Proper Pride
Now, when the Am Yisroel says “we’re proud”, it’s not for the sake of nothing; it’s not that we should march down 5th Avenue with blue and white flags. It’s not that we have a state, or a language. It’s not ‘Jewish cuisine’ or ‘Jewish scientists’; that’s a nothing-pride. Of course, we’re happy to have Jewish doctors and Jewish judges and Jewish plumbers; why not? But that’s not our pride. We’re proud for one reason and one reason only – because we are chosen by Hakadosh Baruch Hu!
And even that’s not the whole story. Because what we are chosen for, that’s what matters. We’re chosen by Hakadosh Baruch Hu for an especial purpose, to fulfill an especial function in this world. Oh, that’s something else already – we are proud because we were created by the Ribono Shel Olam for a certain purpose.
Our Purpose is Praise
And it's based on a statement in Yeshayah Hanavi, a statement we should keep always before our eyes because it’s the secret to everything. Do you want to know why you are in this world? You want to know your function here in this world as a Jew, what Hakadosh Baruch Hu expects of you? So listen what Yeshayah Hanavi says in the name of Hashem:
עַם זוּ יָצַרְתִּי לִי תְּהִלָּתִי יְסַפֵּרוּ – I created this nation for Me, so that they should relate My praises (Yeshayah 43:21).
Now, we have to listen to these words carefully because it’s not merely some vacuous expression that you might hear from somebody with a literary tendency; this is actually the fundamental teaching of the Torah. “I created You for Me!” We were created for Him! And what does it mean for Him?
תְּהִלָּתִי יְסַפֵּרוּ – You're in this world to speak the greatness of Hashem! Now you know why you were created.
Now I'm sure many people, even frummeh, don't realize that; they have other ideas. That’s why it’s good you came here tonight, so that you should hear what Hakadosh Baruch Hu says about this subject: עַם זוּ יָצַרְתִּי לִי – You want to know why I created this nation? תְּהִלָּתִי יְסַפֵּרוּ – So that that they should speak My praises.
The True Jewish Occupation
It's as clear as could be and so make no mistake about it: The Jew’s job in life is to sing about the greatness of Hashem. You're a doctor? A street cleaner? No, that’s not it; that’s just a sideline. If you're a Jew you have only one profession. תְּהִלָּתִי יְסַפֵּרוּ! You're a praiser of Hashem. That's why we were made and that’s why we’re proud. We’re a proud nation because we were especially chosen to fulfill the function of singing the praises of Hashem.
That’s what it means you’re a Yehudi; that's the name of our nation today, Yehudim. And you know what that word means? Yehudah is the archaic form of yodeh. Like Yosef means ‘he shall add’ but the old form was Yehosef, with the hei: יהוסף. So yehudah means yodeh, ‘he shall praise’; Yehudim means those who praise. And Whom do they praise? There's only One thing that we praise: ה' אֶחָד.
When you get up in the morning open your eyes, first thing, מוֹדֶה אֲנִי לְפָנֶיך. What does modeh mean? Yehudah! I give thanks; I praise You Hashem. And at night when you go to bed your last words speak the praises of Hashem: שְׁמַע יִשְׂרָאֵל ה' אֶחָד. That's how you finish the day’s work.
But not only in the morning and the evening; it means you start in the morning and you finish at night but you're busy all day long singing of the glories of Hashem. That's your job. A cup of water? Boruch Atah Hashem. You’re breathing? Hallelukah! The Medrash says that עַל כָּל נְשָׁמָה וְנְשָׁמָה – for every single breath you owe a Hallel. You see the blue sky? Sing to Hashem! A cloudy sky? Sing a different song. You’re walking? Your knees are functioning? Your heart is pumping? שִׁירוּ לוֹ זַמְּרוּ לוֹ – Sing to Him! And you shouldn't forget about this function even for a minute. תְּהִלָּתִי יְסַפֵּרוּ – Relate His praises. Anything you do in this world should be a song to Hashem.
Praise Hashem At Work
So you’ll say when will I have time to take care of my computer? When will I have time to do my other chores?
The answer is that when you're banging away on the computer you're doing it only as one who is composing a song to Hashem; that's how you should think. Why are you working? You want to pay the rent for a family of yehudim, a wife and children who sing the praises of Hashem. Money doesn’t grow on trees, you know. You need big money to support a frum Jewish home, a home of tehillos Hashem.
You want to pay sechar limud for your children who will sing to Hashem. You want to give tzedakah to help yeshivos that will sing to Hashem. You want to support yourself so that every morning and night you can sing to Hashem in the shul. And on Shabbos all day long you'll sing to Hashem. And so everything you do should be with a kavanah leshem Shomayim; for the purpose of singing songs of praise to Hakadosh Baruch Hu! That's a fundamental attitude – whatever we do we are singing praises to Hashem.
The Ancient Song
When you learn Torah, it’s a song to Hashem. When you do mitzvos, when you are putting on tefillin, you are singing a song to Hashem, you are praising His greatness. When you sit in the succah, when you nail a mezuzah on your door, whatever you do, remember first and foremost that it's a demonstration of your fulfillment of your vocation in Olam Hazeh; you’re demonstrating the greatness of Hashem. Why else would you nail a piece of parchment on the doorway? Why else would you move into a hut for eight days? Why else would you go out to the beis medrash at night to daven to Him and learn His Torah?
