Shabbat Zemirot I
R. Yaakov Bieler
Summer 5768
The
earliest allusion[1]
to the practice of including songs of praise within the context of a Shabbat
meal is found in Megilla 12b, where the manner in which
Jews joyously celebrate together is contrasted with the extremely hedonistic
nature of the party hosted by Achashveirosh (Esther 1:2 ff.), which in
turn is generalized to represent all idolatrous
festivities:
Said Rava: The seventh day was Shabbat,
when
The emphasis in this Talmudic source on how a
Shabbat meal ought to begin, appears to directly refer not only to
the recitation of Kiddush on both Friday evening and Shabbat
morning,[2] during which the nature of Shabbat
is defined with references of various lengths to Biblical themes and events,
e.g., the completion of Creation and God’s Resting (Beraishit
1:31-2:3); the Exodus from Egypt (Shemot 1-15),
Israel’s Chosenness (Devarim 7:6-7; 14:2); the Holiness of
Israel (Shemot 19:6; 22:30); some prohibited activities (Shemot
20: 7:10; Yeshayahu 58:13); and Shabbat’s spiritual symbolism
(Shemot 31:16-17), but also to at least the two songs with which the Friday
night meal is inaugurated, Shalom Aleichem, and Eishet Chayil (Mishlei
31:10-31.)
While Rava’s comment might serve as at least
a partial basis of an early Halachic decisor’s view, quoted by Chafetz Chaim:
Mishna Berura on Shulchan
Aruch, Orech Chayim 289, #5
Rokeach[3] wrote in #54, “After they have eaten all that they need, it is
appropriate to sing songs and offer praise to the Holy One, Blessed Be He…
in light of the emphasis upon how such songs
and praises should be offered only once the meal is completed, it would
seem more logical that it is the paradigm of the Pesach Seder upon which
the Rokeach bases his requirements for religious practices at Shabbat
meals.[4] With respect to words of Tora,
these certainly comprise the bulk of the Haggada, where Midrashic
interpretations of the verses describing the Exodus abound. And as for Divine
Praises, while the Mishna in Pesachim (10:5-7) speaks only of Hallel Mitzri,[5] a quintessential expression
of God’s Wondrous Qualities made up of verses from Tehillim[6] being recited during the Seder
and primarily after the meal, Hallel HaGadol[7]
is also required by the Talmud in Pesachim 118a. Furthermore,
the Haggada text has over the generations standardized a number of songs
to be sung at the very end of the Seder, before everyone retires in the
wee hours of the morning. While the typical Shabbat meal can never be as
ritualized and formalized as the Pesach Seder, the desire for a carry-over
of the elements of liturgical praise and the exchange of Tora thoughts
are eminently understandable. The only Jewishly self-conscious way for an
elaborate meal not to remain an exclusively esthetic, sensuous and even
animalistic exercise, is by introducing elements of sanctity and spirituality
via Judaism’s holy traditions, combining aspects of cognition (Divrei Tora)
and affect (Zemirot VeTishbachot.) Not only do the discussion of Tora
ideas and communal singing of liturgical poems and other songs at a meal avoid
the overtly negative depictions of eating sessions found in Avot 3:3,[8] but the practice becomes an
abject exercise in sanctifying that which is otherwise devoid of inherent
meaning, being Mekadesh Chol.
Since
there are specific songs dedicated for Friday night, Shabbat early
afternoon and Shabbat late afternoon, let us begin to reflect upon a
song that is recited during the initial evening
meal dedicated to Shabbat.
The
Zemer known as “Menucha VeSimcha” (lit. restfulness and joy) is
by an anonymous author, about whom all we know is that his name was Moshe.[9] The poem is comprised of five
stanzas, with the second stanza also serving as the refrain in some of its musical
renditions. The central theme in the first three stanzas is the manner in which
the various creations of God serve as witnesses to Creation. Whereas the second
stanza describes how both inanimate and animate aspects of the universe attest
by means of their respective existences to the verity of the Creator, much in
the spirit of Tehilla 148 and Perek Shira[10] that both envision the tacit praises offered
up by all aspects of the world around us, the first and third stanzas reflect a
specific and unique testimony that Jewish Sabbath observers are able to give. In addition to the Jews very being
constituting yet another manifestation of the Divine Creation, when they
deliberately refrain from working on the Shabbat in accordance with
God’s Commandment, the Jewish people are additionally calling attention to
God’s Cessation of activity, i.e., His “Resting” so to speak, when the Creation
was complete. The message therefore of the beginning of “Menucha VeSimcha”
is the rationale contained in the description of Shabbat when the Ten
Commandments are first introduced in the Tora: (Shemot
20:10) “Because for six days God Made the heavens and the earth, the
sea and everything therein, and He Rested on the seventh day. For this reason
God Blessed the seventh day and He Rested.”
