Shiras Devorah: Shirah, Zimrah, and the Lasting Simcha of Recognizing Hashem

Transcript

This Torah class is brought to you by TorahAnytime.com. Thank you very much. I'm sorry for being מטריח. Last week, we learned about the nitzachon that Klal Yisroel had over Sisra, through Devorah and Barak, and so we have the Shiras Devorah as a result of the nes, the milchamah. Vatasha Devorah, perek hei, vatasha Devorah u'Barak ben Avinoam bayom hahu leimor. It is known as Shiras D'vorah, and it starts, Vatashor D'vorah. It's a shaylah where exactly the shirah starts from, but again, it repeats itself in pasuk gimmel: Shimu melachim, azinu roznim, anochi LaShem, anochi ashirah. It's called Shiras D'vorah. Yet, the pasuk continues, Azamer LaShem Elokei Yisrael. So we have here the nusach, the loshon of shirah, as well as the loshon of azamer, zimrah. In tefillah we have pesukei d'zimrah, and then we have Az Yashir shirah. What is the difference between a shirah and a zimrah? Anochi LaShem, anochi ashirah. Azamer LaShem Elokei Yisrael. So l'choirah it's two different leshonos. Even though we have a pasuk, Ashirah LaShem, b'chaiyai, azamerah lElokai b'odi. Rashi and the Rishonim are masbir it's a pasuk in Tehillim, kuf daled. The Rishonim are masbir it's the same thing, just a double loshon. Azoi shteit in Rashi, huh? It's perek hei, shoftim perek hei, Vatashor D'vorah. It's just the same thing repeated as whenever you have a shirah, it has to be in a rhyme, in a redundancy. That's the nusach of a shirah. Azoi zogt Rashi, Ashirah LaShem b'chaiyai, azamerah lElokai b'odi. Keiful halashon is just a repetition. L'maaseh, we're going to learn from the Goyim that there's a very big difference, chaveisai, between shira and zimra. And I'd like to focus on the pasuk that by shira it says, LaShem, anochi ashira. By zimra, it's Elokei Yisrael. True, it says LaShem, but it ends off Elokei Yisrael, and we find this throughout: Ashira LaShem, azamera l'Elokai b'odi. There's something about shira that the shem Hashem is Hashem. When by zimra, the shem Hashem is Elokai. Zamru l'Elokeinu, zameru. And you'll find this throughout Tanach, that whenever it's zimra, it's l'Elokim. Whenever it's shira, and of course there's a few exceptions, and it's very hard to go through all of Tanach with one mahalach of when it's shira, when it's zimra, but the Goyim—we'll soon see from the Goyim—there's a mahalach, a chiluk between shira and zimra, and here we find that Ashira LaShem, that when it's shira, it's LaShem.

Zimra etz l'lekei Yisrael. We have mizmor, shir. Okay, so the truth is, we're gonna, like I said, there's many places where it's the other way around, and it's, we'll have to, each individual case. But there is a gaon over here we're gonna talk about. Okay, we have to talk. What's the chiluk? Ad rabba, lamah helem, the chiluk between shirah and zimrah, and the chiluk between Hashem Elokecha and peshutei. Now, I would like to point out something which is very interesting. It doesn't say, Anochi laShem a shirah. It says, Anochi laShem, Anochi a shirah. Anochi, it should have said, Anochi a shirah laShem. I'll praise the Ribono Shel Olam. What is the nusach of Anochi, and as well as laShem, Anochi a shirah, the double lashon? So Rashi says he found a Medrash that says a pshat, that Bamis, all the mountains, they were jealous of Har Sinai, that the Ribono Shel Olam said, Anochi Hashem Elokecha on Har Sinai. Vos iz mit ins? What about us? What are we, not? Also the briah of the Kadosh Baruch Hu, we were created by the Ribono Shel Olam as well. Why don't we have an Anochi? So the Ribono Shel Olam says, I'll pay you back. I'll pay you, and that I'll pay you back will be in the time, for example, Har Tavor, near our story, that Devorah will say, Anochi laShem, Anochi a shirah. Here you got your Anochi Hashem Elokecha. What's the difference between Anochi and Anochi? Oh, that's such—you're taking me into a whole different part of the shiur. We'll do this afterwards. You see, the clock, they say. If you take down the clock, I answer the shailos, all right? That's a fair deal. I don't mind sitting. I'll stay till the end. Graditz meduyak, because onesi ani; it's an anochi, right? So it's gevaldik, anochi, the