Tefillah 030

84:
P^esuké d^ezimra is now fast drawing towards its close. The prayer Nishmat as it now stands comes to an end with the Hebrew words al kol divré shirot v^etishbaĥot David ben-Yishai avd^ekha m^eshiĥekha. While this is perhaps not the most appropriate conclusion to Nishmat it is a most appropriate conclusion to P^esuké d^ezimra as a whole, for it assures God that all creatures will endlessly praise His holy name "more than all these songs and praises by David son of Jesse, Your servant, Your annointed [king].

85:
However, the real ending of P^esuké d^ezimra comes now with the paragraph which begins with the Hebrew word yishtabaĥ [Sim Shalom page 106, Va'ani Tefillati page 328]. This paragraph concludes P^esuké d^ezimra every day of the year, not just on Sabbaths and festivals when Nishmat is recited. It is parallel to Barukh she'Amar which introduced P^esuké d^ezimra, as we saw in Tefillah 014. In his halakhic compendium Shulĥan Arukh [Oraĥ Ĥayyim 53:1 Rabbi Yosef Karo says that the cantor who leads the services must recite Yishtabaĥ while standing. However, in his commentary on Oraĥ Ĥayyim, Mishnah B^erurah, Rabbi Israel Meir Kagan ("Ĥafetz Ĥayyim") says that, in fact, everybody should stand for Yishtabaĥ – and this is indeed indicated in Siddur Va'ani Tefillati.

86:
Like many other passages of praise, Yishtabaĥ contains an aggregation of synonyms for praise. We have noticed on several occasions that such aggregations, which pile word upon word, are much beloved in the Hebrew liturgy, even though they almost exhaust the thesaurus of synonyms which are available to the English translator. Such agglomerations sound strange to ears attuned to the English language; but in the original Hebrew they sound quite natural. The number of synonyms for praise that are included in the present text of Yishtabaĥ is fifteen. However, it has been suggested that originally the number was less – maybe thirteen – but that the last two were added to make the number of laudations equal the number of steps that there were in the Bet Mikdash in Jerusalem, upon which the Levitical choir and orchestra was wont to stand when accompanying the sacrificial cult with psalmody. [See Tamid 03 Mishnah 9, in the discussion.]

87:
Some congregations – probably a small minority nowadays – have the custom of adding Psalm 130 after Yishtabaĥ on the Shabbat after Rosh ha-Shanah, Shabbat Shuvah. This psalm is of a penitential nature, in keeping with the solemnity of the ten penitential days. In those congregations where it is read it is customary for the cantor to recite the first verse and the congregation to respond with the next verse and so on to the end of the psalm.

88:
The fact that P^esuké d^ezimra has now concluded is emphasized by the fact that the cantor now recites Kaddish [Sim Shalom page 106, Va'ani Tefillati page 330]. We have already noted [Tefillah 010] that Kaddish, in its various forms, serves as a liturgical punctuation mark, and indicates that a section of the service has just ended. (This applies only to Kaddish recited by the cantor and not to Kaddish recited by mourners.) At the point in the service which we have now reached the recitation of Kaddish indicates that P^esuké d^ezimra has now ended and the next part of the service is about to begin. We shall, God willing, move on to the next section of the service in our next shiur.

In Tefillah 028 I wrote: Among the rather far-fetched suggestions that he makes we find one that is truly amazing. He suggests that Nishmat was composed by none other than Peter, the chief disciple of Jesus of Nazereth! He identifies him by his Hebrew (Aramaic) name of Shim'on Keifa (which the Christian scriptures render as Simeon Cephas). According to Shem Tov towards the end of his life Peter recanted and rejoined the Jewish community and as an act of penance he composed Nishmat!

Meir Stone writes:

I shared this with Rabbi Tovia Singer (Outreach Judaism ) who added that the ninth of Tevet is a Fast day of Peter's death. I have seen this. In fact, the ninth day of Teves is a minor fast marking the date of Peter's death! You know there may be some truth to it Peter at first is the leader of this movement but then later only James ( Jacob) and Paul are the main players. Does anyone know anything about Peter being connected to the ninth of Tevet ?

I respond:

I am still of the opinion that the attribution of Nishmat to Simon Peter is complete nonsense. Historically speaking, there is no evidence whatsoever of any recantation. Indeed, according to Roman Catholic teaching the man's bones are buried in a crypt underneath the church which bears his name to this day in the Vatican. I have never before heard of a fast being held on 9th Tevet (in four days' time). Surely this would be a difficult imposition since it would involve two consecutive days of fasting (10th Tevet is a universally recognized minor fast day). Even though one could have an evening meal in between it would still be an imposition and I think we would have heard about it even if only a number of people observed it. Lastly, why would anyone want to fast on the anniversary of the death of Simeon Cephas if he had become a penitent before his death and returned to Judaism? The whole story sounds ridiculous to my ears.