And then we come to לדוד מזמור, and the קולות ז', in which we bring everything back to Hashem. After we have abandoned the old path, we can recognize the song of creation. We cannot see Creation singing if we think everything belongs to us.
Connecting to the Song of Creation
And so, at Minchah of Erev Shabbos, we recognize that everything is from the Ribbono shel Olam, and then we stand in song and praise about the Creation as we see it through a clear and truthful lens. When a Yid performs this avodah, even if he’s still in the weekdays, he’s proclaiming the truth. It’s still Erev Shabbos, but he proclaims the truth that all this belongs to the Ribbono shel Olam.
Through the avodah of this proclamation, he elevates the ניצוצות back to the Aibishter Who placed them into the world. He concealed them in many places, and it is our avodah to see through the façade and illuminate every place with G-dliness. Through this, a person removes the concealment—especially from those things that are connected to him, the concealments and restrictions that apply to his life (e.g., his negative inclinations and habits, and his unique proclivities that pull him in the wrong direction).
If he can recognize the root of all these things in his life and not to be intimidated or impressed by habits that he has become accustomed to—and the Minchah of Erev Shabbos must cause a person to become less intimidated by “reality”—then the Ribbono shel Olam will surely redeem him.
This is the avodah of the Minchah of Erev Shabbos and indeed all of Shabbos Kodesh. A Yid remembers that parnassah is from the Aibishter: we won’t recite עלינו ברך again until Motza’ei Shabbos.... This is our last opportunity of the week to proclaim that it’s all His. The same applies to health and success.
With this, a Yid can indeed shed his clothes of the weekdays and enter the spirit of the holy Shabbos.