Ribono Shel Olam. Yes, it's the anochi Hashem Elokecha. Fits great with the Chazal here. But the pshat, that in the shirah's divrei, likta anochi Hashem Elokecha. All right, good, we hear it's shirah to the Ribono Shel Olam. There's a nes that happened here, fun der Ribono Shel Olam. But it seems like it's unique to the word shirah laShem, v'zaligin. It should lay over here also, anochi Hashem Elokecha, within the words of ani, anochi, a shirah. Anochi—it's not just anochi, a shirah, but it's anochi Hashem and anochi a shirah. So then it comes out that actually it's two different parts to the pasuk. It's anochi laShem and anochi a shirah. Pashut, the pshat is anochi laShem, anochi a shirah. Anochi—that's how it should have been read: anochi laShem, anochi a shirah. And it's, I guess, a play on the rhyme, and it has to do with the poem, it has to do with the shirah. But Chazal are saying actually it's two different things. It's anochi laShem, anochi laShem Elokecha. Then on top of that is anochi a shirah. Vos likta? What's the pshat, and why again, like we're saying, we have to understand shirah. Is lashem. Zimra is lElokim, and there's a chiluk between shirah and zimra. So the Malbim, pataches the pasuk as follows: Anochi, I credit Hashem. You know, people go and they think kochi v'otzem yadi. I, I, I'm the general. I did, chochmah ketanah, chochmah gevunin. So the first thing is, dvar nevi'ah: Anochi. I know me, it's all Hashem, it's al pi HaShem. U'meileh, Anochi lHashem ashirah, therefore I praise You, the Ribono Shel Olam. U'vasedel chiluk tzvisha shirah v'zimra, says the Malbim that it's written by him, as he says in the nusach, it's already mevu'ar by him in his sefarim. It's brought in Tehillim, like I said, in many places we find shirah and zimra, and there the Malbim says the same vort, that zimra is greater than shirah. It's levels. It starts with shirah and it leads to zimra. Azei zogt der heilige Malbim. Azei zogt: it starts with shirah, un zimra, zogt, even more than shirah. U'meileh, that's how it goes in levels: a shirah lHashem, and then...

Lilikei yourself. Rabosai, may I direct you to the davening where we have in Chassan, first pesukei d'zimra, ונתן בנות את מן רביאי שירה. If one leads to the other, and one is greater, and it's in levels. Now, rabosai, this kasha is such a good kasha that it had to be a Chazal. It is. The Zohar in Parshas Terumah fregt us for a kasha: why do we daven like this? The Zohar, why do we daven that we say pesukei d'zimra and then all's Yosher? It should have been reverse. Why? All's Yosher is min haTorah. Pesukei d'zimra is Tanach, it's Dovid HaMelech, muktem. The hekdem, what has to come first? The Teirah. First you bring the parsha from the Teirah, shirah, ונתן זמרה. Mitz Hashem, as the shiur progresses, we'll go back to the Zohar who says a teretz, that actually we misunderstood to say the Ratfilah. Pesukei d'zimra is first. All's Yosher actually is the hakdamah to Kriyas Shema. He calls it tzelusa d'yeshiva, the davening of sitting, which is the Kriyas Shema, out. It's not that it comes after pesukei d'zimra, but rather it's a hakdamah to the Kriyas Shema. Kriyas Shema is d'Oraisa, d'oras Yosher is d'Oraisa, dos is the pesukei d'zimra from the Kriyas Shema. So the pesukei d'zimra, so the pesukei d'zimra for Kriyas Shema, and dos is all's Yosher. Azei zogt the Zohar, you look at the Chashulchan, he brings this halacha. Just that. The Aruch HaShulchan himself, in kuf lamed aleph, he brings the Zohar and he's mazkir the Zohar of az al yofen, that it's the hakdamah to Kriyas Shema. I want to tell you over that beisai, two goyim. And with these two goyim, I think it opens up the sugya for shiras Dveira. It opens up the chiluk between shirah mit zimrah, un favas, dort steht LaShem, here it says LaShem, and here it says LaShem ul'kei Yisrael, Elokim. Whenever it's shirah, it's LaShem, and whenever it's zimrah, the Elokei Yisrael is there. So there's one goy in Rabbeisai that the goyim says that zimrah is his'orerus pnimi. I'm sorry, chitzoni, which means I say the words. His'orerus chitzoni. Shirah is his'orerus pnimi. Zei zogt. Shirah is min halev, a pesitif, sifen innerveinig. I guess pesukei d'zimrah zogt