

(From RaMBaM's

Iggeret Hashmad,

pg. 66 in the RaMBaM La'Am

edition of Iggrot HaRaMBaM.)

The

Planting of Trees Connects Humans With Eternity

When you enter the Land and you

shall plant [any tree for food] (Vayikra 19: 23). The

Holy One Blessed be He said to Israel: "Even

though you find it full of all good things, do not say, 'Let us sit [idly] and

not plant.' Rather, take care to plant, for it says, and you shall plant any

tree for food. Just as you entered and found trees which others had planted,

you too shall plant for your children. A person should not say, "I am old!

How many years I have lived! Why should I stand here tiring myself out for

others? Tomorrow I will already be dead!" Solomon said: He brings

everything to pass precisely at its time; He also puts eternity [ha-olam] in their mind (Kohellet 3:

11). It

is written ha-elim, without the letter vav. If the Holy One Blessed be He did not hide (he'elim) thoughts of death from the mind of man, a person

would neither build nor plant, for he would say, "Tomorrow

I die. Why do I stand here and tire myself for others?" That is why

God hides the day of death from the hearts of human beings, in order that

people build. If he is worthy, it [the building] shall be for him [who builds

it]. If he is not worthy, it shall be for others.

(Midrash Tanhumah, Kedoshim 8)

Editorial

Board: Pinchas Leiser (Editor), Miriam Fine

(Coordinator), Itzhak Frankenthal and Dr. Menachem Klein

Translation:

Kadish Goldberg

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