‘Hashem, Hashem, Kel Rachum v’Chanun’
The title of this column refers, of course, to the famous opening of the yud gimmel midot, the 13 Attributes of G-d given by HaKadosh Baruch Hu to Moshe Rabenu after the chet ha’egel and Moshe’s destruction of the two tablets of the Aseret Hadibrot given at Sinai.
We recite them when we take out the Torah on yomim tovim, on fast days and, most famously, during Selichot and the 10-day period from Rosh Hashana through Yom Kippur.
Chazal tell us that this prayer, recited with a minyan, is the “ultimate weapon” of prayer, and that one does not go away “empty handed” (Rosh Hashanah 17b).
But how many are aware that this gift from Hashem, this prayer of such magnitude and power, was given to us at this time of year, after the smashing of the first Luchot on the 17th of Tammuz?
This is an auspicious time to note that as we are bein ha’metzarim (between the straits), the most difficult period of the Jewish year, between the fasts of the 17th of Tammuz and Tisha b’Av.
The Mishnah in Ta’anit (4:6) tells us that five fateful things occurred on the 17th of Tammuz. The first was the smashing of the original Luchot, shattered by Moshe in anger over B’nei Yisrael’s chet ha’egel, the Golden Calf.
• • •
After Hashem informed Moshe of Israel’s grave sin while he was still on Har Sinai, Moshe pleaded for the people. He then descended, smashed the tablets, punished those involved and continued to seek forgiveness for the Children of Israel.
But Moshe did not stop there. He asked Hashem two things.
First: “Hodieni na et derachecha (show me please, Your ways)” (Shemot 33:13).
Second: “Hareni na et kevodecha (show me please, Your Glory)” (33:17).
The Gemara in Berachot (7a) understands the first request as Moshe’s desire to comprehend one of the most vexing questions of human existence: Why do the righteous suffer while the wicked flourish (tzaddik v’ra lo and rasha v’tov lo)?
The second request, “show me your glory,” cannot simply refer to physically seeing Hashem. Rather, it can be understood as a request to comprehend retrospectively, as Hashem tells Moshe, “v’ra-ita et achorai, u’fanai lo yeirau (you will see My back, but My face will not be seen).”
Now move forward more than 800 years, to the era associated with Ezra and Nehemiah and the building of the second Beit HaMikdash.
In Psalm 85, the psalmist writes that Hashem has forgiven the sin of His people. Then comes language remarkably similar to Moshe’s: “Harenu Hashem Chasdecha (Show us Hashem, Your Kindness).”
The psalmist uses the plural harenu (show us) rather than Moshe’s singular hareni (show me) — including all of Klal Yisrael. And he goes further, begging: “v’yesh’acha titen lanu (and grant us Your salvation)!”
The language continues in the next chapter, 86:11: “horeni Hashem darkecha (teach me, Hashem your way).”
Moshe said hodieni (show or inform me) and derachecha (Your ways, plural). The psalmist says horeni (teach me) and darkecha (Your way, singular). Subtle differences in similar prayers, speaking to different times.
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Moshe spoke for a people who had only recently received the Torah and left slavery in Egypt. The psalmist spoke for a people who had lived for centuries in their land, known judges, kings, prophets and priests, built the Beit HaMikdash and experienced victory, defeat, unity, division and exile.
Yet on the threshold of rebirth and return, the psalmist turns again to Moshe’s tried-and-true formula.
In Psalm 86:15: “V’Ata Adoshem, Kel Rachum, v’Chanun, Erech Apayim v’Rav Chesed v’Emet (but you my Lord are Merciful G-d and Compassionate, Slow to Anger, Abundant in Kindness and Truth).”
These are the words taught by Hashem to Moshe in Parshat Ki Tisa (Shemot 34:6), after the chet ha’egel, when he returned to receive the second set of Luchot: our yud gimmel midot.
What an incredible lesson for us.
We sadly lost two Batei Mikdash and suffered 2,000 years of exile, persecution and indescribable suffering. Yet, through Hashem’s chesed and rachamim, we returned to our homeland, and today a near majority of the world’s Jews live in Eretz Yisrael.
Despite our challenges, we look toward the geulah shelaima and binyan Bayit Shlishi (the building of the Third Temple). We must return to the “playbook” of Moshe and the psalmist of Tehillim:
•Hashem, Harenu et Chasdecha, v’yesh’acha titen lanu!
•V’Ata Adoshem, Kel Rachum, v’Chanun, Erech Apayim v’Rav Chesed v’Emet!
(Tehillim 85:8; 86:15)
And we must do it now, during these Three Weeks.
For those who say daily Tehillim, these very kapitlach, chapters, are recited during this period as part of the 30-day cycle.
As we approach Tisha b’Av, we recall the words we will soon read in Sefer Eicha: “Kol rodfeha hisiguha bein ha’metzarim (all her pursuers overtook her in dire straits).”
So whether you are worried about the Straits of Tammuz or the Straits of Hormuz, start saying Tehillim now!
Shabbat Shalom.
Write: Columnist@TheJewishStar.com