The
last two stanzas of the Zemer concern themselves with the rewards
accruing from proper Shabbat observance. In addition to meriting the
theological fundamentals of the coming of the Messiah and the World-to-Come,
the poem makes the intriguing claim that strength and fortification will be
granted by God to those who “keep” Shabbat. Aside from the practical
benefits of resting one day each week in order to be able to gather one’s
resources before facing the challenges that will arise in the days to come, it
is appropriate to consider how Shabbat is also able to strengthen one
spiritually. The examples that are specifically cited in the poem in order to
achieve such a result come from the Shabbat morning liturgy: “Nishmat
Kol Chai” (ArtScroll Siddur, pp. 400 ff.), the concluding portion of
the introductory Pesukei D’Zimra (songs
of praise) preceding the Shacharit
service, and “Na’aritzach”, part of the Shacharit Kedusha[11] recited when the Amida
is repeated. Within the Nishmat prayer, the following lines appear:
He Who Rouses the sleepers and Wakens
the slumberers, Who Make the mute speak and Releases the bound, Who Supports
the fallen and Straightens the bent…
In famine You Nourished us, and in
plenty You Sustained us; From the sword You Saved us, from plague You Let us
escape, and from severe and enduring diseases You Spared us…
You Save the poor man from one stronger
than he, the poor and the destitute from one who would rob him…
And while in the Shacharit Kedusha,
there are no descriptions of how God Saves those in danger and difficulty,
nevertheless hopes are expressed for a time in which God’s Presence will Be
Visible and Apparent to all:
From Your Place, Our King, You will
Appear and Reign over us, for we await You. When will You Reign in
Perhaps the means by which Shabbat can
provide us by means of paying attention to our prayers not only with rest, but
also spiritual strength, is by reminding us that we should never give up hope,
that God will Be with us and not only hopefully Protect us from dangers, but
also one day Redeem us from the exile whereby not only are we not living in our
land, but God’s Presence is Hidden from all but those who deeply believe in
Him. Singing “Menucha VeSimcha” is intended to give us the type of Chizuk
(strengthening) that will enable us to confront more confidently the
vicissitudes of life from a spiritual point of view. Let us sing the Zemer
loudly and with fervor so that our Shabbat evening meal can truly be a Seudat
Mitzva in the fullest sense of the word.
[1]Sefer Chasidim 271 even cites a Biblical reference to the
practice of singing songs during the course of Shabbat:
It is a Mitzva
to sing praises (specifically) on Shabbat, and a textual support to such
a practice is, (Tehillim 92:1-2) “A song of praise for the
day of Shabbat. It is good to give thanks to HaShem, and
to sing to Your Exalted Name.”
However,
while we could understand how Sefer Chasidim can draw such a conclusion from
these verses, they do not provide us with a rationale per se for engaging in
such practices.
[2] Although
the Shabbat morning Kiddush does not have to consist of more than
a simple blessing over wine (see Pesachim 106a), the
custom has arisen to add additional Biblical verses to precede the “Borei
Peri HaGafen.”
[3] R. Elazar of
[4] See “An
Exalted Evening: The Seder Night” in R. J.B. Soloveitchik, Festival
of Freedom: Essays on Pesach and the Haggadah, (Toras
HaRav Foundation/Ktav,
[5] Known as such for the explicit references to the Exodus in Tehilla 114.
[6] Chapters 113-118.
[7] Tehilla 136.
[8] Sacrifices to dead idols; tables full of vomit and filth.
[9] It was a standard practice for authors to include their names within their works via acrostics. In this instance, the first letters of the first three stanzas begin with the letters “Mem”, “Shin” and “Heh”. The last two stanzas each begin with “Beit” and it is unknown what these letters represent, if anything.
[10]
Perek Shira is an ancient text which lists 84 elements of the
natural world, attaching a verse from the Torah to each. Perek Shira
is the "song" of the natural world, the tapestry of lessons for life
that the natural world is telling us.—( http://www.simpletoremember.com/growth/Lightning_Bolts.htm#bot
)
[11] This word appears in the Nusach Sepharad text, as opposed to Nusach Ashkenaz.