Tefillos Shabbos- Nishmas – HaMelech hameromam

Shiur 15 -Tefillos Shabbos- Nishmas – HaMelech hameromam

We will start by discussing nishmas.

The issue that nishmas is addressing is how Hashem created the body. The body, naturally, is not intrinsically linked or yearning to come close to Hashem. Instead, it has been created to connect to the world we live in naturally.

Shabbos is a time of techiyas hamesim. If so, the body needs to be connected to Hashem to get its techiyah. However, the problem is that the body is not.

נִשְׁמַת כָּל חַי תְּבָרֵךְ אֶת שִׁמְךָ יְ-יָ אֱלֹקינוּ, וְרוּחַ כָּל בָּשָׂר

The neshamah of all living beings will bless Your name Hashem, our G-d and the ruach of all flesh.

The neshamah and the ruach are directed towards Hashem.

We are talking about everyone’s general neshamah and ruach and how they praise Hashem in a very general way. It is very natural for the neshamah and ruach to praise Hashem as they naturally are directed towards Hashem.

The G-d of the first and last ones. The G-d of all creations, etc.

The general praises are that Hashem spans all generations and that He runs the whole world with chessed, etc.

אִלּוּ פִינוּ מָלֵא שִׁירָה כַּיָּם, וּלְשׁוֹנֵנוּ רִנָּה כַּהֲמוֹן גַּלָּיו, וְשִׂפְתוֹתֵינוּ שֶׁבַח כְּמֶרְחֲבֵי רָקִיעַ, וְעֵינֵינוּ מְאִירוֹת כַּשֶּׁמֶשׁ וְכַיָּרֵחַ, וְיָדֵינוּ פְרוּשׂוֹת כְּנִשְׂרֵי שָׁמָיִם, וְרַגְלֵינוּ קַלּוֹת כָּאַיָּלוֹת, אֵין אֲנַחְנוּ מַסְפִּיקִים לְהוֹדוֹת לְךָ יְ-יָ אֱלֹקינוּ וֵאלֹקי אֲבוֹתֵינוּ

If our mouths were filled with song like the sea and our tongue like the waves, etc.

Now we speak about the nature of the body as a general concept, like that of the nishmas kol chai (the neshamah as a general concept). We now detail the body as if it’s big, like the whole world. However, this still does not help to overcome the problem of the body’s being directed towards Hashem. If our mouths were filled with song, as large as the ocean and our tongues as the waves of the ocean, etc., our eyes like the sun and the moon, we would still not be able to thank and praise Hashem.

As we said, this creates a major problem. If we cannot have the madreigah of the body also being part of the picture of being connected and praising Hashem, the body cannot have techiyas hameisim. Shabbos and techiyas hameisim are one thing. If so, as things stand, the body cannot be in Shabbos/techiyas hameisim.

עַל כֵּן אֵבָרִים שֶׁפִּלַּגְתָּ בָּנוּ

Therefore, the limbs that You gave to us

Now, we speak about what will help the body to become part of the picture of techiyas hameisim and Shabbos. We no longer talk about the body as a whole general concept. Instead, we speak about our own personal bodies. Here lies the opportunity for the body to be similar to the neshamah and the ruach.

וְרוּחַ וּנְשָׁמָה שֶׁנָּפַחְתָּ בְּאַפֵּינוּ

The ruach and neshamah that You blew into us

We speak about our prati neshamah and ruach, not the nishmas kol chai. Even though the general concept of the body cannot enter into the picture, nevertheless, our personal body can be made to enter the picture of Shabbos.

כִּי כָל פֶּה לְךָ יוֹדֶה וְכָל לָשׁוֹן לְךָ תִשָּׁבַע וְכָל בֶּרֶךְ לְךָ תִכְרַע וְכָל קוֹמָה לְפָנֶיךָ תִשְׁתַּחֲוֶה

Every mouth will thank You, and every tongue will swear to You, etc.

The mouth is naturally for speaking loshon hora and bringing out our thoughts. However, we can bend our mouth towards Hashem and make it thank Him.

It says in the possuk that leshoneinu itonu-it’s in our realm for us to do with it as we wish. We are saying here that we do not make it this way. Instead, we make it take a shevuah to Hashem.

Our knees are made naturally to stand up and walk around. Instead, though, we use it to bow to Hashem.

Our stature is naturally for our dignity. Instead, though, we bend it in prostration to Hashem.

 וְכָל לְבָבוֹת יִירָאוּךָ

All the hearts will fear You

The possuk says ‘Libo bori keulam’, meaning that our heart is the place of self-confidence. However, in nishmas we say otherwise-we make it to be afraid of Hashem.

