Wednesday, May 14, 2008

Va'ani B'chasd'cha Ba'tachti

וַאֲנִי בְּחַסְדְּךָ בָטַחְתִּי, יָגֵל לִבִּי בִּישׁוּעָתֶךָ; אָשִׁירָה לַה', כִּי גָמַל עָלָי

Va'ani b'chasd'cha ba'tachti, yagel libi bi'shua'secha; ashira la'Hashem, ki gamal a'lie.

"But as for me, in Your kindness I trust; my heart will exult in Your salvation. I will sing to Hashem, for He has dealt kindly with me." (Tehillim 13:6)

The introduction given to this chapter in Artscroll's interlinear Tehillim says: "Exile is like a long, dark, seemingly endless night. But as long as faith and trust in G-d are maintained, one is not defeated." In this psalm, Dovid Hamelech prophetically speaks on behalf of all of Klal Yisrael in galus. It is also a prayer of an individual in a time of distress when the suffering seems unbearable and endless. Dovid asks Hashem "For how long will you forget me?...Until when will you hide your face from me?" He is asking Hashem until when will klal Yisrael have to suffer by the hand of its enemies. If one looks at the History of the Jewish nation, it is clear that we have been oppressed on a consistent basis for basically our entire existence. Dovid goes on-"Until when will my enemy be ascendant over me?...Answer me Hashem...Lest my enemy boast: I have overcome him!; [lest] my tormentors rejoice when I falter." And then he adds the beautiful words of our song-"But as for me, in Your kindness I trust..." Dovid is telling Hashem that although our enemies declare that we have no savior, we know better. We see from Hashem's unbelievable kindness, which we graciously accept although we may be undeserving, that we can put our trust in Him to save us. However bad things may seem to get, we turn to Hashem and sing "We trust You!!" Because we have no doubt that our Father in Shamayim will never sell us short. We just think about how Hashem gives us everything- our health, sustenance, understanding... every second of every day, and we can rest assured that no matter what we are going through, its ALL good!
-Akuna ma'tata!

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(Top pic courtesy of
AishAudio)
(Other pic courtesy of
PaulRevereRides)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Shkoiyach!
Can you please do "Yavoh Yedid" (Gemara Menachos 53A-B and Shewekey)

CR said...

Shkoiyach to you- I'll check it out B"H soon.