Explanations of the Prayer - Boruch Sheamar - Part 1

00:00 Where does the subject of Pesukei Dezimra begin? We explained that the general order of prayer is divided into four parts. It is a ladder set on the earth with its top reaching heaven, and that ladder has four rungs. They correspond to Asiyah, Yetzirah, Beriah, and Atzilus, and to the four levels of the soul: nefesh, ruach, neshamah, and the neshamah of the neshamah—chayah. Those are the four parts of prayer. The first is nefesh, Asiyah. Hodu and the entire section up to Baruch She’amar are all part of Hodu. In other words, a person is still in the world of Asiyah. He is still at the level of kabbolas ol expressed in action. He has not yet reached feelings of love and awe of Hashem, and certainly not contemplation. He has not yet contemplated Hashem’s greatness. All he has at this point is the self-nullification called hoda’ah in the language of Chassidus: he acknowledges that this is the truth. So the entire section from Hodu to Baruch She’amar is about acknowledgment. We acknowledge that Hashem is below and above, and beyond the order of hishtalshelus. We acknowledge creation from nothing and everything else we discussed there. Everything we discussed in Hodu and in Mizmor Shir Chanukas comes as acknowledgment and self-nullification, not so much as contemplation or a feeling of love. Here, by contrast, we begin Pesukei Dezimra, from Baruch She’amar through Yishtabach. This is the second rung. What is Pesukei Dezimra about? According to Chassidus, it is primarily the time when a person also awakens his emotions. Pesukei Dezimra is not yet contemplation in great depth. There is certainly contemplation, but it is mainly contemplation directed toward the emotions. In other words, its main purpose is to

02:31 awaken feelings of love and awe in the heart. That is Pesukei Dezimra: it is more about the heart, more about feeling. A person awakens his heart with feelings of love and awe, of love for Hashem, through contemplation. That is why Pesukei Dezimra places less emphasis on the ideas themselves and more on the emotional side. In other words, it speaks about Hashem in terms of everything He gives us and all the good that comes from Him. The aspect of contemplation in Pesukei Dezimra is chiefly connected with awakening feelings and sentiments. You see, the contemplation is not so much about the idea itself as about what it does to a person—about feeling and a personal connection in prayer. The simple meaning of Pesukei Dezimra is “verses of song,” verses to sing. But Chassidus gives a deeper meaning: zimra is related to the word meaning “to prune.” In Tractate Shabbos, pruning means cutting; someone who cuts trees is called a zomeir. So Pesukei Dezimra means verses that cut. They cut away the forces of a person’s animal soul. Before prayer, he has an animal soul, desires, and an attraction to material things and matters of this world. When he becomes stirred during prayer, with feeling, enthusiasm, and concentration, it awakens in him the desire to draw closer to G-dliness. That, in turn, cuts away his wants and the cravings of his negative traits. The main purpose of Pesukei Dezimra, then, is for a person to rid himself of his negative traits, his animalistic desires, and his

04:53 inclinations toward things that are not good—whether forbidden things, or even permitted things that are not for the sake of Heaven—and to awaken a feeling of love for Hashem. That is Pesukei Dezimra. It is called that because it cuts away, prunes, the thorns—all the things that cling to a person. One of the maamarim goes on to explain that this also refers to distracting thoughts, lashon hara, and the idle talk a person speaks. These stick to him like thorns. The word zimra is connected with a verse about cutting down the mighty: it means cutting away thorns. Thorns grow in a field. What is the problem with thorns? They draw up the field’s moisture and cause the trees to dry out. That is the problem when there are thorns: they take all the moisture and dry out the field. In the same way, distracting thoughts—and especially lashon hara and idle talk—are like thorns that cause a person to lose the freshness and vitality he has in holiness. So the awakening of Pesukei Dezimra, when a person contemplates its verses and considers how Hakadosh Boruch Hu gives life to created beings—how He brings everything into being, sustains everything, and does everything—must cut off the vitality he invests in forbidden things, lashon hara, idle talk, and all those things he has said. He thereby cuts away the thorns and becomes able to awaken a feeling of love. Other maamarim explain that this is called “carving from the outside.” If a person is making a vessel from a piece of wood, he first cuts the outside to give it its external shape. Then he cuts inside, hollowing it out to form its inner shape. After that, he refines all the details. But the first step is carving from the outside, separating out the piece he needs. You have a large piece of wood, but you only need to make one cup. You do not need all of it. You cut off a piece and shape its outside. Then you cut into it to form the inside of the cup. So it says that Pesukei Dezimra is carving from the outside. Shema, incidentally, is carving from the inside. In other words, prayer is about working with the animal soul. As the maamar of 5662 says, throughout prayer we make the animal soul into a vessel for G-dliness. To make that vessel, the first thing we have to do is cut from the outside—to separate it from external things. That is what Pesukei Dezimra accomplishes through awakening and explanation.

