I can't even begin to say how bad I feel about not getting a parsha post out! I've just been so busy lately..we even had snow in Jerusalem!(see picture*)! Ok so this picture above is clearly not mine, if it were I would have had to dress up as a man and that would be highly sacrilegious, but I wish I COULD in fact take credit for it because it's beautiful, and has a lot to do with a side point I want to make in this post
So this morning while I was heading down to daven, I was thinking about what to write, and these words popped out at me during P'sukei D'zimra : "Hanoten sheleg k'tzamer, kfor kaefer yifazer. Mashlich karcho kfitim, lifnei karato mi ya'amod? - He who gives snow like fleece, He scatters frost like ashes. He hurls His ice like crumbs-before His cold, who can stand?"(Tehillim kuf mem zayin-Psalm 147)** I never really noticed this allusion to winter weather before, especially when talking about Yerushalayim, as in this perek of tehillim, one of the last of the 150. This perek "places its primary focus on Jerusalem, the center from which holiness, redemption and torah will emanate," "continuing the theme of redemption [of the psalms that precede it]"*** I found these verses in particular very interesting, and not just because I've been thinking about snow after these last few days! Generally, cold has negative connotations, and the words "hurls His ice" are almost frightening. The image it conjures (at least to me) is of anger, of ice being thrown, perhaps in punishment by a power of unimaginable magnitude. Of an unapproachable "cold" detached from us and so distant that, before it, one would be unable to stand.
And is that not the way some people view Hashem? Like a mere entity so far removed, it no longer has any effect or control on us, or care for us. As "the philosopher" in Yehuda Halevi's Kuzari stated, there is no way G-d could POSSIBLY care about each and every individual person- He merely created something, an effector of sorts that catalysed other actions, resulting in our existence with no individual intent whatsoever involved. This view, however, is completely contrary to Jewish belief. Without our emunah, our Judaism could not stand. As we learn in Sefer V'ten Bracha (which is actually what I had originally planned to write about, but seeing as I got a little sidetracked, I think I'll have to do it in a separate post after a little while so you don't all get overwhelmed with Ashira-ness), when Hashem creates anything, be it a vegetable or an animal, He knows exactly where it's going. He creates it with you, as an individual, in mind. For example, when he creates an apple, He has the specific intent of creating this apple for your benefit- it is like placing a stamp on it, and addressing it to you.
I tried to find any commentary I possibly could on this perek of tehillim, but there was not much out there I could use. However,according to Rashi, the words "like crumbs" is referring to the fact that Hashem is merciful and everything He does is proportionate-it is all in accordance to our burden. As he brings down from the Midrash Aggadah, Hashem would consider the lack of clothing on a poor man and therefore be lenient with him. As it says earlier in this perek, "moneh mispar lacochavim, lichulam shemot yikrah- He counts the number of the stars, to all of them He assigns names"** There are billions of stars-an innumerable and inconceivable amount, to us, yet Hashem counts each and every one and gives them a name. If Hashem can take the time to count and care for stars in His sky, how much more so would he care about each and every one of us,His children, individually? This however, does not take away from the frosty image created mid-perek.
