Tefillah 026
of the Rabbinical Assembly in Israel
HALAKHAH STUDY GROUP
THE HALAKHAH OF TEFILLAH
Mishnah: We must stand to pray in a serious frame of mind. The early pietists would spend one hour [in contemplation] and only then pray, so that their hearts would be attuned to their heavenly Father… Gemara: From where [in the bible] do we derive this? – Rabbi Yehoshu'a ben-Levi says [that we derive this from] the verse "Happy are they that dwell in Your house" [Psalm 84:5].
EXPLANATIONS (continued):
61:
In theory Pesuké deZimra should have come to an end with the recitation of Psalm 150, especially since the last verse of the psalm was repeated, as if signifying a conclusion. However, clearly it was considered that a more emphatic conclusion was needed. Traditionally, the Psalter is divided into five books, which is a rather fanciful way of making the Psalter adumbrate the Torah, which also consists of five books. The first book of the Psalms ends with Psalm 41, the second book ends with Psalm 72, the third book ends with Psalm 89, the fourth book ends with Psalm 106 and, of course, the last book ends with Psalm 150. Each of these psalms ends with a doxology (and Psalm 72 even adds "End of the prayers of David son of Jesse"). Two of these doxologies were chosen, together with a third which comes from a different psalm, to constitute an impressive conclusion to Pesuké deZimra [Siddur Sim Shalom page 100 (at the foot of the page); Siddur Va'ani Tefillati page 53]:
Blessed is God forever; Amen and Amen. [Psalm 89:53]
Blessed is God from Zion, He who dwells in Jerusalem. Hallelujah. [Psalm 135:21]
Blessed is the Lord God, God of Israel, who alone does wondrous things; blessed is His glorious name forever; His glory fills the whole world. Amen and Amen. [Psalm 72:18-19]
62:
This should, of course, have brought Pesuké deZimra to a triumphant conclusion. However, later piety was concerned that the great emphasis that had been placed on the psalms might be construed as casting an aspersion on the passages of praise in the Torah. After all, according to tradition, the psalms were the work of King David whereas the Torah is to be ascribed to Moses, the greatest of all the prophets. So, gradually, it became the custom to append to Pesuké deZimra one of the "passages of praise" from the Torah. There are two such passages that stand out: the song of victory at the Red Sea and Moses' farewell song, 'Ha'azinu'. The choice fell on the Song of the Sea, which is to be found in Exodus 15.
63:
However, it was felt that to juxtappose the Song of the Sea to the last six psalms would consitute a very abrupt change. It was felt that some kind of bridging passage was needed to serve as an introduction to the Song of the Sea. This was achieved by an artful combination of three different passages from the bible. The first passage comes from the book of Chronicles [Siddur Sim Shalom page 101; Siddur Va'ani Tefillati page 53].
David blessed God in front of all the assemblage; David said, “Blessed are You, Lord, God of Israel [i.e. Jacob] our father, from eternity to eternity. Yours, God, are greatness, might, splendour, triumph, and majesty – yes, all that is in heaven and on earth; to You, God, belong kingship and preeminence above all. Riches and honour are Yours to dispense; You have dominion over all; with You are strength and might, and it is in Your power to make anyone great and strong. Now, God, we praise You and extol Your glorious name. [1 Chronicles 29:10-13]
This passage links back to David as praising God, but will also afford an almost invisible link to the next passage. (Indeed, many prayer-books do not even indicate that the two passages are from different sources.)
64:
The next passage is from the book of Nehemiah. The passage starts from verse 6 (but some versions include the last clauses of verse 5, which read: "May Your glorious name be blessed, exalted though it is above every blessing and praise!")
You alone are God. You made the heavens, the highest heavens, and all their host, the earth and everything upon it, the seas and everything in them. You keep them all alive, and the host of heaven prostrate themselves before You. You are the Lord God, who chose Abram, who brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans and changed his name to Abraham. Finding his heart true to You, You made a covenant with him to give the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Jebusite, and the Girgashite – to give it to his descendants. And You kept Your word, for You are righteous. You took note of our fathers’ affliction in Egypt, and heard their cry at the Sea of Reeds [Red Sea]. You performed signs and wonders against Pharaoh, all his servants, and all the people of his land, for You knew that they acted presumptuously toward them. You made a name for Yourself that endures to this day. You split the sea before them; they passed through the sea on dry land, but You threw their pursuers into the depths, like a stone into the raging waters.
It will easily be appreciated how this passage links back to the end of the previous passage, from Chronicles, – especially if one includes the phrase from verse 5 – and how it provides an excellent transition to the events at the Red Sea.
65:
In many congregations it became the custom to stand when these two passages are recited. There really does not seem to be any logical reason for this. Possibly the custom arose in order to lend importance to passages that might otherwise have been seen as 'mere appendages' to the original Pesuké deZimra. Another curiosity that may be seen in many congregations is that the reader breaks the passage from Nehemiah into two parts. The break occurs in the middle of verse 8! This break is a superb example of how ignorance of one custom creates a new (and unnecessary) custom.
In earlier times it was considered to be particularly praiseworthy to hold the circumcision of a baby boy in the synagogue, towards the end of the service. However, on such an occasion, in order to announce that a circumcision was later to take place, the reader would pause in the middle of verse 8 to permit the congregation to exclaim out loud "You made a covenant with him [Abraham]", thus transferring the covenant [berit] from the covenant to give Abraham's descendants the promised Land to the covenant of circumcision. If there is no circumcision in the synagogue there really does not seem to be any logical (or liturgical) reason to split verse 8 in two. Siddur Sim Shalom [page 101] even indicates that the reader should intone verse 7 out loud together with the beginning of verse 8 and then continues verse 8 as if it were a new passage!
To be continued.
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