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RABBI ARTHUR SEGAL:JEWISH RENEWAL:JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL:KOHAN'S BLESSINGS
Talmud Discourse: It is better to take refuge in the LORD than to trust in man.
Ya'eir Adoshem panav eleicha vi'huneka
Yisa Adoshem panav elecha v'yaseim l'cha shalom.
May the L-rd cause His countenance to shine to you and grant you favor.
Ya er Adoshem pa nav e lei kha vi khu ne ka
May the L-rd raise His countenance toward you and grant you peace."
Yi sa Adonshem pa nav e lei kha ve ya sen le kha sha lom.
May G!D always be keeping His face raised towards us, or as I have opined in the past, He always does, it is we who turn our backs on Him.
Now, moving from this point, we can see why the Rabbis in Eretz Israel writing their Gemorah, chose to use three consecutive verse of Psalms to answer each of the lines of this Cohanic Blessing, instead of the more traditional, "May it be G!d's will.' Rabbi Akiva tells us in the Mishna Pirkei Avot 3:19 that everything is in G!d's will except one thing, and that is freedom of choice to accept G!d. So they would use verse to emphasize this point. They would use poetry to match poetry.
Further the blessings promise items that are at the utmost value in Judaism. G!D's love and peace. True love and true peace. And psalms would be picked to mirror these virtues.
For the morning service, Shacharet, Psalm 103 verses 20, 21 and 23 were chosen:
20 Praise the L-RD, you his angels,
you mighty ones who do his bidding,
who obey his word.
21 Praise the L-RD, all his heavenly hosts,
you his servants who do his will.
22 Praise the L-RD, all his works
everywhere in his dominion.
Praise the L-RD, O my soul.
Hence this Psalm is all about us doing G!D's will. By keeping His will, we are keeping our part of the Covenant of Sinai. G!D hence will keep His part of the contract, to watch Israel, love Israel and give peace to Israel.
It is not a matter of "May it be God's will" that G!D does this. It is a matter of our will, that He will do this.
Remember also, that prayer (service of the heart) has replaced the sacrifices at the Temple. (Talmud Tractate Taanit 2a) . But the time frame of those sacrifices are the times that we do prayer. Shacharet is our morning prayer service.... every day.
Musaf is a 4th additional service done only on Shabbat and Holy days. So the Sages of the Talmud Yerushalmi would pick something different and special. They chose Psalm 134, verse 1 ,2,and 3: (which is cleverly the entire Psalm):
A song of ascents.
1 Praise the L-RD, all you servants of the L-RD
who minister by night in the house of the L-RD.
2 Lift up your hands in the sanctuary
and praise the L-RD.
3 May the L-RD, the Maker of heaven and earth,
bless you from Zion.
The Musaf service is a joyous one, starting with Ashrei, 'happy" and longs for the Messiah and the temples restoration. As sages living in a destroyed Jerusalem and an Eretz Israel under Roman control, compared to those in Babylonia, fairing a bit better, the Temple's restoration, would seem nearer to their hearts.
Now, in looking deeper at Psalm 103, we can see that Dovid Melech is telling us that G!d's greatest gift to us is our spiritual soul. And the priestly blessings are there to protect this soul. Our souls need G!D's eternal love and peace and protection, because without it, we are just homo sapiens still emerging from our caves and not homo spiritus emerging from the desert of Sinai. This Psalm asks G!D no less than three times to protect our soul.
103:20 - By blessing G!D's angels the sages are emphasizing that G!D rules over all, as they have written, that not even a blade of grass grows without an angel helping it to do so. Sforno goes so far to equate these angels with Talmud and Torah scholars. Calling the angels mighty ones, or in some translations 'warriors', the sages compare them to Rabbis who, as the Mishna Pirkei Avot says, are truly strong who control their evil inclinations (4:1). Further, these angels and sages, do G!D's will and never rest and do not do so for a reward.
103:21- This refers to G!D's entire universe and even the stars who follow G!d's plan.
104:22 - David is speaking of the entire universe, yet asks G!D to protect our very souls, which is the distillation, of the priestly blessings, because without a soul, what good, is protection, love, and peace?
Tractate Shabbat 86a says that this psalm begins with a description of angels who 'do' and ends with angels who 'obey', harkening us back to the revelation and covenant at Sinai, where we Hebrews said 'we will do and we will obey." (Ex 24:7). At that moment 600,000 angels set two crowns on each Hebrew, one for 'doing' and one for 'obeying'. This psalm again ties into the contract, the covenant at Sinai, which the Priestly blessings, summarizes.
Psalm 134 is short but long in wisdom. It is the last of the 15 Psalms of Ascent. As Israel rises higher and closer to G!D, G!D responds in turn. Verse one is clear that those who serve G!D are a small elite group who do so with a full heart and mind and soul. Those who do so with lip service or the occasional good deed, are not included in this group. Ibn Pacuda's Duties of the Heart of 1000 years ago, says that in order to achieve at true love of G!D, one must stop loving his worldly processions. Tractate Menacoth 110a says that those who stand in the house of G!d in the night not only refers to the priests of times past, (Numb 18:1-5), but to Torah and Talmud scholars ,now, who study at night to keep our traditions alive.
Verse two is actually referring to the priests who lifted up their hands and spread their fingers in a V sign ( yes, shades of Vulcan for you Trekkies), when giving these Cohan benedictions. (Lev.9:22).[ Now a sad thing is that Jews used to pray with their hands in the air, with shouts of joy and praise, and also, did so on their knees (read Daniel), and we stopped doing so, because our Christian brothers copied us, and we wanted to look different. We even stopped bringing flowers to funerals (which was done to hide the stench of the body) because they copied it from us. Silly.]
Verse three of G!D blessing us from Zion, also refers to the priestly blessing. With priests no longer available as the Temple is destroyed, Malbim says G!D some times sends his blessings thru intermediaries, i.e. Talmud scholars. So this Psalm during a prayer service, helps take Hebraism and the cult of the priests with the Temple, now gone, and move it into Judaism, with Rabbis.
Now, I am asked what Psalm I would use. I answer this with humility, as the most novice of a true Talmudic sage, has more knowledge and piety in his pinky finger, than I have in my entire being.
For Shacharet:
118: 6 The L-RD is with me; I will not be afraid.
What can man do to me?
7 The L-RD is with me; he is my helper.
I will look in triumph on my enemies.
8 It is better to take refuge in the L-RD
than to trust in man.
For Musaf:
34: 12 Whoever of you loves life
and desires to see many good days,
13 keep your tongue from evil
and your lips from speaking lies.
14 Turn from evil and do good;
seek peace and pursue it.
If I were allowed to pick a modern Psalm from a modern Jewish prophet I would pick for Shacheret: Dylan's Psalm ''Talking WW 3 Blues'':
''Everybody sees themselves walkin' around with no one else.
Half of the people can be part right all of the time,
Some of the people can be all right part of the time.
But all the people can't be all right all the time
I think Abraham Lincoln said that.
"I'll let you be in my dreams if I can be in yours,"
I said that.''
And for Musaf: Dylan's Psalm Subterranean Homesick Blues:
"Look out kid
Don't matter what you did
Walk on your tip toes
Don't try "No Doz"
Better stay away from those
That carry around a fire hose
Keep a clean nose
Watch the plain clothes
You don't need a weather man
To know which way the wind blows "
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Arthur Segal
JEWISH RENEWAL
JEWISH SPIRITUAL RENEWAL
HILTON HEAD ISLAND,SC
BLUFFTON, SC
SAVANNAH,GA
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