Looking to the next verse, we find our answer: "Yishlach dvaro viyamsem, yashev ruchu yizlo mayim-He issues His command and it melts them, He blows His wind; the waters flow"** Despite the image we can create in our minds of Hashem 'freezing us out', we are thus reminded that it isn't so-with just His words Hashem melts the ice He hurls. We can never forget the compassion and love Hashem has for us- for each of us on an individual level. We need to remember how special and blessed we are to be so close to Hashem, to have Him on our side, looking out for us. It's easy to become jaded and to second guess whether or not Hashem is truly caring for us on the individual level, to get lost in a 'spiritual winter' and lose sight of the truth while our eyes are blinded by the snow. But it's imperative to keep in mind that we really ARE the lucky few, despite any bumps we may find in the road, as the perek finishes: "Lo asa chen l'chol goy, umishpatim bal yidaum,hallelukah! He did not not do so for any other nation, such judgments they know not . Halleluka!" **
For an English translation of Perek 147 in its entirety, click here: http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/16368/jewish/Chapter-147.htm
* http://zioneocon.blogspot.com/kotel%20snow%20w%20daavening.jpg
**Translation from the Artscroll Siddur Ohel Sarah-Women's Siddur, Klein Edition
***The Artscroll Tehillim
So this morning while I was heading down to daven, I was thinking about what to write, and these words popped out at me during P'sukei D'zimra : "Hanoten sheleg k'tzamer, kfor kaefer yifazer. Mashlich karcho kfitim, lifnei karato mi ya'amod? - He who gives snow like fleece, He scatters frost like ashes. He hurls His ice like crumbs-before His cold, who can stand?"(Tehillim kuf mem zayin-Psalm 147)** I never really noticed this allusion to winter weather before, especially when talking about Yerushalayim, as in this perek of tehillim, one of the last of the 150. This perek "places its primary focus on Jerusalem, the center from which holiness, redemption and torah will emanate," "continuing the theme of redemption [of the psalms that precede it]"*** I found these verses in particular very interesting, and not just because I've been thinking about snow after these last few days! Generally, cold has negative connotations, and the words "hurls His ice" are almost frightening. The image it conjures (at least to me) is of anger, of ice being thrown, perhaps in punishment by a power of unimaginable magnitude. Of an unapproachable "cold" detached from us and so distant that, before it, one would be unable to stand.
And is that not the way some people view Hashem? Like a mere entity so far removed, it no longer has any effect or control on us, or care for us. As "the philosopher" in Yehuda Halevi's Kuzari stated, there is no way G-d could POSSIBLY care about each and every individual person- He merely created something, an effector of sorts that catalysed other actions, resulting in our existence with no individual intent whatsoever involved. This view, however, is completely contrary to Jewish belief. Without our emunah, our Judaism could not stand. As we learn in Sefer V'ten Bracha (which is actually what I had originally planned to write about, but seeing as I got a little sidetracked, I think I'll have to do it in a separate post after a little while so you don't all get overwhelmed with Ashira-ness), when Hashem creates anything, be it a vegetable or an animal, He knows exactly where it's going. He creates it with you, as an individual, in mind. For example, when he creates an apple, He has the specific intent of creating this apple for your benefit- it is like placing a stamp on it, and addressing it to you.
I tried to find any commentary I possibly could on this perek of tehillim, but there was not much out there I could use. However,according to Rashi, the words "like crumbs" is referring to the fact that Hashem is merciful and everything He does is proportionate-it is all in accordance to our burden. As he brings down from the Midrash Aggadah, Hashem would consider the lack of clothing on a poor man and therefore be lenient with him. As it says earlier in this perek, "moneh mispar lacochavim, lichulam shemot yikrah- He counts the number of the stars, to all of them He assigns names"** There are billions of stars-an innumerable and inconceivable amount, to us, yet Hashem counts each and every one and gives them a name. If Hashem can take the time to count and care for stars in His sky, how much more so would he care about each and every one of us,His children, individually? This however, does not take away from the frosty image created mid-perek.
Looking to the next verse, we find our answer: "Yishlach dvaro viyamsem, yashev ruchu yizlo mayim-He issues His command and it melts them, He blows His wind; the waters flow"** Despite the image we can create in our minds of Hashem 'freezing us out', we are thus reminded that it isn't so-with just His words Hashem melts the ice He hurls. We can never forget the compassion and love Hashem has for us- for each of us on an individual level. We need to remember how special and blessed we are to be so close to Hashem, to have Him on our side, looking out for us. It's easy to become jaded and to second guess whether or not Hashem is truly caring for us on the individual level, to get lost in a 'spiritual winter' and lose sight of the truth while our eyes are blinded by the snow. But it's imperative to keep in mind that we really ARE the lucky few, despite any bumps we may find in the road, as the perek finishes: "Lo asa chen l'chol goy, umishpatim bal yidaum,hallelukah! He did not not do so for any other nation, such judgments they know not . Halleluka!" **
For an English translation of Perek 147 in its entirety, click here: http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/16368/jewish/Chapter-147.htm
* http://zioneocon.blogspot.com/kotel%20snow%20w%20daavening.jpg
**Translation from the Artscroll Siddur Ohel Sarah-Women's Siddur, Klein Edition
***The Artscroll Tehillim
