Wednesday, June 10, 2015

Understanding Tefilah: Baruch She’amar – 5

Rav Dovid Lessin

“Baruch Ata Hashem… Melech Mehulal B’Tishbachot.” “Blessed are You, Hashem… the King Who is lauded with praises.” 

3 points: 

1. This bracha is the crux of Baruch She’amar, and the official beginning of Psukei D’zimra (the first half of Baruch She’amar is an introduction to this bracha).  The main message of the bracha is that we are about to invoke praises and songs composed primarily by Dovid HaMelech, the “Na’im Zmirot Yisrael,” the composer of all songs that are most pleasing to Hashem, to praise Him as best we can.  In other words, at this point we are meant to muster all our strength and open our hearts to acclaim Hashem, to appreciate, glorify, and celebrate Him, using the most beautiful expressions of praise that we have access to.

2. We refer to Hashem as the “Kel Ha’Av HaRachaman,” “The Master, the Merciful Father.” Hashem has complete power over us and can decide to do whatever He wishes.  However, He chooses to channel all of that power into a father-son relationship and acts towards us with incredible kindness and mercy. We are so fortunate to have a Father like him!

3. The ultimate goal of praising Hashem is to raise Him up in our eyes as high as possible, so that we live our lives in the presence of greatness.  We feel forever indebted to Him for His boundless kindness, and look for all possible ways to crown him as our King.  On the deepest level, the Jewish soul yearns to sing Hashem’s praises, and this yearning can only be partially captured in words.  The bursting forth of the soul’s need to praise Hashem is meant to be expressed in the words of Psukei D’zimra.

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