Everything we do, a whole nation altogether, it’s a beautiful orchestra of songs to the One Who created our nation for that purpose. And that’s why we’re proud. לְהוֹדוֹת לְשֵׁם קָדָשֶׁךָ לְהִשְׁתַּבֵּחַ בְּתִהְלָּתֶךָ – Our pride is that we were the ones chosen to fulfill this function!
Now, when did we best live up to this function? When were we a nation that was most proud about being chosen for this purpose?
The answer is before the Churban, in the days when we were all together in Eretz Yisroel. For hundreds of years, from the days of Yehoshua down to the Churban, we lived according to that high ideal of תְּהִלָּתִי יְסַפֵּרוּ. We lived for the purpose of praising Hashem.
The King and His Nobles
Just as an example we'll choose one of the best times – when Dovid was our king. When Dovid Hamelech sat in his palace surrounded by a big company of yarei Hashem, what did they do? They all together were singing to Hashem. People don’t realize that. Dovid was surrounded by a group of enthusiastic devoted men who spent their lives speaking about the greatness of Hashem and singing to Him.
That’s what it means יִשְׂמַח יִשְׂרָאֵל בְּעֹשָׂיו, יָגִילוּ בְּמַלְכָּם בְּנֵי צִיּוֹן – the Am Yisroel was joyful in their Creator, when the sons of Tziyon, the important people of Yerushalayim – the noblemen, the wealthy, the aristocracy – and they specialized in singing to Hashem. They sat in the palace and Dovid sat among them with his harp and together they all sang a chorus of praises to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. You hear that? The king and his people were in the palace talking about Hashem and singing His praises. Not figuratively – they were actually singing.
They studied Torah too but even that was a song to Hashem. Remember, it was Dovid who said זְמִרוֹת הָיוּ לִי חֻקֶּיךָ – Your laws were my songs. The Gemara says that Dovid was criticized for that but that's only a poetic criticism. After all we still say those words, זְמִרוֹת הָיוּ לִי חֻקֶּיךָ; it's not erased, we say it all the time. It means that when Dovid and the bnei Tziyon learned אַרְבָּעָה אָבוֹת נְזִיקִין, when they learned יְצִיאוֹת הַשַּׁבָּת, or שֶׁנּוֹלְדָה בְּיוֹם טוֹב, whatever they learned, it was a way of singing a song of praise to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Mesichta Bava Kama was one tune, Mesichta Shabbos another tune. And so everything they did was with this function in mind; it was all included in שִׁירֵי דָוִד עַבְדֶּךָ.
A Proud Generation
Now when a king and aristocrats, the noblemen, are all together singing to Hashem you know what kind of effect that has on the people? The common people always imitate the rulers and the wealthy class. And in Dovid's time everybody who was important, all the bnei Tziyon, came to Dovid and יָגִילוּ בְּמַלְכָּם – they rejoiced in their King.
Who was their king? Not Dovid, no! Hashem was the King! Dovid said that constantly and he said it in prose. He was the one who loved Hashem with all his heart and he was able to express it. He was a beautiful harpist and he played on his harp the most beautiful songs. He was נְעִים זְמִירוֹת יִשְׂרָאֵל, the sweet singer of Yisroel, because he had a knack for making people inspired by his words. His songs were contagious.
The bnei Tziyon came marching forth from his palace and they were humming the tunes and repeating the words and the common people caught it up. And everyone heard and was inspired and they sang together. Everybody was singing the שִׁירֵי דָוִד עַבְדֶּךָ, the songs of Dovid Your servant. Make no mistake about it, the entire Jewish nation in Eretz Yisroel were singing the praises of Hashem with all their heart in Dovid's time.
Proud Generations
And it continued on in the time of Shlomo Hamelech. Of course Dovid was greater than Shlomo Hamelech – he was the originator – but his son, Shlomo, took Dovid's ideals and spread them even further. More or less that was the picture of the Jewish nation when we were sitting safely and strongly on our land. At that time the glory of Hashem was uppermost in the world. Who cared that in the far reaches of the world there were savages? Who cared that there were idol worshippers? Even if they would be modern savages, evolutionists, atheists, materialists, who cares? That doesn’t weaken our pride a bit. The purpose of the world was being fulfilled right here in Eretz Yisroel.
The Jewish nation is singing Dovid's songs! The people are living with the ideals that sprung forth from the heart of Dovid and all the tzaddikim. A nation that is fulfilling the fundamental principle of our purpose in this world: עַם זוּ יָצַרְתִּי לִי תְּהִלָּתִי יְסַפֵּרוּ – This people I created for Me that they should relate My praise (ibid.).
And about that period of our history there the expression was used יְהִי כְבוֹד ה' לְעוֹלָם יִשְׂמַח ה' בְּמַעֲשָׂיו – The glory of Hashem should continue forever and Hashem should rejoice in His handiwork (Tehillim 104:31). Because at that time we glorified Hashem – and we glorified in this function – so He rejoiced in the Am Yisroel.
