Skip to main content

Thought for the Day: Grammar in Shmone Esrei

I once had a boss who told me that "semicolons are stupid".  He was one of the best bosses I ever had for stories to tell the rest of my life.  While grammar is on few people's top ten list, it is important.  Consider:
  • Stop clubbing baby seals. (hackneyed phrase used by yuppies who don't have to worry about how to heat their home or feed their babies like the eskimos they are trying to put out of work.)
  • Stop clubbing; baby seals. (imperative lampoon of same group as above: instead of going out to night clubs, get yourselves some seals to coddle)
  • Stop clubbing, baby seals. (sarcastic imperative to baby seals telling them to stop partying)
  • Stop clubbing baby, seals.  (sarcastic warning to seals, telling them to lay off that baby)
Ok, point made, and I also got to make fun of yuppie culture; this has been a satisfying article so far.

So grammar really is important, even in Shmone Esrei.  It was pointed out to me that there is another interesting issue in r'tzei.  Namely, that "Yisrael" is used three times (yes; I certainly should have noticed this before myself).  After careful analysis (having been put on the spot at a yom tov table with this observation, followed by, "So why is that?"), we find that Yisrael is used twice as a noun and once as basically an adjective.

We have already discussed the yisrael in the phrase "ishei yisrael" (The Temple Service in Shmone Esrei).   At the beginning we have "r'tzei HaShem El-keinu b'amcha yisrael" -- be favorable to Your nation, who is Yisrael.  That is, we pray in the z'chus of being His nation, that our service should find favor.  At the end we conclude with "u's'hi l'ratzon tamid avodas yisrael amecha" -- let the service of Yisrael, who is Your nation, always find favor.  This time we are praying in the z'chus of being Yisrael, the people chose to serve HaShem  as our G-d.  We are therefore asking for favor as His nation, even if we weren't Yisrael and as Yisrael even if we weren't His nation.

The Nefesh haChaim says that all of the kavonos and depth of thought understood by the Ari, z"l concerning shmone esrei are not a drop in the ocean compared to what Chazal put there.  In fact, the Anshei K'nesses haGadol actually packed into the Shmone Esrei a unique kavana for each Jew every time he would daven.  You mincha today is not your mincha of yesterday and is unrelated to your mincha of tomorrow.

Given that, maybe grammar isn't important even in Shmone Esrei, it is important especially in Shmone Esrei.  It's probably worth spending a bit more time with those grammar Rashi's....
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Thought for the Day: Pizza, Uncrustables, and Stuff -- What Bracha?

Many years ago (in fact, more than two decades ago), I called R' Fuerst from my desk at work as I sat down to lunch.  I had a piece of (quite delicious) homemade pizza for lunch.  I nearly always eat at my desk as I am working (or writing TftD...), so my lunch at work cannot in any way be considered as sitting down to a formal meal; aka קביעת סעודה.  That being the case, I wasn't sure whether to wash, say ha'motzi, and bentch; or was the pizza downgraded to a m'zonos.  He told if it was a snack, then it's m'zonos; if a meal the ha'motzi.  Which what I have always done since then.  I recently found out how/why that works. The Shulchan Aruch, 168:17 discusses פשטיד''א, which is describes as a baked dough with meat or fish or cheese.  In other words: pizza.  Note: while the dough doesn't not need to be baked together with the meat/fish/cheese, it is  required that they dough was baked with the intention of making this concoction. ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Thought for the Day: Yetzer HaRa -- Spiritual Force of Tuma vs Physical Ta'avos

In any project planning, there are two basic approaches: top down and bottom up.  Top down starts with describing what you want done at the highest level that seems reasonable.  You then break that down into a list of things that are smaller in scope (they only accomplish part of the job) and are therefore easier to actually accomplish.  That process can is then repeated with each sub-project.  Each iteration produces a new set of smaller projects.  For any of the projects, the level above provides the "why" for the project of interest, and the projects below provide the "how" for the current project.  Bottom up starts, as it's name suggests, from the lowest level -- here is stuff I know I can do, and proceeds by asking "what can I do by putting this stuff together?" For example, I have a project to slake my thirst.  Top down would start by a requirement to get a cool drink into a container from which I can drink.  That breaks down into: (1) fin...
Post a Comment
Read more

Thought for the Day: Why Halacha Has "b'di'avad"

There was this Jew who knew every "b'di'avad" (aka, "Biddy Eved", the old spinster librarian) in the book.  When ever he was called on something, his reply was invariably, "biddy eved, it's fine".  When he finally left this world and was welcomed to Olam Haba, he was shown to a little, damp closet with a bare 40W bulb hanging from the ceiling.  He couldn't believe his eyes and said in astonishment, "This is Olam Haba!?!"  "Yes, Reb Biddy Eved,  for you this is Olam Haba." b'di'avad gets used like that; f you don't feel like doing something the best way, do it the next (or less) best way.  But Chazal tell us that "kol ha'omer HaShem vatran, m'vater al chayav" -- anyone who thinks HaShem gives partial credit is fooling himself to death (free translation.  Ok, really, really free translation; but its still true).  HaShem created us and this entire reality for one and only one purpose: for use...
Post a Comment
Read more