Tefillos Shabbos – Mizmor Shir leYom haShabbos

Last week, we went through the mizmorim discussing the world’s penimius (the hidden depth). All these mizmorim express our emunah. We have emunah that there is this penimius of the world.

These mizmorim speak about different subjects:

1)leaving the tangible world

2)showing kavod for the world of penimius

3)getting simchah from the penimius

4)seeing the hashgachah of the Ribbono Shel Olam

5)the acceptance that the hashgachah of Hashem is not always understandable to us

6)the whole world is just the name of Hashem.

These six mizmorim all correspond to the 6 week days of the week. On these days we exist with emunah in this world of penimius.

We will explore mizmor shir leyom hashabbos. This mizmor goes further than the previous six mizmorim. Here, we will see that the person becomes different on Shabbos. On Shabbos he does not just believe that there is penimius. On Shabbos, he actually exists in this world of penimius.

Not only is the person a different person on Shabbos, but the world on Shabbos is also different. (If the inner world on Shabbos revealed itself in a physical way, even our senses would be able to see that it is a very different world.)

A person exists in different states. During the rest of the week, he exists in the tangible (external) world. Therefore, his connection to the world of penimius is beyond his seichel’s capability to comprehend and explain. His only way to connect to this deeper world is through his emunah. However, on Shabbos, the person exists in the world of penimius and his seichel can now comprehend this deep world.

The baalei avodah were seen on Shabbos to be living a different existence. The Mashgiach told me that Reb Yerucham’s face looked different on Shabbos than the rest of the week, so much so that it appeared that the Mir yeshivah had a different mashgiach during the week than the one on Shabbos!

Similarly, the Alter of Kelm suffered terribly from tuberculosis, making his face pale and white (the Mashgiach said that he looked as if he was dead). However, suddenly, on Shabbos, the Alter had red rosy cheeks! You might think the difference was due to the Alter’s excitement for Shabbos. The explanation is far more profound in light of what we are saying. The Alter’s health improved because he had a different existence on Shabbos. Of course, the Alter had emunah in this deeper world of penimius all week long; nevertheless, only once he actually existed in this world on Shabbos and became a new person, did he no longer suffer from his illness of the rest of the week.

לְהַגִּיד בַּבֹּקֶר חַסְדֶּךָ וֶאֱמוּנָתְךָ בַּלֵּילוֹת

לְהַגִּיד כִּי יָשָׁר יְ-ה-וָ-ה צוּרִי וְלֹא עלתה [עַוְלָתָה] בּוֹ

To relate your kindness in the dawn and your faith in the nights

To declare that Hashem is just, my Rock in Whom there is no wrong

The Nefesh Hachaim says in Shaar 1, Perek 13 that lehagid means to tell a secret. A secret of the Torah is not the same as how people understand a secret in the mundane world. People think that something is a secret because it has not been revealed. On the other hand, a secret of the Torah is essentially a secret. The information is a secret because it is incomprehensible. Even once it is revealed, it is still not understood.

In this mizmor, Dovid Hamelech is revealing the secret. He is telling us it because he knows we can understand it; otherwise, there is no point in telling us the secret. We can understand the content of this incomprehensible secret because we exist in a new world called Shabbos, where our seichel can now understand.

Dovid Hamelech reveals the secret of Hashem’s kindness in the morning when the light is just beginning to shine, and things are still unclear. On Shabbos, even without clarity, we can understand Hashem’s kindness.

Similarly, it is night and pitch black, and nothing can be seen, so why is Dovid Hamelech telling us the secret about Hashem’s emunah? Why should we be able to understand Hashem’s emunah when it is so dark and unclear? It is Shabbos, and we exist differently from the norm. Therefore, we can live with the emunah of Hashem.

עֲ‍לֵי עָשׂוֹר וַעֲלֵי נָבֶל עֲלֵי הִגָּיוֹן בְּכִנּוֹר

Upon ten-stringed instrument and lyre, with singing accompanied by a harp

Osor is a harp with ten strings. Ten always connotes wholeness.