men. Zmiros, meirel, zogt es, right? Gezogt. Shirah is der taiches min halev, shar, it's coming deep from the heart. This is a chitzoniyusdike thing, zimrah, while shirah is pnimi. It comes, his'orerus, an outpour. Yiddish zogt man always druk. It's an expression of inner feelings that a person has inside. By the way, ... geshmaka beisai. Psukei d'Zimra has to lead to Az Yashir. A mentions nisht, ... glaych ein, ... Az Yashir. Wait, comes in the morning, tells Yoshi, he's nisoirer. The psukei d'Zimra is supposed to open up that he should have an hisoirerus to say Az Yashir. Chaiv, azoi ken men zogen. The psukei d'Zimra zogt men. By the time you get to Az Yashir, you gotta start, it's gotta start coming from a bisl inerveinig, Az Yashir, ... This is an introduction; one leads to the other. It says what? Azi. So we have it over here too, Rav Eitai. That's what I'm trying to tell you. You see that even in Az... here too, shtei shirah. That's what I'm showing you. Oh, I mean, if it's only in Tanach, then it's no good. You mean if it's in the Torah also, then it's good. It's the same kasha, a dalzebe kasha: shtei shirah and shtei zimrah. What's the pshat? Shirah mit zimrah, what's the chiluk? And how do we see in the davening that zimrah comes before shirah? The emes is, I saw...

Kasha, a cousin here in Lakewood, from Yitzchok Tzvi. And he has on tefillah beautiful few volumes of ma'azbir tefillah. Men el fregt a kasha, a fregt a kasha, lichoira. In the davening we say, V'nosnu yedidim, no? Smiros v'sishbachos. So what do you do with the malbim? Azoi fregt a kasha. Leit a malbim that says, first comes shirah, and that leads to zimrah, v'az tut men mit zmirah, v'nosnu yedidim zmiros v'sishbachos. And that makes your kasha even better. Why? Nu, here it says first shirah, so now your kasha is even stronger. Here's the kasha. In the davening it shteit nit azoi, it shteit punkt nit azoi, yeah? It's the opposite: yedidim, zmiros v'sishbachos, v'nosnu. So first came... Is there any need to make sure that it rhymes, that the cholim itself? You know, rabosai, I am so small. If you knew how small I really believe I am, the Goyen tells me not that way, so what should I do? Yidalach, if you only understood that I'm mevatel myself less than the afar, lefi the words of the Gra, what should I tell you? Der heilige Goyen zogt mir, a chelek tzu tzu zingen, and mimeila it's my job, my responsibility to understand the words of the Goyen. Azoi, this is why I was created, and that's why we sit here today on a lunch and learn on a supposedly a holiday from the Goyen. Ich muz iberzogn, is rhyme, you're right, for rhymes and shmymes, it's all good. Pisdel goy. That's not from me; it's a goy. Okay, rabbeisai. Good. Now, zogt my cousin, hasheiner, he wants to say the same vort that we want to say. Zmiros is the goyen, that it's chitzoniyus, and that leads, chitzoniyus, me'oira pnimiyus, the mesirus nefesh. So what he does in the siddur, I'd rather do in the shiur today on my own in the pasuk, because chayra shteit in pasuk, that the pshat is, first comes—I'm saying in the beginning of davening, pesukei d'zimra—to lead to shirah. I'm sure not the pasuk, but the davening. You see that pesukei d'zimra comes first, and then comes shirah, and that practice from the nusach hatefillah itself, and az zogt der Zohar. Let me tell you another goyen, rabbeisai. Zimra has a stop. There's an end to a zemer. You know, every song comes to an end. Good, you may be with the high end, with the low end, the chazzan and vesin, the whole production over the ending of a song, but it ends, right? And grada, rabbeisai, if you think about it, the word zemer—and this is what the goyen says—zimra means it has an end. Grade, I feel that the goyen is saying in the Targum translation, the word zemer means to cut, means to chop. So l'choira, zmiros and grade, the fact that I got this nekudah is grade shteit in Shlah about stam pesukei d'zimra, that it's to chop up, to get the guy ready, you know, for davening. A mensch kumt fun gas; he comes from the street. Who knows where he is and where he's holding and what's going through his mind and his heart. Zimra, medafzon klopin, medafzot pokin. You know, you got to put it