Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Ein Aroch Lecha

אֵין עֲרוֹךְ לְךָ ה' אֶלֺקֵינוּ בָּעוֹלָם הַזֶּה, וְאֵין זוּלָתְךָ מַלְכֵּנוּ לְחַיֵּי הָעוֹלָם הַבָּא. אֶפֶס בִּלְתְּךָ גוֹאֲלֵנוּ לִימוֹת הַמָּשִׁיחַ, וְאֵין דּוֹמֶה לְךָ מוֹשִׁעֵנוּ לִתְחִיַּת הַמֵּתִים

Ein aroch lecha Hashem Elokeinu ba'olam ha'zeh, vi'ein zoolusicha malkeinu li'chayei ha'olam habba. Efess beel'ticha go'aleinu leemos ha'mashiach, vi'ein domeh lecha moshy'einu lees'chiyas ha'meisim.

"There is no comparison to you Hashem, our G-d, in this world; and there will be nothing except for You, our King, in the life of the World to Come; there will be nothing without You, our Redeemer, in the days of Mashiach; and there will be none like You, our Savior; at the Resuscitation of the Dead." (Birchos Kriyas Shema, Shabbos day (Nusach S'fard)

The basic message in this Tefillah is simple: "Ein Od Milvado," There is nothing other than Him (Hashem). Our existence is totally reliant on Hashem's constant outpouring of mercy and kindness; in this world and the next. Its all in Hashem's hands.
My friend Joey pointed out to me that R' Chaim Volozhin, in his well known sefer Nefesh HaChaim, says a yesod pertaining to this idea that I find absolutely and profoundly incredible. Instead of cheapening it by telling it over in short, I'm going to try, with Hashem's help, to write it out in English as best as I could. R' Chaim writes: "In truth, there is a big and amazing concept that has the ability to remove any will and control that anything in the world can have on a person, and as a result nothing can have any affect on a person (who thinks about the following concept). When a person establishes in his heart to say 'Behold Hashem, He is the True G-d, and there is no strength in the universe other than Him, and everything is full of only the simple Oneness of the Blessed One,' and he nullifies his heart, a total nullification, totally ignoring the existence of any other strength or desire that there may be in the world, and he makes his pure thought totally subservient and attached only to the One Master Blessed be He, THEN Hashem will automatically nullify from him all the strengths and desires in the world, such that nothing can do him any bad whatsoever." (Nefesh HaChaim, Sha'ar 3, Perek 12) This is a very lofty concept, and I don't claim to understand it completely, but to my limited understanding, this is what I have come up with: R' Chaim is trying to drive home the important point that EVERYTHING is constantly under the supervision of Hashem; that Hashem gives everything that ever existed its strength. Without Hashem, nothing could ever exist. For something to no longer exist Hashem doesn't have to will it not to exist, but rather stop willing it to exist. This being the case, Hashem can, whenever He so wishes, change what we call "nature" in any way. So the Nefesh HaChaim is saying that if we internalize this reality, that nothing is out of Hashem's control, then nothing can harm us.
There is a story told of the Brisker Rav that illustrates exactly What R' Chaim Volozhin is saying. Rav Yitzchak Zev Soloveitchik ZT"L was attempting to escape during WWII in a car. The car was stopped and he was sitting in it as a Nazi soldier began to walk over. As the story is told, The Brisker Rav just sat there saying to himself "Ein Od Milvado, Ein Od Milvado..." over and over again, internalizing the same massage given over in the Nefesh HaChaim. The Nazi came up to the car, reached for the door handle, and then just turned and walked away... "Siz Duch Altz Hevel Havalim, Ein Od Milvado!!!"
~
(Pic courtesy of Tzfat-Kabbalah)

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

can you do BAR yochai Or amar reb Akiva

CR said...

Amar Rebbi Akiva I can for sure do Be'ezras Hashem, but Bar Yochei is a pretty long one, I'll check it out- Shoiyach!

Bas~Melech said...

I'm finding your habit of picking my favorite songs uncanny.

Anonymous said...

do you know the chords for this song?

CR said...

You can check out this site for the chords to many Jewish songs(I believe the one you are looking for is on there):

http://yutopia.yucs.org/chords/

(This site is on my "Great Links" list as well)