Alei means above (even higher than the highest level of standard music). 

Dovid Hamelech says he is playing a lovely melody that is above the highest standard. 

כִּי שִׂמַּחְתַּנִי י-ה-וָ-ה בְּפָעֳלֶךָ בְּמַעֲשֵׂי יָדֶיךָ אֲרַנֵּן

For You have gladdened me, Hashem, with your deeds; at the works of your hands, I sing glad song

What does Dovid Hamelech mean that Hashem makes him happy from all that Hashem does? All the tzoros that I hear are indescribable. How can anyone say that everything that Hashem does makes him happy?

Everything depends on where you are standing when looking at it. When you are standing in Shabbos, you have a different perspective. With this perspective, everything that Hashem does makes you happy. 

מַה גָּדְלוּ מַעֲשֶׂיךָ יְ-ה-וָ-ה מְאֹד עָמְקוּ מַחְשְׁבֹתֶיךָ

How great are Your deeds, Hashem; your thoughts are very deep.

The greatness of Hashem’s actions refers to the fact that Hashem’s actions are more extensive than we can comprehend. Similarly, the great depth of Hashem’s thoughts is beyond our comprehension. Since it is Shabbos, we can understand them.

אִישׁ בַּעַר לֹא יֵדָע וּכְסִיל לֹא יָבִין אֶת זֹאת בִּפְרֹחַ רְשָׁעִים כְּמוֹ עֵשֶׂב וַיָּצִיצוּ כָּל פֹּעֲלֵי אָוֶן לְהִשָּׁמְדָם עֲדֵי עַד

A boor cannot know, nor can a fool understand this: when the wicked bloom like grass and all the doers of iniquity blossom– it is to destroy them till eternity.

Even though we just spoke about the need to understand the great depth of Hashem, here we are saying that only foolish people do not know why the reshaim are so successful. Why is this considered so simple for the rest of us- after all, even Yirmiyahu Hanovi didn’t understand why reshaim were so successful.?

When we are in the weekdays, we are unable to understand their success, like Yirmiyahu. When we are in Shabbos and living in a different world, we see very simply the truth of why Hashem makes them succeed- to make them be erased from olam habo.

וְאַתָּה מָרוֹם לְעֹלָם יְ-ה-וָ-ה. י כִּי הִנֵּה אֹיְבֶיךָ יְ-ה-וָ-ה כִּי הִנֵּה אֹיְבֶיךָ יֹאבֵדוּ יִתְפָּרְדוּ כָּל פֹּעֲלֵי אָוֶן

But you remain exalted forever, Hashem.  For behold! – Your enemies shall perish, dispersed shall be all doers of iniquity.

We have many enemies. All of them do not appreciate anything beyond what fits their senses. In Olam Habo, we will see that all these enemies are destroyed in a tangible way. On Shabbos, we can also see this.

וַתָּרֶם כִּרְאֵים קַרְנִי

As exalted as a re’eim shall be my pride

Hashem is raising my horn. This refers to something on top of the head, like a horn.

In Baba Kamma, we speak about the ox whose main power of damage comes from his horn. It is unusual to find a force of damage on top of the head or even in the head since the head is the lofty part of the body. It is not intended to cause damage. The power to destroy is normally found in the hands.

Similarly, at Matan Torah, Chazal say that Klal Yisroel received weapons. The weapons were crowns placed on every person’s head. What does this mean—a weapon is in the hand, not on the head?

Similarly, we say in the brocha of Es Tzemach Dovid- vekarno torum biyshuosecha. Here, we also say that the horn that is on the head should be raised.

On Shabbos, Matan Torah, and in regards to Moshiach, the top of the head is where man’s main strength is located. Again, we see that on Shabbos our existence changes. (The top of the head on Shabbos refers to the Neshama yeseira which is the part of the neshamah that is on top of our head).

