1. Read the following two verses:
(14) Mark, the heavens to their uttermost reaches belong to YHWH your God, the earth and all that is on it! (15) Yet it was to your fathers that YHWH was drawn in His love for them, so that He chose you, their lineal descendants, from among all peoples—as is now the case.
2. What, in your own words, is the point that Moses is trying to get across?
a. What emotions is he trying to evoke?
b. What reactions - psychologically, emotionally, or otherwise - might he be hoping for?
In explaining a part of the above verse, the Talmud preserves the following tradition:
ר"ל אמר שבעה
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מעון שבו כיתות של מלאכי השרת שאומרות שירה בלילה וחשות ביום מפני כבודן של ישראל שנאמר (תהלים מב, ט) יומם יצוה ה' חסדו ובלילה שירה עמי
Reish Lakish said: There are seven firmaments.
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One of them is called Ma’on, habitation, where there are groups of ministering angels who recite song at night and are silent during the day out of respect for Israel, in order not to compete with their songs, as it is stated: “By day the Lord will command His kindness, and in the night His song is with me” (Psalms 42:9), indicating that the song of the angels is with God only at night.
3. How much of this teaching is being derived from the verse? Where might the rest of it be coming from?
4. What does it mean to say that the angels are silent because of Israels honor? What has one to do with the other?
5. Compare this tradition with the following:
חביבין ישראל לפני הקב"ה יותר ממלאכי השרת
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שישראל מזכירין את השם אחר שתי תיבות שנאמר (דברים ו, ד) שמע ישראל ה' וגו'
ומלאכי השרת אין מזכירין את השם אלא לאחר ג' תיבות כדכתיב (ישעיהו ו, ג) קדוש קדוש קדוש ה' צבאות
ואין מה"ש אומרים שירה למעלה עד שיאמרו ישראל למטה שנאמר (איוב לח, ז) ברן יחד כוכבי בקר והדר ויריעו כל בני אלהים
Israel is more dear to the Holy One, Blessed be He, than the ministering angels
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Since Israel mentions the name of God after two words, as it is stated: “Hear, Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one” (Deuteronomy 6:4).
But the ministering angels mention the name of God only after three words, as it is written: “And one called unto another, and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory” (Isaiah 6:3).
And the ministering angels do not recite their song above until the Israelites recite their song below, on earth, as it is stated: “When the morning stars sang together” (Job 38:7), and only then does the verse state: “And all the sons of God shouted for joy."
6. What is going on here? Why the connection between the passages of the שמע and קדוש קדוש קדוש?
7. How does the last drasha work mechanically (the one which states that the angels above wait for Israel below)? (I.e., how is the lesson being derived from the words of the verse itself?)
a. Hint - consider the following verse:
(4) I will make your heirs as numerous as the stars of heaven, and assign to your heirs all these lands, so that all the nations of the earth shall bless themselves by your heirs—
b. Double-hint - Consider the following Rashi:
The morning stars - Morning stars are used as an analogy for Israel.
Final Reflection
8. Despite some major differences and possibly contradictions - what do the two passages of the Talmud have in common? What might they be trying to convey?
9. What can we learn about the emotional experience of H' throughout a typical morning? What kind of psychological journey does He go through while we progress through our prayers?
10. Are there moments in your own prayers where reflecting on some of this could help your kavannah and overall experience? How so?