through a grinder to get himself ready for tefillah. Az eiz op de shlop, al kol ponim lapo'al, getting back to the word zemer. Zemer means with an end. It has an end. Shirah is consecutive. It goes and it goes and it continues and continues and continues. Before I get to show you how beautiful this gaon is, and all over in pesukim and so on and so forth, let me tell you over a ma'aseh deke vort. The son-in-law of Rav Shach, zichrono tzaddik v'kadosh livrachah, Rav Shlomo Tzvi... I heard it either he was here in Lakewood, I heard it from him once. Says a ma'aseh deke vort, you hear? The Gemara says that Dovid HaMelech made a big mistake because he called the Torah zmiros hayu li chukecha, huh? Zmiros hayu li chukecha. It's a Gemara in Sotah. Zogt the Gemara, the Ribono Shel Olam says, I'll pay you back for that. You'll get an onesh, and that is you'll make a mistake, something that even the children don't make a mistake in. Dovid HaMelech, when you brought the aron, how did you bring it? You brought it with an agalah.

The plural is a carriage. The halacha is, b'kosev yis'u. We learn this from Kohos. B'kosev yis'u. You have to carry it. You didn't carry it. This was the, so to speak, midah keneged midah for making a mistake of calling the Torah zmirah yihyu l'cha. Chasan punkt, this halacha you should forget. How did—there's got to be some connection between the chet of the zmirah yihyu l'cha to the onesh, the midah keneged midah of carrying the aron. Kohos. He says a meiredige vort, rabosai. It's a peledige—mamash a hafla. You see, hamelech opens up the whole sugya. The Gemara in Erchin, daf yud aleph amud aleph says, how do we know shirah min haTorah? Shene'emar, v'neikahos lo nasu ki avodas hakodesh aleihem b'kasev yis'u. Says the Gemara, what's the pshat yis'u? Ein yisa ela lashon shirah. The shirah we learn from the b'kasev yis'u of Kohos. No, what is it? It's not zmirah, what is it? It's shirah. V'nafka mina tzvishen shirah un zimrah, zogt Rebbeinu Shlomo, what is it? It's not zmirah, what is it? It's shirah. V'nafka mina tzvishen shirah un zimrah, zogt Reb... al hapshat is, zmirah, it has a hefsek. David HaMelech, duretz Tehillim, a hefsek. Teirah is a shirah. Teirah is—person learns Teirah, it's chazal, ... lo doires, v'lo amush mipicha u'mipi zaracha u'mipi zera zaracha ad olam. Teirah is eibik. You said zimrah; it's actually what? Shirah. I don't have the time. He even learns it into the Gemara, v'taivina chaboi. It's for another time, okay, so we have to say just the points. There's more to this vort than a shein vi gold, zis vi gold, mamash me'iridik. You know, they say there's an interesting Yalkut. It says the pasuk, Ani bechasdcha vatachti, yagel libi bishu'asecha, ashirah laShem ki gamal alai. Zogt on the Yalkut Chazal in Tehillim, Ani bechasdcha is Bavel, vatachti yagel is Madai, ashirah laShem is what? Yavan. Ashirah laShem is Yavan. ... lo elah goyim, ... Sheteitach that Aharon feels terrible that it's lo hu v'lo shiftoi in the Chanukas HaBayis. Zogt them the Ribono Shel Olam, yours is l'eilah. Your mitzvahs l'doiros l'olam, ... the Rishonim ... Moshiach. Oiroi, the oir of Chanukah. That's pshat, ashirah laShem. Ashirah is בלי הפסק, doirei doires. Doirei doires. That's the ashirah laShem. ... l'choireh is ashirah laShem, l'doirei doires. There's an interesting Zohar, rabbeisai. The Zohar says, Vatasha dvaira, till today, in Gan Eden. The פירוש of Zohar, rabbeisai. In Gan Eden, Dvaira sits and says the shirah. Peh zayin says she states the Himmel, and she says the whole shirah. She states the Zohar. Shirah, rabbeisai, leit a goyen, is eibik. It's forever and ever. Shirah, it's forever. It's continuous. Az Yashir Moshe uvnei Yisrael es hashirah hazos, zogt der Chazal, what is Az Yashir Moshe? Az, le'asid vater. Der goyen, shirah. Shirah is continuous, without a hefsek. Rabbeisai, I'd like to say a pshat. That's why when we have ksivas Sefer Torah, the mitzvah is phrased in the Torah, V'atem kisvu lachem es hashirah hazos. Why? There's a beautiful Chasam Sofer, rabbeisai. The Chasam Sofer says, the Gemara says, if someone is koneh a Sefer Torah, he buys a Sefer Torah, is k'ilu lakach mitzvahs min hashuk. It's like he took a mitzvah from the shuk.