וְכָל קֶרֶב וּכְלָיוֹת יְזַמְּרוּ לִשְׁמֶךָ

All the innards and kidneys will sing to Your name

Our innards naturally digest food and give us counsel. However, we make it bend to Hashem.

The common theme is that, in its essence, the body does not naturally serve Hashem. Nevertheless, we can educate and bend it towards the service of Hashem. We can bring our personal body to join our neshamah and ruach in the service of Hashem.

Shabbos is like techiyas hameisim. If so, Shabbos is when the body, in the world of penimius, needs to be made to connect with Hashem.

כָּל עַצְמוֹתַי תֹּאמַרְנָה יְ-יָ מִי כָמוֹךָ

All my bones will say, ‘Hashem who is like you’.

Our limbs are being made, against their nature, to be connected with Hashem.

מַצִּיל עָנִי מֵחָזָק מִמֶּנּוּ וְעָנִי וְאֶבְיוֹן מִגֹּזְלו

Who saves the poor from the one stronger than him and the poor and destitute from the one who stole from him

Who is the poor person who is being rescued from the stronger one? It is the limbs. The stronger one is the yetzer hora and he finds the body and tries to make it serve him. Just like the body is able to serve the yetzer, it can also be made to serve Hashem.

הָאֵ-ל בְּתַעֲצֻמוֹת עֻזֶּךָ, הַגָּדוֹל בִּכְבוֹד שְׁמֶךָ, הַגִּבּוֹר לָנֶצַח וְהַנּוֹרָא בְּנוֹרְאוֹתֶיךָ, הַמֶּלֶךְ הַיּושֵׁב עַל כִּסֵּא רָם וְנִשָּׂא.

Hashem, Who is strong with Your strength, the One Who is great with the honor of Your name

We say the praises of godol, gibor and norah to the full extent. Currently, we do not see these things to their full extent. However, in leosid lovo these attributes will be expressed to their full extent.

The gadol of Hashem should be for kavod shomayim.

Gibor should be so strong that it should never end.

The norah benorosecha means that it should be more and more norah.

The tachlis of all this is that the Melech should sit on His throne.

On Yom Tov we have the minhag for the chazzan to start saying out loud from here. Shabbos, on the other hand, the chazzan begins after this. Why is it different?

Yom Tov is a step towards leosid lovo. The chazzan says out loud the praises suitable for leosid lovo. However, Shabbos is meein olam habo. We are already in meein olam habo, and therefore, we need not say it out loud since the praises are self-understood. This is just like in chinuch in our houses-many of the major values that we run the house on need not be said as they are simply self-understood.

שׁוֹכֵן עַד מָרוֹם וְקָדוֹשׁ שְׁמוֹ

Who resides until the morom and the One Whose name is holy

Shochen is like Shechina.

Morom means higher.

Kodosh means muvdal, distinguishly separated.

וְכָתוּב: רַנְּנוּ צַדִּיקִים בַּי-יָ לַיְשָׁרִים נָאוָה תְהִלָּה

The righteous will sing in Hashem etc.

We say this also after the 26 hodus of pesukeh dezimrah. Over there, we spoke about how the nevel instrument has 10 strings. This talks about leosid lovo (the Medrash says that the nevel of olom hazeh has seven strings, yemos hamoshiach has eight strings, and olam habo has 10 strings).

Here, we say baHashem and not laHashem. The gemorah in Baba Basra says that the tzaddikim are called by the name of Hashem in leosid lovo because then they will be with Him. This is the baHashem instead of laHashem.

בְּפִי יְשָׁרִים תִּתְהַלָּל, וּבְדִבְרֵי צַדִּיקִים תִּתְבָּרַךְ, וּבִלְשׁוֹן חֲסִידִים תִּתְרוֹמָם, וּבְקֶרֶב קְדוֹשִׁים תִּתְקַדָּשׁ

In the mouth of the straight, You will be praised etc.

All the great people are involved in praising Hashem- yeshorim, tzaddikim etc. Where is there a place for us simpletons amongst them?

וּבְמַקְהֲלוֹת רִבְבוֹת עַמְּךָ בֵּית יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּרִנָּה יִתְפָּאַר שִׁמְךָ מַלְכֵּנוּ בְּכָל דּוֹר וָדוֹר

In the assembly of the multitudes of Your people, Israel, etc.

We are the mikhalos rivevos. In every generation, there is work also for us simpletons to praise Hashem.

