הַ֥לְלוּ־יָ֨הּ ׀ כִּי־ט֭וֹב זַמְּרָ֣ה אֱלֹהֵ֑ינוּ כִּי־נָ֝עִ֗ים נָאוָ֥ה תְהִלָּֽה- Tehilim 147
The Malbim describes this zemer as a depiction of Hashem’s close connection to Klal Yisroel and His individual Hashgacha over us. This is a zemer that depicts Hashem’s goodness, as His essence and truth.
Dovid Hamelech is singing this portion of Tehillim as a nevuah (a prophecy)[1].
It is describing a time of Moshiach, a time of the rebuilding of Yerushalayim and the gathering of the exiles of Yisroel.[2]
It is a time of healing of the broken hearts of klal Yisroel from Tzaros, and Hashem replaces this with joy[3]..
He calls out to the stars simultaneously by name in one voice, something only God could do[4].
Each verse of this zamirah is breathtakingly beautiful.
However, when saying this Zamirah I began to wonder about the phrase of the tenth sentence. At first glance it seemed out of place to me, and not necessarily part of the theme. Why was Dovid Hamelech inserting this idea over here?
לֹ֤א בִגְבוּרַ֣ת הַסּ֣וּס יֶחְפָּ֑ץ לֹא־בְשׁוֹקֵ֖י הָאִ֣ישׁ יִרְצֶֽה
He does not prize the strength of horses, nor value the fleetness of men.
Hashem does not desire those people who place their trust in their own horses in war, or in their own strength so to speak[5].
What occurred to me is as follows. What is being shared here in this portion of Tehillim is a prophecy. It has nothing to do with the world as we know it. I think it is a warning for us to G-d forbid fall into the trap of limiting the rebuilt Yerushalayim. It is similar to the story in the G’marra[6] of a student turning into a bag of bones so to speak after he laughed at Rabbi Yochanan at the concept that in the future Hakadosh Baruch Hu will bring these large stones and pearls that are thirty by thirty cubits in size.
I learned the following explanation for this seemingly drastic G’marra from my Rebbie.
“If you say it won’t happen and only after you see it in physical then you can say it can happen, then you have a serious problem.” (Harav Simcha L Weinberg, n”y)
It seems to me that perhaps Dovid Hamelech is telling us that in order to access this world of Moshiach, this world of Majesty, this world of a rebuilt Yerushalayim we have to address the parts of us that limit us. What Dovid Hamelech seems to be addressing is the yetzer Harah of כֹּחִי֙ וְעֹ֣צֶם יָדִ֔י which is actually a denial of Hashem’s Hashgacha[7].
וְאָמַרְתָּ֖ בִּלְבָבֶ֑ךָ כֹּחִי֙ וְעֹ֣צֶם יָדִ֔י עָ֥שָׂה לִ֖י אֶת־הַחַ֥יִל הַזֶּֽה
And you say to yourselves, “My own power and the might of my own hand have won this wealth for me.
One of the definitions of zemer is pruning. Perhaps this portion of tehillim is meant to give us the tools to cut off, prune those parts that limit us.
May we be zoche to master ourselves so that we no longer limit ourselves with the falsehood of, “My own power and the might of my own hand” and instead we recognize Hashem as the Mashgiach on all, so that we can access a rebuilt Yerushalayim, a world without limits biezras Hashem Yisborach.
[1] Ibn Ezra Tehillim 147:1
[2] בּוֹנֵ֣ה יְרוּשָׁלַ֣͏ִם יְהֹוָ֑ה נִדְחֵ֖י יִשְׂרָאֵ֣ל יְכַנֵּֽס
[3] Malbim הָ֭רֹפֵא לִשְׁב֣וּרֵי לֵ֑ב וּ֝מְחַבֵּ֗שׁ לְעַצְּבוֹתָֽם
[4] Rabeinu Bachya, Shmos 20:1
[5] Metzudas Dovid
[6] Sanhedrin, 100A:7
It is like that case in which Rabbi Yoḥanan sat and taught: The Holy One, Blessed be He, is destined to bring precious stones and jewels that are thirty by thirty cubits, and He will bore in them an opening ten cubits wide by twenty cubits in height and place them to serve as the gates of Jerusalem, as it is stated: “And I will make your pinnacles of rubies and your gates of carbuncles” (Isaiah 54:12). A certain student mocked him and said: Now, at present, we do not find precious stones comparable in size to the egg of a palm dove. Will we find stones as large as those that you described?
[7] Malbim, Devarim 8:17 שהחיל והעושר שהשגתי עתה בא ע”י כחי ועצם ידי לא ע”י ההשגחה
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