Description: Rinah 10
She’arim BiTefillah
Rinah 10
In order to start perceiving all the good that we have, the food and the clothing and all our needs, as reason for shirah and overwhelming praise of Hashem, we have to make this a habit. There are so many opportunities in a day to appreciate what Hashem does for us, His intense kindness, and with a tiny bit of thought, we can grab those moments and make them holy.
Chazal say, ‘kol ha’omer shirah bi’olam hazeh zocheh vi’omrah li’olam habah, shenemar ashrei yoshvai vaisechah od yehalleluchah selah.’ All those who say ‘shirah’ in this world will merit to say shirah in the world-to-come, as it says, praised are those who live in Your home, they will continue to praise You Hashem. This means that if we utilize our time on this world properly, to be able to praise and sing shirah to Hashem, we will enjoy the full benefit in the world-to-come, where we will be able to sing praises of Hashem in totalilty.
It likewise says, ‘az yashir Moshe, shar lo ne’emar elah yashir, mikan l’techiyas hamaisim min haTorah.’ It says, ‘Then Moshe will sing shirah,’ and it should have said, he sang shirah, in the past tense, why does it use the future tense, yashir? Because it refers to the time of techiyas hamaisim – and this is a source for techiyas hamaisim in the Torah. What this means is, whoever says Az Yashir now properly, will be honored to be among those who sing Az Yashir when the final redemption comes, when Moshiach redeems us. The early seforim already admonish us to say Az Yashir in davening every day very carefully, to enunciate every word, with sweetness and kavanah, just as if we were crossing through the Yam Suf, and Hashem appeared to save us, together with the whole Klal Yisrael! This brings great shelaimus, completion to our neshamos, it atones for all our avairos, and makes us worthy of being part of the choir when Moshiach comes.
This isn’t an easy thing to achieve – to be able to say Az Yashir as if we ourselves are crossing the Yam Suf. We aren’t there – and we don’t have that emotional energy to sing praise like that. But the ‘Krias Yam Suf’ that we experience every day – when we open our fridge, when we look in our clothing drawer, when we see our children, spouses, family – that Krias Yam Suf is something which can bring us to tremendous emotional gratitude, and we can channel that into this greatest of Shiros which Klal Yisrael ever sang.
The Sfas Emes writes, that each and every Jew, has a special portion in Az Yashir. Each and every day is different, and Az Yashir needs to be said every day, by every Jew, to be complete. This, he writes, is what is meant that Az Yashir foretells techiyas hamaisim, because Az Yashir will only be truly complete once techiyas hamaisim occurs. Then, every Jew will have said their part of Az Yashir, every single day in history, truly achieving a full and total praise of Hashem!
I said this once, and afterwards a man approached me and said, ‘You just made my life difficult! I can’t skip Az Yashir anymore in davening! Even if I’m late!’ That’s the real and whole truth – how can we even let one day go by without Az Yashir – it’s an integral part of the history and future of ourselves and the Jewish people! That’s our mission, to bring our praise of all the kindness that Hashem performs for us, into the feeling of gratitude that the Jews had when they crossed the Yam Suf and sang Az Yashir.
She’arim BiTefillah
Rinah 10
In order to start perceiving all the good that we have, the food and the clothing and all our needs, as reason for shirah and overwhelming praise of Hashem, we have to make this a habit. There are so many opportunities in a day to appreciate what Hashem does for us, His intense kindness, and with a tiny bit of thought, we can grab those moments and make them holy.
Chazal say, ‘kol ha’omer shirah bi’olam hazeh zocheh vi’omrah li’olam habah, shenemar ashrei yoshvai vaisechah od yehalleluchah selah.’ All those who say ‘shirah’ in this world will merit to say shirah in the world-to-come, as it says, praised are those who live in Your home, they will continue to praise You Hashem. This means that if we utilize our time on this world properly, to be able to praise and sing shirah to Hashem, we will enjoy the full benefit in the world-to-come, where we will be able to sing praises of Hashem in totalilty.
It likewise says, ‘az yashir Moshe, shar lo ne’emar elah yashir, mikan l’techiyas hamaisim min haTorah.’ It says, ‘Then Moshe will sing shirah,’ and it should have said, he sang shirah, in the past tense, why does it use the future tense, yashir? Because it refers to the time of techiyas hamaisim – and this is a source for techiyas hamaisim in the Torah. What this means is, whoever says Az Yashir now properly, will be honored to be among those who sing Az Yashir when the final redemption comes, when Moshiach redeems us. The early seforim already admonish us to say Az Yashir in davening every day very carefully, to enunciate every word, with sweetness and kavanah, just as if we were crossing through the Yam Suf, and Hashem appeared to save us, together with the whole Klal Yisrael! This brings great shelaimus, completion to our neshamos, it atones for all our avairos, and makes us worthy of being part of the choir when Moshiach comes.
This isn’t an easy thing to achieve – to be able to say Az Yashir as if we ourselves are crossing the Yam Suf. We aren’t there – and we don’t have that emotional energy to sing praise like that. But the ‘Krias Yam Suf’ that we experience every day – when we open our fridge, when we look in our clothing drawer, when we see our children, spouses, family – that Krias Yam Suf is something which can bring us to tremendous emotional gratitude, and we can channel that into this greatest of Shiros which Klal Yisrael ever sang.
The Sfas Emes writes, that each and every Jew, has a special portion in Az Yashir. Each and every day is different, and Az Yashir needs to be said every day, by every Jew, to be complete. This, he writes, is what is meant that Az Yashir foretells techiyas hamaisim, because Az Yashir will only be truly complete once techiyas hamaisim occurs. Then, every Jew will have said their part of Az Yashir, every single day in history, truly achieving a full and total praise of Hashem!
I said this once, and afterwards a man approached me and said, ‘You just made my life difficult! I can’t skip Az Yashir anymore in davening! Even if I’m late!’ That’s the real and whole truth – how can we even let one day go by without Az Yashir – it’s an integral part of the history and future of ourselves and the Jewish people! That’s our mission, to bring our praise of all the kindness that Hashem performs for us, into the feeling of gratitude that the Jews had when they crossed the Yam Suf and sang Az Yashir.