 וַתַּבֵּט עֵינִי בְּשׁוּרָי בַּקָּמִים עָלַי מְרֵעִים תִּשְׁמַעְנָה אָזְנָי

My eyes have seen my vigilant foes; when those who would harm me rise up against me, my ears have heard their doom.

Dovid Hamelech sees from afar those who want to harm him. He also faintly hears those who wish to cause him harm. But the people who wished to harm Dovid were very close- even his son Avshalom wanted to kill him. If so, in what way were they far from him?

The answer is Shabbos. On Shabbos, Dovid Hamelech was in a different world. In this world, the enemies were far from him.

צַדִּיק כַּתָּמָר יִפְרָח כְּאֶרֶז בַּלְּבָנוֹן יִשְׂגֶּה

שְׁתוּלִים בְּבֵית יְ-ה-וָ-ה בְּחַצְרוֹת אֱלֹקינוּ יַפְרִיחוּ

A righteous man will flourish like a date palm, like a cedar in the Lebanon he will grow tall.  Planted in the house of Hashem, in the courtyards of our G-d they will flourish.

A tzaddik is like a palm tree. The gemorah in Brochos says that dates are fruits you could say birchas hamozon on. This indicates that they are the highest quality fruit.

We however say birchas hamozon only on bread. The production of bread entails a lot of work. You need to take the wheat and grind it, and then add water and yeast. Then, you need to wait for the dough to swell up. The oven then cooks it, and you must wait before eating it because your mother told you that you can’t eat fresh bread until it cools down! All of this is required to make bread which you can bentch on. Whereas dates only need picking, and then they are ready to be eaten without any work needed from us. Dates are on an equivalent level to bread!

The problem, however, with dates is being able to pick them. The dates are very high up the palm tree, which has sharp wood sticking out from it, which will harm you if you attempt to climb up.

Even though the dates are out of reach, on Shabbos you can live off them. On Shabbos, the dates are all growing in the courtyard of Hashem. This means that on Shabbos, a person can live in a very elevated world.

עוֹד יְנוּבוּן בְּשֵׂיבָה דְּשֵׁנִים וְרַעֲנַנִּים יִהְיוּ

They will still be fruitful in old age, vigorous and fresh they will be

In the tangible world, old age is an obstacle to living life to the fullest. In the world of penimius, old age is no obstacle. On the contrary, the older the person, the better.

לְהַגִּיד כִּי יָשָׁר יְ-ה-וָ-ה צוּרִי וְלֹא עלתה [עַוְלָתָה] בּוֹ

To declare that Hashem is just, my Rock in Whom there is no wrong

In our tangible world, everything is far from being straight. However, on Shabbos, we reveal the hidden secret that everything is straight in the world of penimius.

This mizmor makes you enter into a world that is penimius. Until now, we just believed in this world. On Shabbos, we live in this world.

The next mizmor is Hashem moloch geus lovesh. This is what we say on Friday mornings at the end of davening. If so, why does it come after mizmor shir leyom hashabbos, which we say for Shabbos?

The mizmor of Hashem moloch geus lovesh is said about the creation of man on day six of creation. On Shabbos, we enter into the new world of Shabbos with our entire being, and we are entirely different from how we were on the weekdays. We therefore say again the mizmor about the creation of man for the new creation of man of Shabbos. There was the ‘first creation’ of man of weekdays (on Friday) and the second creation of the man of Shabbos (on Shabbos).

Some people ask if Yirmiyahu Hanovi also had Shabbos; he also understood with clarity why reshaim have success. If so, why did he have this question on the weekday- how did he forget what he already understood on Shabbos?

The main point we have been discussing is the answer to this question. The person on Shabbos is a different person to the rest of the week. On the weekday, he transforms and returns to a different world where everything is unclear again.

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Written by Rabbi Rapport