If you cause of sefer Torah, it's k'ilu kiblo Har Sinai, famous Gemara. So, what does that mean? When you daven Mincha in the street, does your family know the difference? Chapt a Mincha, Maariv, a dafus, it has no effect at home. That's kosav sefer Torah. When you write a sefer Torah, you show the chashivus haTorah, well, m'meila it's for your home. It's lo yeluzaroi. We all know the Gemara says a loshon: if the father wrote a sefer Torah and the son was yoresh it, sefer Torah gave birushah. Mi'el tachton, dos is, the pshat, v'atem kisvu lachem es hashirah hazos. Now that we have come to understand shirah and zimrah, let's go to the pesukim. Okay? LaShem oshirah. We all know LaShem is always the midas harachamim and the midas hachesed. The Ribono Shel Olam's chesed is a shirah. It's forever. Pasuk says, Ki l'olam chasdo. The Ribono Shel Olam, even the chasadim that we see today, it actually has toitzaos of chesed, dor doros. We don't even understand the chasadim that what we see today, and I don't have time to be marich, but everybody understands this, that the Ribono Shel Olam does chesed. It's l'olmei doros. It has its toitzaos. The outcome is thousands of years later, Ki l'olam chasdo, a shirah laShem. But then there's a time when it's Elokim. There's midas hadin. And the Ribono Shel Olam sometimes saves us from that midas hadin. That's Azamer LaShem, Elokei Yisrael. Elokei Yisrael means there is tzaros. Dovid lived in a shvere tzuf. We spoke about this. Klal Yisrael was disintegrating, was falling apart at the seams. Hashem, the Ribono Shel Olam, shikthesed. Azamer LaShem, Elokei Yisrael, because that's going to have a stop. There's going to be an end to that. Because the tzaros of Klal Yisrael end. The tzaros of Klal Yisrael will end. The Gemara tells us, Asidin kol hamo'adim libatel. Why? Because the nissim and the gevaldige zachen also will be much greater than anything we ever went through. Whatever we go through, it's temporary. It's temporary. It's temporary. So Azamer LaShem, Elokei Yisrael, a shirah. The chesed of the Ribono Shel Olam. The Azamer, where I sing, my praise to the Ribono Shel Olam after a tzarah that a nes happens, that's called Azamer LaShem, Elokei Yisrael. With this, I want to tell you over what anochi LaShem is. What's the anochi LaShem? Anochi laShem. Shira comes from simcha, rabosai. The Gemara says clearly, Ein adam shar shira ela mitoch simcha. Shira and simcha is one and the same all over in Chazal. Shira. Ein adam shar shira ela mitoch simcha. It's a Gemara. What is simcha? The Chazon Ish tells us, and again, I'd love to read it again inside. There's so much, almost different nevius here. There's such hashkafah, so much hashkafah here. Kach zocheh, seichel ha'adam lirois amitas metzi'uso yisbarach, miyad niknas bo simchas gil ein ketz. There's a happiness that comes over the person that there is no ketz, there's no end to it. Pay attention, there's no end. It's a happiness, there's no end, ein ketz. V'nishmaso eina ima olov. There's a certain inner good feeling. Vadimyon mashim maseich la'asos b'noiim Hashem. A person becomes k'malach lirgoyim. At that moment he almost reaches—

