Wednesday, March 9, 2016

Pekuday \ Psalm 22 - Motherland

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
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