07:05 That is why Pesukei Dezimra does not speak about particularly deep concepts. It speaks mainly about matters of the world: what Hakadosh Boruch Hu bestows upon this world, the life He gives everything, and how He watches over everything and provides food, life, and sustenance. It speaks chiefly about Hashem’s way of directing the world as it is expressed in worldly matters. This stirs the soul to want to detach itself from the world’s materiality and draw closer to G-dliness. In this way, the person does the pruning: he cuts away the coarse material of the animal soul. In truth, the two meanings are connected. We think of zimra as song and melody, and zimra as cutting. There is a connection between them, because

09:00 We spoke once, if you remember, about the difference between shirah and zimrah. Shirah is with the mouth; zimrah is with an instrument. Chassidus explains that these correspond to the G-dly soul and the animal soul: shirah is connected with the G-dly soul, while zimrah is connected more with the animal soul. [unclear] So since here we are talking more about working with the animal soul and making it a vessel for G-dliness, it is called Pesukei Dezimrah. Zimrah is related to zemer, music played on an instrument, and also to the word for cutting away and uprooting—removing the things that are not good. That is the general introduction to Pesukei Dezimrah, which is certainly the stage of working on the middos. In the progression a person makes during davening, Hodu is the stage of kabbolas ol. The acknowledgment and self-nullification of kabbolas ol are connected more with action. Pesukei Dezimrah is connected more with the feelings of the heart, with the middos. Before we begin Pesukei Dezimrah, the first thing we say is the text of Leshem Yichud. Leshem Yichud is an introduction to Pesukei Dezimrah. Why? It is like this: the Arizal instituted Leshem Yichud to be said before every mitzvah. “For the sake of the union of Kudsha Brich Hu and His Shechinah”—that is the text the Arizal instituted before every mitzvah. A person performs a mitzvah. What happens through performing it? It brings about the union of Kudsha Brich Hu and His Shechinah, of the yud-hei with the vav-hei. We will soon explain what that means, but this is one of the greatest foundations of Kabbalah, and particularly of Chassidus: the entire purpose of observing Torah and mitzvos is that when we Jews perform mitzvos, we bring about the union of Kudsha Brich Hu and His Shechinah. In general terms, that means revealing and connecting G-dliness with

10:57 the world. We will soon look at the details, but that is the point. So the union of Kudsha Brich Hu and His Shechinah is the intention behind every mitzvah. Nevertheless, the common practice—among other chassidim, they do indeed say it before every mitzvah, but in Chabad we do not do that. Chabad chassidim say it only once a day, before Baruch She’amar. The reason is that this is how the Alter Rebbe instituted it; that is how it appears in the Alter Rebbe’s siddur. But the deeper explanation is that, in Chassidus generally, we do not put much emphasis on saying the intentions aloud. You need to feel the intentions, not say them. Among Polish chassidim, there is more emphasis on saying them. For example, there is a prescribed intention before putting on tefillin. The siddur says that before putting on tefillin, you should have in mind the meaning of the mitzvah. So others say it aloud; before putting on tefillin, they recite the whole text. We do not say it; we think it. It is similar in Chassidus with Ani Maamin. We do not recite Ani Maamin. As chassidim, we do not—we think about Ani Maamin rather than reciting it. Along the same lines, saying the intention before every mitzvah is not the approach of Chassidus. In Chassidus, the point is not merely to say it; a person needs to feel it. Nevertheless, it was instituted that we say Leshem Yichud once a day, at the start of the day. There is a sicha of the Rebbe in Likkutei Sichos, about Rosh Hashanah, where the Rebbe explains that this is like a general intention. When a person begins the day, he needs a general preparation—an overall direction for the day. A person begins with Modeh Ani. Modeh Ani is not a specific form of avodah. It is the general starting point with which a person begins

12:45 the day. Modeh Ani means that he gives himself over to Hakadosh Boruch Hu. It is a general commitment to G-dliness, which then takes shape in the details throughout the day. As the Rebbe explains, the daily Leshem Yichud works the same way. It is as though a person makes a proclamation: once, at the beginning of the day, he announces the purpose of everything he will do throughout the day. Then, all day long, every detail draws its life from that starting point. He does not need to announce it again and again. It is enough that once, as a general preparation and his overall approach, a Jew commits himself to it. After that, he only needs to bring it into the details. And so, that is to say, he goes on to explain the details of what the Rebbe’s sicha means...