With all those zemiros that we sing on Shabbos, what do we accomplish?
The word zemiros means to prune as in lo sizmor.
As a gardener prunes his trees, thereby removing the inferior branches for the purpose of improving the fruit-bearing ability of the superior ones, so too our emotional, joyous recitation of the zemiros is designed to remove the impure barriers separating us and Hashem and liberate the soul from the weekday to its Shabbos dimension.
Now let’s listen to the amazing words of R’ Yaakov Emden:
“The words of Shabbos zemiros are culled from pesukim of Tanach, Halachos, Shas, Zohar and Midrashim which pertain to Shabbos. One who says them brings good to the world. Hashem attaches Himself to him and listens to his voice. He is pleased and sustains the world so that it doesn’t become destroyed.”
