1. A song for ascents. I shall raise my eyes to the
mountains, from where will my help come?
א. שִׁיר לַמַּעֲלוֹת אֶשָּׂא עֵינַי אֶל הֶהָרִים מֵאַיִן יָבֹא
עֶזְרִי:
2. My help is from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and
earth.
ב. עֶזְרִי מֵעִם יְהֹוָה עֹשֵׂה שָׁמַיִם וָאָרֶץ:
3. He will not allow your foot to falter; Your Guardian
will not slumber.
ג. אַל יִתֵּן לַמּוֹט רַגְלֶךָ אַל יָנוּם שֹׁמְרֶךָ:
4. Behold the Guardian of Israel will neither slumber nor
sleep.
ד. הִנֵּה לֹא יָנוּם וְלֹא יִישָׁן שׁוֹמֵר יִשְׂרָאֵל:
5. The Lord is your Guardian; the Lord is your shadow; [He
is] by your right hand.
ה. ה' שֹׁמְרֶךָ יְהֹוָה צִלְּךָ עַל יַד יְמִינֶךָ:
6. By day, the sun will not smite you, nor will the moon
at night.
ו. יוֹמָם הַשֶּׁמֶשׁ לֹא יַכֶּכָּה וְיָרֵחַ בַּלָּיְלָה:
7. The Lord will guard you from all evil; He will guard
your soul.
ז. יְהֹוָה יִשְׁמָרְךָ מִכָּל רָע יִשְׁמֹר אֶת נַפְשֶׁךָ:
8. The Lord will guard your going out and your coming in
from now and to eternity.
ח. ה' יִשְׁמָר צֵאתְךָ וּבוֹאֶךָ מֵעַתָּה וְעַד עוֹלָם:
According to Rashi, when the
cohanim began to ascend the steps into the Temple they would chant the Shir
HaMa’alos starting Psalm 121. He notes it is not sequentially the first of these
Psalms and responds that the Tanakh is not necessarily meticulous about
chronological sequence. The theme of the Psalm is fear and reassurance. It is
the prayer of a person who is isolated, abandoned, and facing a very uncertain
future. Help from man is not in the cards and salvation if it comes will be
only from heaven. The prayer is answered favorably and a list of reassurances
is given. So to speak although the person may have all sorts of harrowing
experiences, G-d’s providence will always be close and he will escape
unscathed.
There is a story in “Hasidic
Tales of the Holocaust” by Yaffa Eliach called “Save This One Grandchild”,
which offers some insights on Psalm 121. In it an eleven year old girl is
placed in a Nazi labor camp with her mother. Generally children were
immediately executed; however, she was able to be classified as an adult and proceeded
to work very hard. A kind German inmate supervisor with communist ideals took
pity on the little girl and gave her indoor work plus a bit extra food, saving
her from dying of starvation and exposure.
After a year she was deported
with her family to the Auschwitz concentration camp. Her father and
grandparents were killed on arrival. She and her mother, though, passed the
selection. When winter came the little girl contracted measles. She became so
weak she could not show up for the daily roll call. By a stroke of luck, however,
it was skipped. The mother saw that her daughter’s life was hanging in the
balance. When the mother fell asleep that night the she dreamt of her father.
Her father told her that he stood before the Almighty G-d and beseeched him to
save this one grandchild of his. The next day the little girl woke up from her
delirium and asked for a piece of bread. She survived and a few weeks later
they were liberated by the Russians.
Psalm 121 opens with the
person lifting their eyes to the mountains, so to speak looking to the high and
mighty for help. Upon seeing that salvation will not come from a human agency,
they recognize that there is a G-d that made heaven and earth and it is only
from Him that deliverance will come. The Psalm then details the types of
protections that the person will receive, and it is through detailing them,
that a person feels reassured.
The first reassurance is that
G-d will not allow your foot to slip. This means that one will be protected
from ordinary accidents and mistakes. The idea of G-d being a guard who does
not slumber or sleep is emphasized through repetition. The idea is that G-d’s
protection is close and constant. The idea of G-d slumbering or sleeping is as
if He was not alert or would only respond if a person hollers loudly. On the
contrary Hashem is as close as the shadow of your strong hand. The idea of
being struck by the sun by day is the idea of apparent threats that a person
can see. The idea of the moon at night is the idea of an ambush that a person
cannot see coming. The idea of being protected from all evil and protecting a
person’s soul is that G-d will prevent a person from doing the stupid and
malevolent things that he may be wont to do.
The idea of protecting an exit
means protection during a journey, which on a deeper level means the travels of
the Jewish people during the exile. The idea of protecting an entrance means
that what one finds at their destination will be a blessing. Ultimately this is
the redemption and the land of Israel.
לע"נ
הסבא אהרן בן יוסף ז"ל נלב"ע כז בטבת תשכ"ו
העלון ניתן לקבל גם בדואר אלקטרוני וגם באתר http://dyschreiber.blogspot.co.il
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