The dargah of a malach, v'lehenos miziv haKodesh, that he basks in the ziv of kodesh. Now, rabosai, you know what shirah is? A person realizes, Zeh Keili v'anveihu. It's clear. It becomes crystal clear that there's a Ribono Shel Olam's ... developed. That maareh, that seeing where a person recognizes and realizes, brings a simcha that's ein ketz. There's no end to the simcha. Ashirah laShem. That's when shirah comes out. Shirah is the result of seeing that the Ribono Shel Olam ... and there's ein od milvado, there's nothing else. Anochi laShem. I am with the Ribono Shel Olam. That's it. Realize nothing else. There is nothing. Anochi laShem, ... Anochi ashirah. That's when shirah comes out. The hakarah, the recognition, the feeling that a person realizes that Anochi laShem, that I am ... Where is his simcha? ... the Ribono Shel Olam, not from the Ribono Shel Olam. Anochi laShem. Devorah realizes a tremendous thing over here. Klal Yisrael was suffering. It's true. She did l'shem Shamayim. Remember this, we spoke about the psilos. You did l'shem Shamayim. The psilos, Chazal tell us clearly, you mechaven l'hoir oiri, you did l'shem Shamayim. Chazal tells, even a goy, if he does l'shem Shamayim, Ribono Shel Olam's, mashreh Shechinaso alov. Even a goy can be makir. As Chazal, on patach dvaro. When you're makir that everything is just for the Ribono Shel Olam, I do it l'shem for the Ribono Shel Olam, there's an hashra'as haShechinah, because you're makir that's Anochi Hashem. And from that Anochi Hashem becomes Anochi Ashirah, a shir which lasts l'dorei doros ein ketz, because that hakarah is ein ketz. The Eibishter is only happy when he does avodas Hashem. I don't know how more simpler I could tell it to you. Maybe you should be telling me. Some of you are older than me. You probably know better than me. Nothing in this world substitutes the simcha that a Yid has when he learns and when he davens. Anochi l'Hashem becomes Anochi Ashirah, where we become distracted, we lose focus. That's the nisayon of life. The nisayon of life is constantly we lose. Someone told me an interesting thing. Baal habos in my shul tells me, You know, Rav, you say good drashas about bitachon. You know how long it works for? The five minutes that you say it for. So first I looked at him, I go, Five minutes? Where were you? I don't speak for five minutes. There's no such thing that I could stop after five minutes. That itself would be a nes nigleh. Okay? I go on and on and on. It's got to be more than five minutes, unless maybe... We're only listening five minutes worth. I don't want to venture there, okay? But he says, I want you to know that when you talk, yeah, yeah, you're me'orer us, but the minute we leave the beis medrash, life sets in and the real problems set in again, and we forget the whole drasha. See, this, rabosai, is the trick of life: to stay focused. Seder, seder, stay focused. Anochi Hashem. I am here to do for the Ribono Shel Olam, and that's anochi hashirah. That is what brings happiness. Baruch—and this will end—Baruch went l'shem Shamayim. Chazal tell you, 10,000 people. It was a suicide mission. We learned this last week. Going with 10,000 people was a suicide. But anochi Hashem. I do it for the Ribono Shel Olam. Said so. And when I do things for the Ribono Shel Olam, I see the Ribono Shel Olam. I saw His hand here. I saw nisim v'niflaos shelo k'derech hateva, and that manifestation of seeing the Ribono Shel Olam brings out anochi hashirah, that I sing to the Ribono Shel Olam by recognizing His hand. We all have this, rabosai, in our daily life.

We can see the Yad Hashem. See, if you look everywhere you turn, where is the Yad Hashem? I do for you, Rabbeinu Shleilam. You're there for me. Let me see. The simchas hachayim that comes from that, Rabbeinu, is unbelievable. It's ein ketz, in the words of the Chazon Ish, it's ein ketz. Focus, focus, focus, focus. ... to keep these ... ... Whoever is zocheh to say shirah b'olam hazeh says zocheh, and he says shirah l'olam haba, l'asid lavo. Could it be that shirah is poetry and sinah is... You've just experienced another Torah class, brought to you by TorahAnytime.com.