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| | Hallel (I)
Hal’lu Avdei Hashem
II
A BRIEF EXCURSUS REGARDING THE AUTHORSHIP OF T’HILLIM
Among the overall issues that any student of Sefer T'hillim must address is the problem of authorship. Although conventional wisdom holds that David was the sole author of T'hillim, the text belies this assumption in several ways. In addition, mainstream Rabbinic opinion, both in classical and medieval sources, deny David sole authorship of the work. The most famous (due to its accessibility) statement in this regard is found in the Bavli, at the end of the first chapter of Bava Batra which identifies the authors of the various books of the T’nakh:
David wrote the Book of Psalms, including in it the work of ten elders, namely, Adam, Malkizedek, Abraham, Mosheh, Heiman, Yedutun, Asaph, and the three sons of Korah.
The last six of these were the Levites who David appointed to oversee the singing in the Mikdash (see I Divrei haYamim 6:16-34) and whose names appear in the superscriptions of several psalms.
According to this approach, David was the final redactor of T’hillim, contributing his own psalms and adding them to a growing work of songs of praise, supplications etc. that had begun with creation itself.
This approach was adopted by many - but not all – rabbinic commentators. Sa’adiah Ga’on (892-942), for reasons that will be explored in a later installment, maintained that David alone was the author of all of Sefer T’hillim – and he is the only major figure among traditional commentators who grants David sole authorship.
The chronological range of opinions presented in the Baraita above demonstrates the lack of consensus in reference even to Davidic redaction - according to three opinions noted there, at least the six psalms of Hallel were composed later than David – as late as the Persian period (Mordekhai and Esther – 5th century BCE – five centuries after the death of David).
One might argue that “recited” (Amaro) in the Baraita doesn’t mean “composed”, rather “instituted”. This argument is attractive, as it credits some earlier author (which might be David) with composition – in which case, the text remained extant until it was adopted by Hezekiah, Misha’el et al. or Mordekhai and Esther and inaugurated into use for thanksgiving after Divine redemption from danger.
This argument, however, does not stand the test of the text. Remember that the same word – “recited” is used to advance Mosaic and Yehoshuan origins. Would R. El’azar and R. Yehudah, then, argue that someone else composed the text before that time and it was adopted for use by Mosheh or Yehoshua, respectively? How would we then understand psalm 114 - B’Tzet Yisra’el MiMitzrayim? When was that composed?
Although we will investigate the issue in greater depth later on, there is both Midrashic evidence and Rabbinic opinions – both medieval and “contemporary” – that support post-Davidic contributions to T’hillim. The Midrash in Shir haShirim Rabbah 4:5 states:
…What is Talpiot (Shir haShirim 4:4)? A book written by many mouths (Piot) Ten men composed the book of T'hillim: Adam, Avraham, Mosheh, David, Sh'lomoh; regarding these five there is no disagreement. Who are the other five?
Rav and R. Yohanan disagree:
Rav maintains Asaph, Heiman, Yeduthun, the three sons of Korach and Ezra.
R. Yohanan holds Asaph, Heiman, Yeduthun are one, the three sons of Korach are one and Ezra.
Note that the Midrash identifies - and, regarding this, there is no disagreement within this passage – the last contributor to T’hillim as Ezra, who lived some years after Mordekhai and Esther.
R. Moshe ibn Giqatilah (11th c. Spain), was a well-known and highly respected scholar, grammarian, philologist and preacher who composed a commentary on T’hillim in Arabic. This commentary, lost to the generations, was recently discovered in the Leningrad library (and has yet to be translated into Hebrew and published). We do have access to a significant number of his comments on T’hillim through the good devices of the commentary of R. Avraham ibn Ezra, who quotes him no fewer than fifty times throughout T’hillim.
Ibn Giqatilah maintains that T’hillim continued to be composed and added to the canon throughout the prophetic period – i.e. until Ezra’s time. Note, for example, his suggestions regarding the composition of Ps. 137 and the last two verses of Ps. 51.
One of the leading figures in European Orthodoxy in the 19th century was R. Meir Leibush ben Yechiel Michel (1809-1879), – known by the acronym of his name, “Malbim”. His comprehensive commentary on N’vi’im and K’tuvim is considered standard curriculum in most serious traditional schools.
In his introduction to T’hillim, Malbim argues that the composition of T’hillim continued well past the Davidic epoch, until the end of the period of prophecy.
Again, this general approach and each of these opinions will be analyzed in a later installment - suffice it to say that a straightforward reading of each of the opinions in Pesahim 117a does not present us with a conflict.
And now, we are prepared to begin our analysis of Pirkei Hallel haMitzri.
III
MIZMOR 113: THE TEXT
1. Halleluyah! Praise, O you servants of Hashem, praise the name of Hashem.
2. Blessed be the name of Hashem from this time forth and for evermore.
3. From sunrise to sunset Hashem’s name is to be praised.
4. Hashem is high above all nations, and his glory above the heavens.
5. Who is like Hashem our God, who dwells on high,
6. Who looks far down to behold the things that are on heaven, and on the earth!
7. He raises up the poor from the dust, and lifts the needy from the ash heap,
8. That he may set him with nobles, with the nobles of his people.
9. He gives the barren woman a home, and makes her a joyful mother of children. Halleluyah!
IV
VERSES AND STANZAS
Customarily, the first job of a student is to make sure that the words of the unit are clear. Our psalm is, for the most part, free of these difficulties, although we will briefly comment on several words later on. This allows us to move directly to the second step – identifying the structure of the psalm.