וּלְקַלֵּס, עַל כָּל דִּבְרֵי שִׁירוֹת וְתִשְׁבְּחוֹת דָּוִד בֶּן יִשַׁי עַבְדְּךָ מְשִׁיחֶךָ.

And to praise, above all the words of songs and praise, etc.

We all need to write our own sefer Tehillim on our own lives. If we do not reach this point, we will not have done our job. We may be simple and not tzaddikim and chassidim, etc., but this is not a reason to exempt us from writing our own Tehillim. After all, the theme of nishmas is about the body, which is also simple but nevertheless needs to be bent and brought into the picture of avodas Hashem.

יִשְׁתַּבַּח שִׁמְךָ לָעַד מַלְכֵּנוּ

Praise Your name forever, our King

We say 15 praises to Hashem (shir, shevochoh etc.).

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְ-יָ, אֵ-ל מֶלֶךְ גָּדוֹל בַּתִּשְׁבָּחוֹת, אֵ-ל הַהוֹדָאוֹת, אֲדוֹן הַנִּפְלָאוֹת, הַבּוֹחֵר בְּשִׁירֵי זִמְרָה, מֶלֶךְ אֵ-ל חֵי הָעוֹלָמִים.

Blessed are You, Hashem, G-d, King, great with praises, G-d of thanks, etc.

The revelation of Hashem depends on our being meshabeach Him.

The strength of Hashem comes from our hodaos (kel hahodoos).

Godol of Hashem comes from our hodoos.

אֲדוֹן הַנִּפְלָאוֹת, הַבּוֹחֵר בְּשִׁירֵי זִמְרָה, מֶלֶךְ אֵ-ל חֵי הָעוֹלָמִים.

Master of the wonders, Who chooses songs of zimrah, etc.

Hashem does all the niflaos in the world, and He chooses shirei zimrah.

He is mechayeh the whole world through our being meshabeach Him.

יוֹצֵר אוֹר וּבוֹרֵא חֹשֶׁךְ, עֹשֶׂה שָׁלוֹם וּבוֹרֵא אֶת הַכֹּל

Who creates light and dark, Who makes peace and creates everything

The possuk says uvorei es hora but we say uvorei es hakol.

What is meant by hakol?

Lemoshol, if one places a few fingers underneath a particular point of a book, it is only possible to lift the book up without it falling if his fingers are under the central point. This is where the center of gravity is. This central point contains the concentrated version of the whole book—the essence of the entire thing. This is why the fingers need to support it from this specific point.

הַכֹּל יוֹדוּךָ וְהַכֹּל יְשַׁבְּחוּךָ, וְהַכֹּל יֹאמְרוּ אֵין קָדוֹשׁ כַּי-יָ. הַכֹּל יְרוֹמְמוּךָ

Everyone will thank You, etc.

Throughout the whole week, the center of gravity goes down. On Shabbos, the ‘hakol,’ the central point (essence), goes up-we praise Hashem, etc. This is the chiddush of Shabbos. The world changes, and instead of the essence of the whole world being pulled down, it is pulled upwards.

הָאֵ-ל הַפּוֹתֵחַ בְּכָל יוֹם דַּלְתוֹת שַׁעֲרֵי מִזְרָח, וּבוֹקֵעַ חַלּוֹנֵי רָקִיעַ. מוֹצִיא חַמָּה מִמְּקוֹמָהּ, וּלְבָנָה מִמְּכוֹן שִׁבְתָּהּ. וּמֵאִיר לָעוֹלָם כֻּלּוֹ וּלְיוֹשְׁבָיו שֶׁבָּרָא בְּמִדַּת הָרַחֲמִים

The G-d Who opens doors and gates daily and breaks open the windows of the firmament etc.

During the week, we only say hameir loolam kulo, etc. During the week the light from the sun and the moon (from Hashem’s realm) enters and fills our world. However, it comes to us from above, and only then does it reach us through the firmament. We do not see where it begins.

On Shabbos, when our essence rises up and becomes appropriate with Hashem’s realm, we see from where His light originates. We see the opening of the door that allows the light to come out from His realm and enter our realm via the firmament.

On Shabbos, we omit ‘moloh hooretz kinyonecha mo rabu maasecha Hashem kulom bechochma osiysa’. Why?

This statement means that the world is full of everything from Hashem. However, on Shabbos, the focus is not on the fullness of what our world has down here. Rather, the focus is on a different aspect of the world. On Shabbos, we focus on how the essence of our world moves upwards to Hashem’s realm.

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Written by Rabbi Rapport