TEHILIM Psalm # 2: Israel, a newborn baby

ה ' אָמַר אֵלַי בְּנִי אַתָּה אֲנִי, הַיּוֹם יְלִדְתִּיךָ

This Mizmor was composed by King David at the beginning of his kingdom. All the kings of Philistines (pelishtim), fearful of the new Jewish King, got together and conspired against David and his people.  The Philistines thought that they could easily defeat David and were singing their own praise.  In verse 2:4 David describes what was happening in heaven while the enemies of Israel were bragging about destroying us. 

יושב בשמים ישחק " [God] the One Who sits in His heavenly [throne] laughs"... at their thoughts.  This powerful literary motif, "HaShem's laughing" is used here to express that the enemies of Israel, when they plan their battles and attacks against us, they are oblivious of Hashem's intervention to protect us.

David haMelekh says that although Hashem intervenes in all areas of our personal life, His oversight is absolutely critical when our enemies conspire against us.

In 2:7 David haMelekh explains "how" HaShem protects Israel.

ה' אמר אלי בני אתה "HaShem told me You are My child". First, we learn that Hashem loves us as a parent loves his or her child.  But then, David haMelekh takes us to a deeper level of understanding of God's love for us.    אני היום ילידתיך  "I gave birth to you today".

Two different motifs are expressed in this verse, a child and a newborn baby. Why?

1. Imagine a mother with her nine years old child in the park. While he would be playing with other kids or on his own, the mother will supervise him. And she will assist him just upon his request. A baby is different than a child.  A newborn baby demands 24/7 attention, supervision and total-care.  The mother would not abandon her newborn child even for single moment. The mother would nurture, help and assist her baby all the time. Even when the baby would not be asking for anything.

2. A nine years old child knows what he needs and recognizes his mother's intervention in helping him. A baby is not conscious of what he needs. The mother feeds him, nurtures him and protects him without him been aware of his mother intervention!

David haMelekh says that HaShem's ultimate level of protection is when He takes care of us like a loving mother takes care of her newborn baby. 

I think about "Israel" as a baby under haShem's constant invisible supervision. We all know that many bad things happen all the time. But think about this: Medinat Israel is in the midst of the most volatile area of the planet. Surrounded by the most violent people on earth. Kamikazes, who don't mind to immolate themselves if they would kill a Jew in the process. People for whom the desire to destroy Israel is the only thing stronger than the desire to destroy each other. And many of those live within Israel. We are all very, very sad for all the bad things happening in Israel right now. But at the same time we need to be in awe, and very grateful to haShem, for all the many tragedies that are not happening in Israel, and we are not even aware of.  Our incredible IDF has a great part in this endeavor, and they are surely acting as agents of HaShem in protecting our people. But above every human effort, it is HaShem who protects us in ways that we, like a newborn baby, can't even begin to realize.

In honor of  Eyal Yifrach, Gil-ad Shaar, Naftali Frenkel ה' ישמרם ויחייהם

אחינו כל בית ישראל, הנתונים בצרה ובשביה, 

העומדים בין בים ובין ביבשה

המקום ירחם עליהם ויוציאם מצרה לרווחה
ומאפילה לאורה ומשעבוד לגאולה
השתא בעגלא ובזמן קריב

AMIDA (Berakha 17) Prayers or sacrifices?

This blessing, birkat ha'aboda, inaugurates the third section of the Amida known as hoda-a, 'gratitude'.

Here, we express our gratitude to God for having chosen us and giving us the privilege to serve Him.

 Serving God includes keeping His commandments and worshiping Him. God's worship consists of two elements: prayers (tefila) and sacrifices (qorbanot).

In this blessing we first ask God to accept us and our prayers:

May You, HaShem our God, accept Your people Israel and attend to their prayers Then, we beseech God to restore His House, the Bet haMiqdash, where we will offer our sacrifices the way our ancestors did two thousand years ago.

And restore the Holy service to the Sanctuary of Your houseNow, in the Bet haMiqdash, there were sacrifices and also prayers. As it is written in Yesha'ayahu (56:7) "For My house [the Temple in Jerusalem] will be called a House of Prayer for all nations" , After the destruction of the second Bet haMiqdash, 68 CE,  prayers replaced the sacrifices. This is not to say that during the time of the Bet haMiqdash people did not pray. Actually, it seems that at the individual level very little changed after the Bet haMiqdash.  The main change took place in the public services: the establishment of minyan, public prayers, bet hakeneset, etc.

Accordingly, we convey our aspiration to offer again both, our sacrifices and prayers.

So that You will accept lovingly the sacrifices given by the people of Israel and their prayers,

God chose our ancestors out of unconditional love (see Debarim 7,7). Now, we ask God to consider us too, worthy of that privilege. To love us as He loved our fathers. To accept our prayers as He accepted the prayers of our ancestors. Even though we might not be meritorious as our fathers, who were able to serve God in the Bet haMiqdash. That is the meaning of the next statement:

And You, with Your great mercy, care for us and accept us...

Finally, we express our wish to see in our own days the return of God's presence to Zion and Jerusalem, to embrace us again as the People He has chosen, to serve Him.

and may our eyes see Your return to Zion..... AMEN. 

SHABUOT: 5 customs in 1 word

Tonight we will celebrate Shabu'ot, the day we stood at the foot
of Mt. Sinai to be appointed as God's chosen people and receive the Tora.
 
There are 5 Minhaguim (customs) that most Jews follow on Shabu'ot. To remember them, keep in mind the Hebrew word

A /HA/ R/ I/ T .  א ח ר י ת

 A: Azharot or Aqdamot. During Shabu'ot we read these beautiful poems which contain the 248 positive commandments and the 365 Biblical prohibitions. The word azharot means warnings, i.e., rules, precepts. (also 613= אזהרת).

  

HA: Halab (milk), like any other Yom Tob during Shabu'ot we should have a meal with meat and wine to fulfill the Mitzva of simha (material happiness). Still, the custom is that some of the meals are dairy, which is tradition particular to Shabu'ot, and it is not followed in any other Holiday.

 

R : Ruth. During Shabu'ot we study Megilat Ruth. Among the many reasons for reading the story of Ruth is that when Ruth converted to Judaism she accepted the Tora upon herself. Likewise, in Shabu'ot we celebrate our acceptance of the Tora and becoming the Jewish nation.  Another reason for reading Megilat Ruth is that from Ruth we learn the dependency of the written Tora on the Oral Tora, because by the letter of the Tora, Ruth, a Moabite, could not have been accepted as a convert. 

I : Yereq (Greens). Many communities have the custom to decorate their Synagogues with plants, flowers or tree branches to remember Mt. Sinai. We still treasure in our collective memory that when the Tora was given to us, Mt. Sinai was green and blossoming with flowers. In the Persian tradition Shabu'ot is known as mo'eed gol (the festival of flowers).

 T : Tiqun (Reparation). The custom is to stay awake studying Tora during the night of Shabu'ot (Tuesday night until Wednesday morning) to repair for our ancestors who went to sleep the night of the sixth of Sivan instead of waiting awake for the giving of the Tora, which was taking place the following morning.