Birkat Hamazon: Blueprint of Jewish Destiny (Part 14)
“Anyone who recites Birkat HaMazon is blessed through it.”
(Zohar HaKadosh to ParshatTerumah)
Birkat HaMazon continues with a series of requests that all begin with the same phrase: “The Compassionate One.” The blessing says, “The Compassionate One, may He rule over us forever. The Compassionate One, may He be blessed in heaven and on earth. The Compassionate One, may He be praised throughout all the generations, may He be glorified through us forever to the ultimate ends, and be honored through us forever and for all eternity.”
Rabbi Yechiel Michel Epstein (1829-1908), in his monumental work Aruch Hashulchan, explains that the rest of Birkat HaMazon consists of a series of short prayers appealing for Hashem’s mercy and compassion. It is interesting to note that although, in general, personal requests on Shabbat are not normally made (Orach Chaim 306), the accepted approach of most of the Halachic authorities is that all of the particular requests in this blessing are recited on Shabbat (Darchei Moshe 188). Despite the fact that there are authorities who rule that one can skip all of these requests throughout the week, Rabbi Yisroel Belsky (1938-2016) would ask why anyone would choose not to ask for all of the wonderful blessings that we are requesting!
Rabbi Shimshon Raphael Hirsch points out that the expressions “the ultimate ends” and “for all eternity” appear to be repetitious. In English there is very little difference between the two. However, unlike English, there are no synonyms in Lashon HaKodesh, and as the wording is different, they must be referring to two different ideas. The phrase in Lashon HaKodesh for “ultimate ends” is “netzach netzachim.” Rabbi Hirsch explains that the word “netzach” originates from the same word as “nitzachon,” which means victory. He writes that the phrase alludes to the fact that, ultimately, Hashem’s blueprint for the world will occur, and all the hurdles that mankind has tried to put in its way will not stand in His way. In Lashon HaKodesh, “for all eternity” is “u’lolmei olamim.” The word “olam” is closely connected to the word “ne’elam,” which means hidden. Because, even though we may not see Him, Hashem is hidden within our world, waiting to be discovered. As Rabbi Pinchas Shapiro (1726-1791), from Koretz in the Ukraine, used to say, “We need faith to know that Hashem is concealed within the universe. But once we know that He is hidden there, He is no longer disguised.”
How immeasurably true! So often it is during the darkest moments that we come face to face with Hashem’s Presence. And, as His Presence becomes clearer and clearer, the darkness recedes, and the most beautiful and purest light floods into our lives
In the darkest years of the last century, two students of the illustrious Telz Yeshiva in Lithuania escaped the war-torn town, trying to stay ahead of the Nazis. Forced into hiding, these two scholars were crouched in an underground hole as they heard the pounding footsteps of the Nazi soldiers, searching for Jews, just above their heads. As the ominous sound of their boots filled the small space, Rabbi Chaim Stein (1913-2011), who later was to become the revered head of the Telz Yeshiva that had been replanted in Cleveland, Ohio, looked at his friend Rabbi Meir Zelig Mann and told him, “You are musical. Quickly compose a tune to the words of the prophet Yeshayah (52:7), “How pleasant are the footsteps of the herald upon the mountains [announcing peace, heralding good tidings, announcing salvation]!”
In their hate-filled, threatening footsteps, Rabbi Stein heard instead a verse describing the footsteps of the messenger of the redemption.
As Rabbi Tzadok HaKohen (1823-1900) from Lublin so poetically writes, “Just as darkness is sometimes hidden behind light, so too is light sometimes hidden behind darkness.”
