Today we will discuss the last pasuk in Tehilim, Perek לג
יְהִי־חַסְדְּךָ֣ ה׳ עָלֵ֑ינוּ כַּ֝אֲשֶׁ֗ר יִחַ֥לְנוּ לָֽךְ
Hashem, Your kindness should be upon us,
Just like we hope to and count on You
Simply speaking, many of the commentaries explain this as measure for measure:
Hashem‘s kindness is upon us in proportion to our hope in Him. These commentaries all cite the pasuk,
ה׳ צלך אל יד ימינך
Hashem is your shadow, for when you hold up one finger, you see a shadow of one finger, but if you hold up a hand, you see a hand. The more you project toward the shadow, the more you get back. So too, when it comes to Hashem’s Hessed. Hashem’s Hessed is upon us as much as we rely on Him, and on the level that we rely on Him. If we rely on Him to the extent that we believe that things can happen in an almost supernatural, or abnormal way, then Hashem will reciprocate with us in the same way. The higher your bitachon is, the more you are going to see Hashem’s Kindness.
I saw an example of this recently. I was in a synagogue last week when someone came running over to tell me that they just had just witnessed a miracle.
It was the Friday of a holiday weekend, and this man needed a notary to sign a document for him. Just then, someone sat down next to him, so the man turned and asked him, “Do you happen to know a notary?” At that very moment, this man that he asked looked up and noticed a third fellow walking in to the shul. He replied, “That man is a notary!”
And just like that, the notary was able to take care of the problem!
So we see Hashem’s kindness, based on our level of bitachon. The man this story happened to is a man that I know works on his Bitachon. And the more you work on your Bitachon, the more you see Hashem’s kindness, in an open way.
That is our first lesson from this pasuk:
יְהִי־חַסְדְּךָ֣ ה׳ עָלֵ֑ינוּ כַּ֝אֲשֶׁ֗ר יִחַ֥לְנוּ לָֽךְ
Hashem’s kindness should be upon us, just like we hope to and count on Him.
There is also a deeper explanation of this pasuk, that I saw, from the Rabbi of Sasov.
He says that when we hope to Hashem, although we don’t actually grasp who Hashem is, we are fully working with Emuna. There is no way to grasp Hashem. It’s a rule that no physical being can possibly grasp God, because we only have the ability to grasp things in a physical way. Our whole reliance on Hashem is based, not on what we see, hear, touch, taste, or feel. It’s solely based on Emuna alone. We know that Hashem is in charge, so we have that level of Emuna in Hashem.
So how does the Middah k’neged middah (measure for measure) apply here?
Based on our Emuna, we ask Hashem, “So too, You should grant us kindness. Even though, when You look upon us, you don’t see us deserving of that kindness.” We say to Hashem, “Just like we are counting on You, even though we don’t really fathom what You are, so too, Hashem, You should reciprocate with us, even though, when You look down upon us, You don’t fathom that we deserve what we hope for.”
We can find a similar concept in our Siddur, when we say during Arbit,
ואמונה כל זאת קיים עלינו
We believe, and it’s firmly established for us, that Hashem is our God. There is nothing other than Him.
We also say,
ואנחנו ישראל עמו
We are also Hashem’s nation.
That means that there is a level of Emuna that we are His nation. It is as if to say that just like we have Emuna, Hashem also believes in us, so to say, as His nation.
So although it doesn’t appear, based on our deeds, that we are deserving, but just like we have Emuna in Hashem, Hashem should have Emuna in us, so to say. He should give to us, even though it doesn’t look like we deserve it.
That is a deeper explanation of this pasuk,
יְהִי־חַסְדְּךָ֣ ה׳ עָלֵ֑ינוּ כַּ֝אֲשֶׁ֗ר יִחַ֥לְנוּ לָֽךְ
Hashem‘s kindness should be upon us just like we hope to Him.
When we demonstrate Emuna, although we don’t understand or fathom, that causes Hashem to reciprocate with us, so to say, in a similar way.
Have a wonderful day.