Tefilos Shabbes – Maariv – after Shma till Shemoneh Esrei

Tefillos Shabbos–  from after Shema until shemoneh esrei , Shiur 6

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְ-יָ גָּאַל יִשְׂרָאֵל.

Blessed are You, Hashem, Who redeemed Israel

We will begin by looking at the bracha, emes veemunah. We end the bracha with goal Yisroel in the past tense, which is different from the bracha goel Yisroel, which we say in the shemoneh esrei in the present tense. Why do we say them differently?

Here, we say goal Yisroel in the past tense because we are saying that the true Geulah reveals retroactively how all the hardships we went through in the past were also a part of the Geulah. In the shemoneh esrei, we cannot make such a large request to ask Hashem to redeem us and to show us how all the hardships participated in the Geulah. Instead, we ask Hashem to save us from our troubles. Therefore, we only speak about the redemption itself in the present tense.

Similarly, Shabbos also reveals how things from the past that seemed so bad served a purpose for good. Let us illustrate this from the manna. Shabbos was unique as Klal Yisroel could take double portions of the manna on Erev Shabbos– one for Friday and one for Shabbos. The Torah tells us a chiddush that the manna didn’t rot and become worm-infested. Why is this a chiddush? Why would we have thought that it should have become infested?

Doson and Aviram took more than their allotted portion during the week. As a result of having taken too much, the worms infested it. Even though manna was food of the shechinah that came from heaven and no evil exists in heaven, nevertheless, the sin of Doson and Aviram caused it to become infested. If so, taking extra manna for Shabbos might have caused the manna to become infested.

Shabbos used the evil of Doson and Aviram’s actions to reveal the Kedushah of Shabbos. So just like geulah reveals how the hardships were, in fact, part of the process of the geulah, so too in the penimius world of Shabbos, Shabbos reveals that the evil of Doson and Aviram’s sin had goodness to it.

כִּי הוּא יְ-יָ אֱלֹקינוּ וְאֵין זוּלָתוֹ, וַאֲנַחְנוּ יִשְׂרָאֵל עַמּוֹ.

הַפּוֹדֵנוּ מִיַּד מְלָכִים, מַלְכֵּנוּ הַגּוֹאֲלֵנוּ מִכַּף כָּל הֶעָרִיצִים.

Because He is Hashem, our G-d and there is nothing besides for Him. We are His people.

The one who redeems us from kings, our King Who redeems us from all the cruel tyrants.

We and Hashem are united. Therefore, we will merit the geulah haasidah, whereby He will reveal to us how the past also contributed to the geulah.

וַיּוֹצֵא אֶת עַמּוֹ יִשְׂרָאֵל מִתּוֹכָם לְחֵרוּת עוֹלָם

And He removed His nation Israel for eternal freedom

We will be free forever. We will never need to go back to the slavery of Mitzrayim since it will have already been revealed to us how the slavery contributed to the geulah. 

וּמַלְכוּתוֹ בְרָצוֹן קִבְּלוּ עֲלֵיהֶם

And His kingdom they accepted willingly.

Hashem can relate as a moshel – against people’s rotzon. However, malchus is only with our rotzon.

מַלְכוּתְךָ רָאוּ בָנֶיךָ

Your children saw Your Kingdom

Not only did Klal Yisroel willingly accept the malchus of Hashem, but they even experienced it through seeing Him at Kriyas Yam Suf. This was possible because, at Kriyas Yam Suf, the world was different from the usual world. The way to understand how they were able to see His spiritual malchus is like what we have said in the past regarding Shabbos. On Shabbos, the world is different from the rest of the week, and for example, the Alter of Kelm, who suffered from tuberculosis, on Shabbos, felt fine.

On Shabbos, we also have the opportunity to see something spiritual. The Ibn Ezra says that if a person has a clear vision on Shabbos, he can see his neshama yeseirah. Normally, we cannot see spiritual things, but on Shabbos, it is possible.

הַשְׁכִּיבֵנוּ יְ-יָ אֱלֹקינוּ לְשָׁלוֹם

Lay us down to sleep our G-d for peace

Sleep is a time when we lose our consciousness, and we have no control over ourselves. Children feel scared and insecure when going to sleep at night. Parents tell stories and do other calming things to settle the children to sleep. Similarly, we ask Hashem, because we are bonded to Him as one unit, to put us to sleep peacefully.

Similarly, on Shabbos we are bonded to Hashem in a special way.

וְהָגֵן בַּעֲדֵנוּ

And guard us

We ask Hashem to also guard over us whilst we are asleep.

 בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְ-יָ, הַפּוֹרֵשֹ סֻכַּת שָׁלוֹם עָלֵינוּ וְעַל כָּל עַמּוֹ יִשְׂרָאֵל וְעַל יְרוּשָׁלָיִם.

Blessed are you Hashem Who spreads a succah of peace upon us and upon all His nation Israel and upon Jerusalem.

Hashem guards over us on an individual level and on a collective level as Klal Yisroel. This will happen in Yerushalayim, the place of Avodah. He will guard over us with His succah. And this will occur when there is Sholom between us and Him. Sholom between us and Him means that even though we and Hashem have different cheshbonos and different considerations, nevertheless, there will be no friction between Him and us.

וְשָׁמְרוּ בְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶת הַשַּׁבָּת, לַעֲשׂוֹת אֶת הַשַּׁבָּת לְדֹרֹתָם בְּרִית עוֹלָם׃ בֵּינִי וּבֵין בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אוֹת הִוא לְעֹלָם

And Bnei Yisroel should guard the Shabbos, to keep the Shabbos for generations, an eternal covenant between Me and My people, an everlasting sign.

Many do not have the minhag to say this before Kaddish, based on minhag haGra. But you should note that in Vilna, where the Gra lived, they did say veshomru before Kaddish.

I believe that those kehillos who do not say veshomru at this point in maariv on Friday night, do not do so simply because they think it makes a hefsek in the davening. But in terms of veshomru fitting into the flow of the davening, it fits perfectly.

We have just been speaking in hashkivenu about being bonded with Hashem without friction, and He will guard us amidst this. Veshomru naturally fits in with this.

In Parshas Ki Sisa, Moshe Rabbenu was in shomayim with the aseres hadibros. Before coming down and giving them to us, the Torah says veshomru etc. The Ramban explains that there was a need to make a bris, a covenant, between the upper realms and Klal Yisroel, who reside in the lower realms. This bris made the bond between these two realms, making it possible for us to accept the luchos from Him. Shabbos is the prototypical connection between the upper and lower realms. This is why veshomru was said there.

During the week, the unity between us and Hashem is part of the picture of how the world looks. On the other hand, the essence of Shabbos is our unity with Hashem.

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Written by Rabbi Rapport