The book Ma’aseh
Rav (Customs of the Rabbi) details the practices of the Vilna Gaon. In the laws
of Purim section 250, it deems Psalm 22 as the song of the day for Purim. A
source for this custom is the Talmud (Yoma 29a) which discusses the phrase אַיֶּלֶת הַשַּׁחַר. It has a number of interpretations and some
of them say it refers to Queen Esther. One interpretation of אַיֶּלֶת is that it is a deer and שַּׁחַר
means dawn. Based on this “Rabbi Avahu says . . . ‘just as the antlers of the
hind branch off this way and that way, so the light of the dawn is scattered in
all directions’. Rabbi Zera says . . . ‘Why was Esther compared to an antelope?
To tell you that just as an antelope has a narrow womb and is desirable to her
mate at all times as much as the first time, so too was Esther precious to King
Ahasuerus at all times as she was at the first time. Rabbi Asi said, ‘Why was
Esther compared to the dawn? To tell you that just as the dawn is the end of
the whole night, so is the story of Esther the end of all the miracles’”.
Rabbi David ben Yosef Kimchi,
frequently referred to as the Radak, extensively discusses the phrase as
follows. He starts with a musical analysis where לַמְנַצֵּחַ
is an address to the conductor of the orchestra and אילת
השחר is a musical instrument. However אילת
can mean vigorous and robust and this is the simple understanding of it later
in the psalm. This is an allusion to the strength of the first rays of the
morning sun, therefore some commentaries call it the morning star. Some
commentaries say that it refers to Esther and Israel when they were in exile at
that time. Others say it refers to David when he was fleeing from King Saul.
The correct interpretation is that it is about the congregation of Israel that
is in this exile. This is proved by the end of the psalm where the use of the
term strength אילת is like the metaphor
in the Song of Songs, “like the deer and the antelope אילות
of the field. Dawn שחר is
understood as beautiful and bright like, “Who is it that gazes out like the
dawn”. Now she is in darkness as if she has been forgotten and abandoned, and
we are calling to her from the exile.
The Talmud in
Tractate Megilla 15b relates this psalm to the thoughts of Queen Esther when
she risked her life to plead before King Achashverosh not to destroy the nation
of Israel as follows: “She stood in the inner court of the king's
chamber,” (Esther 5:1). Rabbi Levy
said when she passed a room full of idols the divine presence departed from
her. She then said, “My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Psalm
22:2). Dost thou perchance punish the inadvertent offence like the presumptuous
one, or one done under compulsion like one done willingly? Or is it because I
called him ‘dog’, as it says, “Deliver my soul from the sword, my only one from
the power of the dog” (Ibid 21)? She straightway retracted and called him lion,
as it says, “Save me from the lion's mouth,” (ibid 22). “And it was when the
king saw Esther the queen”, (Esther 5:2). Rabbi Yochanan said, “Three
ministering angels were appointed to help her at that moment; one to make her
head erect, a second to endow her with charm, and a third to stretch the golden
scepter.
The theme of Psalm 22 is the suffering of the righteous
in the exile. Sometimes it seems that all of the misery they are suffering is
pointless. This meaningless pain makes them feel as if Hashem has abandoned
them. There is another aspect of exile which is the subject of the Megillah of
Esther. At that time the land of Israel was in ruins and under foreign domination.
When that happens even the righteous have a tendency to forget it altogether. Also
the Jews were assimilated, corrupt, and very distant from the faith. As a
result it was difficult, even for the righteous, to care about them. Aspects of
this may have persisted even though the nation was facing annihilation but in
fact really have repented.
There is an aspect of this in the Talmud (Brachos 5a). There
it says in the name of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, “Three good gifts did the Holy
One Blessed be He give to Israel, and all of them are not acquired except
through suffering. They are Torah, the land of Israel, and the world to come”.
We see this in the story of Esther. After Haman and his sons are hanged and
King Achashverosh makes Mordechai his viceroy, Esther is forced again to risk
her life to ask the king to thwart Haman’s evil plan. She pleads, “How can I
look at the evil that will find my people; how can I look at the destruction of
my kindred?” (Esther 8:6). The word for kindred מוֹלַדְתִּי though also means
motherland.
This repetition can be understood as adding emphasis. It
can also be a subconscious slip of mourning for the miserable state of the land
of Israel. This theme is extended on in the book of Daniel. It is also in the
books of Ezra, and Nehemiah, when the Jews actually start returning to the land
of Israel. It seems that the absence of the kingdom of heaven on earth gains
poignancy when we see the place, where it should be strongly manifest,
precisely the opposite way it should be. This dimension seems to have spread
out from Esther. She knew it in her mind before; however, with all of the horror
she could now see it in the eye of flesh and blood.
The beginning of this idea is when Moshe Rabenu lectures
the nation of Israel that after the blessings and curses in the Chumash have
come true they will return to their heart in all the places that they have been
pushed to. After that Hashem will bring them to the land of Israel where they
will sincerely keep the Torah (see Deuteronomy chapter 30). This idea is
developed in Psalm 22. It basically starts by saying that Hashem dwells in the
praises sung by the people of Israel (verse 4). It then details the horrors of
the exile. It concludes with redemption and return of the righteous to the land
of Israel. The final denouement is prophecy of Esther, “They shall come and
tell His righteousness to a people which will be born, that which He has done”,
(Psalm 22:32).
לע"נ
ה אמה מלכה בת חיים ז"ל נלב"ע טז בנוסן תשנ"ח
העלון ניתן לקבל בדואר אלקטרוני וגם באתר
http://dyschreiber.blogspot.co.il
YouTube
https://youtu.be/6Urmg9G1OAY
No comments:
Post a Comment