Shabbat Parashat Emor 5784

Parashat Hashavua: Days of Re-establishment – How We Come Before Him in Praise – part I

The declaration of the establishment of the State of Israel on 5 Iyar 5708 was a turning point in the history of Am Yisrael and even the history of mankind. The existence of an independent Jewish state in the “Land Coveted by the Forefathers” was a surprise. In the beginning, there was uncertainty about it, as people were unsure it would survive the cruel attack of all of the surrounding Arab states. It was a situation of many vs. few, the strong vs. survivors of the hell of the Holocaust, the rich in natural resources vs. the empty handed. No one could have imagined the ingathering of the exiles of some half of the Jewish people or that the state would become one of the most wonderful countries in the world from every perspective. Who would have thought that the family earnings in Israel would so quickly surpass those of England and France, the two powers that divided the Middle East during WWI?! Three years after the crematoria in Aushwitz stopped sending up to the heavens the ashes of 20,000 Jews a day while the world was silent, a state was established, where Torah is learned today more than in any generation in Jewish history.

Our mentor, Rav Shaul Yisraeli, zt”l, was one the Jewish leaders, who immediately understood the events’ great significance. He wrote about why it is so important to commemorate, celebrate, and thank Hashem on a day that was to be set aside for the re-establishment of a Jewish state, and why 5 Iyar, the day we declared our independence is important. (See Eretz Hemdah, vol. I, 1:6.)

The Chief Rabbinate at the time of Rav Herzog and Rav Uziel set the order of prayers for this occasion. At the evening prayers, we recite two mizmorei Tehillim that refer to the time of the coming of Mashiach and are part of Kabbalat Shabbat (97-98), along with three stanzas from “Lecha Dodi,” written by Rav Shlomo Alkebetz, a student and friend of Rav Yosef Karo. Why did the initiators of Kabbalat Shabbat (16^th century Safed) choose these psalms, and what messages are embedded in Lecha Dodi?   

 After the tragedy of the Expulsion from Spain, there was a spirit of anticipating liberation in the community led by Rav Yaakov Beirav, and Safed became a center of “revealed” and “hidden” Torah. Practical steps toward creating an independent state to be led by Mashiach were still just a dream, as any actions in this direction could have caused harsh reactions by the new rulers of the Land, the Ottomans. The psalms that Rav Moshe Kordavero chose for Kabbalat Shabbat deal with the coming of Mashiach, along with references to the past liberation, from Egypt. While these songs did not openly call for steps toward liberation, they safely hinted at increasing the yearnings. Shabbat was the “cover” for the feelings, with a double meaning that the Times to Come are “the times that are all Shabbat and rest forever.” Lecha Dodi went further in mixing between Shabbat and liberation, using the motif of the marriage between the beloved and his/His bride, as described in Shir Hashirim.  This wedding is to occur in a flourishing Land of Israel, as described there. So we can call Lecha Dodi a song about Shabbat and an “underground song” about the coming of Mashiach.

We will continue with these themes next week.

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