Today we continue with a concept from our previous class, on Parashat Vayakhel, with something I just noticed in my tefilla:
Every morning, in our Shaharit we say (and Sepharadim stand up to say )
ויְבָ֤רֶךְ דָּוִיד֙ אֶת יה-וה לְעֵינֵ֖י כׇּל־הַקָּהָ֑ל וַיֹּ֣אמֶר דָּוִ֗יד בָּר֨וּךְ אַתָּ֤ה ה׳ אֱלֹקי יִשְׂרָאֵ֣ל אָבִ֔ינוּ מֵעוֹלָ֖ם וְעַד־עוֹלָֽם
David HaMelech blessed God in front of everybody, And David said, Blessed are you Hashem, the God of Israel, our father forever and ever.
In many of the Sephardic siddurim, it says in brackets [Rashei Tovot ודאי ]
meaning that the first letters of each of the first four words spellsודאי Vadai, which means For sure.
This means that when David HaMelech got up to speak, he spoke with conviction, without questions.
Furthermore, it says that ודאי Vadai has the same numerical value, 21, as אהיה, Ehyeh, another of Hashem’s names, which we discussed last week. Very nice.
Then, the last few words of the stanza (before we sit down) are,
אַתָּה הוּא֙ יה-וה׳ הָאֱלֹהִ֔ים
You are Hashem our God.
The first letters of these words are Aleph Heh Yud and Heh which also spells Eyheh
א ה י ה
So the beginning and end of this statement have the same אהיה Ehyeh, which we now know is the name of Hashem that is revealed, and purifies the Jewish people when they are together, as in Vayakhel (which has the same numerical value as Mikveh)
And it says לְעֵינֵ֖י כׇּל־הַקָּהָ֑ל
In front of the entire Jewish people…
When the entire Jewish people are together, God’s holy name of אהיה Ehyeh appears in front of them, and purifies them.
I never fully appreciated the connection between the kahal and the revelation of this powerful purifying name of אהיה.
When we talk about David HaMelech as doing this, the Rambam in Hilchot Melachim tells us, regarding a king,
ולא יסור לבבו שלבו הוא לב כל קהל ישראל לפיכך דבקו הכתוב בתורה יתר משאר העם שנאמר כל ימי חייו
His heart should not be removed from God, for his heart is the heart of the entire Jewish people. The Torah wants his heart to cleave more than everybody else, as it says his heart is the heart of all of Israel.
David HaMelech was the first king, and he is the heart of the Jewish people. He unites everybody and he must be connected to God.
All of this brings about the purification of the Jewish people.
We can think about this when we say, every day in our tefilot…
וַיְבָ֤רֶךְ דָּוִיד֙ אֶת ה׳ לְעֵינֵ֖י כׇּל־הַקָּהָ֑ל
David HaMelech blessed God in front of everybody.