Today we will study the song
of the horse:
סוּס אוֹמֵר. הִנֵּה כְעֵינֵי עֲבָדִים אֶל יַד אֲדוֹנֵיהֶם
כְּעֵינֵי שִׁפְחָה אֶל יַד גְּבִרְתָּהּ כֵּן עֵינֵינוּ אֶל יי אֱלֹהֵינוּ עַד
שֶׁיְּחָנֵּנוּ: (תהלים קכג ב)
Like the eyes of the servant on its master, the eyes of the maid-servant
to her mistress, so too our eyes on Hashem our God until He has mercy on us.
Many commentaries of the basic theme cite the Birkat HaShir,
that tells us that a horse is an arrogant being. It says the Egyptians went to war with their horses, and the pride of their horses. The horse is proud, he rears himself up on his hind legs. He's arrogant,
and he sometimes he gets arrogant over his rider, but the horse is still trainable.
And once he has been trained, even a child can sit on his back and direct him.
Similarly, the Jewish people are humbled
to our Master. The Sefer Esh Das by
Rabbi Epstein, the Rav of Ozharov, (4th
gate 1st Maamar) discusses this in
depth. He cites the Midrash Raba
in Bereshit perek 68 that tells us a horse is secondary to its
rider, and not the other way around, which means the horse recognizes its rider
and doesn't look at itself as its own entity.
That's an expression of Bitul Gamur to Hashem Yitbarach.
The horse is totally batel. It becomes just the energy of the
rider. The horse recognizes that ultimately, the rider knows where he's going. The rider knows better. It's
only a horse and it follows.
The Rabbi from Oshorov adds a beautiful diyuk. It says, the eyes of the horse, our eyes
are to God. Simply it's because we have two eyes, but there's an added depth to
this. It says that when a person prays, he's supposed to think of two things:
he's supposed to look up and see the greatness of God, and look down and see
the weakness of man. This is the Maala of Klal Yisrael, that they humble themselves
to God, like the horse humbles itself to
its rider. He goes on to quote from the Tikunei Zohar, Tikun
number 3, that explains the pasuk in Shir Hashirim, chapter 1, pasuk
9 לְסֻֽסָתִי֙ בְּרִכְבֵ֣י
פַרְעֹ֔ה דִּמִּיתִ֖יךְ רַעְיָתִֽי׃ /like the horses and the chariots of Paroah, My beloved one is compared. The Jewish people are compared to the horses of Paroah.
What's the comparison? As we said, the Jewish people humble themselves th
Hashem like the horse humbles itself to its rider and allows it to be tilted
and directed every which way.
In our Rosh Hashanah prayers there is a famous pitut, הַיּוֹם הֲרַת עוֹלָם, הַיּוֹם יַעֲמִיד בְּמִשְׁפָּט
כָּל־יְצוּרֵי עוֹלָם, אִם כְּבָנִים אִם כַּעֲבָדִים. אִם כְּבָנִים רַחֲמֵנוּ
כְּרַחֵם אָב עַל בָּנִים. אִם כַּעֲבָדִים עֵינֵינוּ לְךָ תְלוּיוֹת, עַד
שֶׁתְּחָנֵּנוּ וְתוֹצִיא לָאוֹר מִשְׁפָּטֵנוּ, קָדוֹשׁ:
Hayom Harat Olam/Today is the creation of the world, Today we'll
set up everyone in judgment. Are we like sons or are we like slaves? If we're like sons, so a father have mercy on his children. And if I'm like a
slave? Then we need to invoke something else that's not automatic mercy. Our
eyes are dependent on You until you have Chen for us, and you'll bring
out to a good light on our judgment, the Holy one.
This statement is based on our pasuk, that we are like
slaves with our eyes to our Master. That is the horse's song. I'm not a
son, I'm a horse, but I'm looking to You to have mercy. The horse needs the
mercy of its master to feed it, to take care of it.
Rav Kanievsky, in his commentary, adds that the horse eats a lot,
like it says in Pesachim 113B, and its master feeds it nicely as well. The
Gemara says that certain animals can
take care of themselves, and you don't feed them on Shabbat. But a horse is one
that you have to feed; you have
to take care of. If it's not taken care of, it
won't survive. That's how we have to look at Hashem, like that horse that wants
(and needs) to eat a lot. He's not a
son, but he's counting on Him, like a servant counts on his master.
That's the song of our horse, perfectly fit for his nature and perfect
for us to learn this beautiful lesson.