In most books of T”nakh (Eikhah is the greatest exception to this rule), the overall literary unit is not properly bounded by chapter divisions (a Christian intrusion into the text) nor, necessarily, by Masoretic Parashah divisions – some literary units are made up of several Parashiot and some Parashiot include multiple literary units (e.g. the entire Bal’am narrative). This is not the case in T”hillim, where the overall unit is made up of one psalm, usually bounded by some formulaic beginning (e.g. “Halleluyah”, “Mizmor”, the name of a Levitic singer etc.). Although this makes our job of identifying the boundaries of the unit easier – thus making proper understanding of the text more accessible – it does not free us of the obligation to further analyze the make up of the psalm.
Within a given psalm, there may be a number of “stanzas” – which do not correspond to verses. A stanza is usually made up of a number of verses and can be identified by all sorts of rhetorical tools which mark it off.
What are the stanzas in our psalm? Where does each one begin and end?
Although these questions may seem pedantic and trivial, running the risk of sterilizing the study of T’hillim, the opposite is true. Resolving the structure of the psalm will allow us to properly investigate the meaning that it aims to inculcate in the reader.
Our psalm is made up of nine verses; the first includes a “caption word” (Halleluyah) that is echoed in the “conclusion word” at the end. Generally, Haza”l did not reckon these words as part of the essential text.
The First “Bayit”: Shem haShem
Looking at the text, we immediately note the repetition of a key phrase - Shem haShem – that appears three times within the first three verses (a quick check of a Concordance demonstrates that this is a very intensive level of repetition of this phrase). What is more surprising is that this phrase never shows up again in the psalm. We can easily identify the first stanza of the psalm as vv. 1-3, and note that Shem haShem is the theme of that stanza:
1) A call (from the leader to the assemblage) to praise Shem haShem.
2) The response - that Shem haShem should be praised at all times…
3) …and in all places. (“sunrise” and “sunset” may be more properly rendered “east” [the location of its rising] to “west” [the location of its setting])
The Second Bayit: Rom’mut Hashem
Identifying the parameters of the second stanza will require a different tool - there is not word or phrase that repeats with unusual intensity here. There is, however, one constant theme in the next few verses which is exclusive to those verses.
4) G-d’s “place”, high above the nations, even above the heavens (more on this phrase below)
5) G-d needs to “lower Himself” to manifest Himself in the heavens…
6) and on earth.
It is quite clear that the theme of this stanza – a theme that disappears immediately after v. 6 – is the transcendence of G-d. There is no call to praise G-d (as in the first stanza), which attaches itself to Mankind (who praises), nor is there any mention of G-d’s direct interaction with Mankind (as in the final verses) – this stanza is purely “about G-d”.
The pregnant phrase: ’Al haShamayim has been disputed – does it mean that G-d’s Presence is even above the heavens, or does the preposition ’Al mean “over” (see Radak), indicating not position but power. As Radak notes, these two verses may be rendered: “who rises to sit in the heavens and lowers Himself to see the doings on earth” – which would mean that Al haShamayim cannot mean “higher than”.
The Final Bayit: Hashem’s “Modesty”
The final stanza is easy to identify; the psalmist returns to the interaction between G-d and Man, but, as opposed to the first stanza, this one focuses on G-d’s kindness to His creatures.
Even though the theme is sufficient to identify the boundaries of the stanza, there is a rhetorical device which is nearly unique, within the psalm, to this stanza. The first word in each of the final three verses ends with a poetic yod, which is not the pronominal suffix indicating first person singular:
7) He lifts up the destitute,
8) To sit with nobility,
9) Bringing gladness to the formerly barren woman
This section echoes, quite clearly, the sentiments expressed by Hannah (I Sh’mu’el 2:1-10, especially vv. 7-8); yet, unlike Hannah, it only focuses on G-d’s resuscitative power.
The apposition of G-d’s “lowering Himself” to earth against His raising up the impoverished should not be lost on the reader – G-d is high above, yet He lowers Himself, not to condescend or rule harshly – but to raise us up to sit with His nobles.
In sum, we have found that this opening psalm is made up of three stanzas, evenly meted out at three verses each. The first calls on the assemblage to praise G-d at all times and places, the second is the actual praise of G-d in His “nobility” and the final stanza praises G-d Who raises up the fallen and gladdens the despondent.
V
AN APPROPRIATE BEGINNING
As noted earlier, the “Great Hallel” is given that name because it juxtaposes G-d’s great power with His sustaining of His creatures. We see that “Hallel Mitzrayim” begins with the same theme – G-d’s greatness is not only a barrier to His involvement with our lives, it is the reason for that care and concern.
The psalm begins with a call to “the servants of Hashem”; as Haza”l point out (BT Megilah 14a), the implication is that this is addressed to those who are exclusively G-d’s servants, and not enslaved to other servants (e.g. Pharaoh).
The many Midrashim which point to the critical role played by the women in Egypt – the women who believed, in spite of the terrible loss of their babies to the Nile, that we would be redeemed – serve to bond the final verses to the rest of Hallel. G-d lifts up the destitute nation of slaves, seating them as nobility; He makes the formerly barren woman into the joyful mother of children –
Halleluyah!
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| Mikra, Copyright © 2012 by Rabbi Yitzchak Etshalom and Torah.org. The author is Educational Coordinator of the Jewish Studies Institute of the Yeshiva of Los Angeles. |
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