Welcome to our Perek Shira
Bitachon series. Today's song is the song of the grass.
דְּשָׁאִים אוֹמְרִים/The Grass says,
יְהִי כְבוֹד יי לְעוֹלָם יִשְׂמַח יי
בְּמַעֲשָׂיו: (תהלים קד לא)
Hashem's honor should be forever, Hashem
should be happy with His handiwork.
This is a familiar pasuk as we say it every single day in
our prayers as part of a collection of pesukim.
It actually shows up in the
chapter that we say on Rosh Chodesh, Barechi Nafshi, which talks about all of the wonders of
creations. In Tehilim 104,24, it
says מָה־רַבּ֬וּ מַעֲשֶׂ֨יךָ ׀ יְֽהֹוָ֗ה
כֻּ֭לָּם בְּחׇכְמָ֣ה עָשִׂ֑יתָ מָלְאָ֥ה הָ֝אָ֗רֶץ קִנְיָנֶֽךָ׃/How wondrous are Your acts, Hashem, that
were all made with wisdom.
Then it goes on to the ocean….זֶ֤ה ׀ הַיָּ֥ם גָּדוֹל֮ וּרְחַ֢ב יָ֫דָ֥יִם
שָֽׁם־רֶ֭מֶשׂ וְאֵ֣ין מִסְפָּ֑ר חַיּ֥וֹת קְ֝טַנּ֗וֹת עִם־גְּדֹלֽוֹת/There's no end to the creepy
crawlers, large and small creatures…And it goes on
to talk about how God takes care of all of His creatures. And then a few pesukim
later, comes our pasuk יְהִי
כְבוֹד יי לְעוֹלָם יִשְׂמַח יי בְּמַעֲשָׂיו/Hashem's honor should be forever, Hashem
should be happy with His handiwork.
The Sefer Ikarim (Maamar Sheni, chapter
one) asks why this pasuk shows up the end, and he explains that it's because we discussing
small, crawly creatures, talking about things that come from rotting fruit. So lest
one thinks, Why would God involve Himself in feeding all of these
creatures, the answer is,
יְהִי כְבוֹד יי לְעוֹלָם יִשְׂמַח יי בְּמַעֲשָׂיוwhich means that God's honor
comes from everything in creation. Hashem is happy with everything that He
created because they are all indicators of His great wisdom. Kulam
B'Hochma Asita.. it's all a revelation. Creation there for us to see Hashem,
and we can see Him in the smallest of
creatures.
That's one possible reason why the grasses are singing this song. These
grassses and herbage are things we step on. They are not the tall and mighty
cedar trees. It's the Ezov, the Hyssop, the tea leaves, the lowly things on the ground. These lowly growths also give
honor and glory to God.
Interestingly, the Gemara in Masechet Cholin 60A
says יְהִי
כְבוֹד יי לְעוֹלָם יִשְׂמַח יי בְּמַעֲשָׂיוwas originally sung by what's called the Sar HaOlam/the ministering angel of the
world (whatever that is), when the following event took place:
When God created the trees, He said, Limino..Everything
should be created according to its species. But when it came to
the herbage, the desheh, it doesn't mention anything about lemino/according
to its species, so the grass made what we call a kal v'chomer.
The grass said, If God said trees, that normally don't grow in a mixture or multitude
of confusion, should come out lemino/ each one of his proper species, then surely
we that do grow in a mixture, in a multitude, should come out lemino, according
to its species. So here, the creation, on its own, figured out what God
wanted.
And when that happened, this angel sung the song,
יְהִי כְבוֹד יי לְעוֹלָם יִשְׂמַח יי בְּמַעֲשָׂיו/God's Glory should be Ever Forever. *And He should be happy
with His creatures.
What does that mean?The Chatam Sofer says the added point here is
that we don't like when there's an
intermingling of people, which is what brought down the Dor HaMabul- the
people (and animals), Rashi tells us, were not careful to mate in the right
way and it caused the destruction of the
world.
So therefore, this ministering angel said, I hope that Hashem
will continue to be happy with His creations. Just like the grass
understood the importance of not intermingling, so too the rest of the creation
should get that as well. That is the song of the grass. The grass is
telling us, I made the right choice. I made the right decision. Learn from
me. Make the right understanding of God's will and make Him happy.
That's the reason why this is the song with the grass, says the
Chatam Sofer on Chulin.
