Likrat Shabbat 8/7/2020 Eikev

(17) For the LORD your God is God supreme and Lord supreme, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who shows no favor and takes no bribe,

(18) but [?] upholds the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and befriends the stranger, providing him with food and clothing.—

(2) Blessed are You, Lord our God and God of our fathers, God of Abraham, God of Isaac and God of Jacob; the great, mighty and awesome God, the most high God, Who bestows loving kindness and goodness and is master/creator of all, Who remembers the good deeds of the fathers, and brings a redeemer to their children, in love and for the sake of His name.

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(4) King, Helper, Savior, and Shield. Blessed are You, O Lord, Shield of Abraham.

With regard to additions to prayers formulated by the Sages, the Gemara relates that a particular individual descended before the ark as prayer leader in the presence of Rabbi Ḥanina.

He extended his prayer and said: God, the great, the mighty, and the awesome, the powerful, and the strong, and the fearless.

When he finished, Rabbi Ḥanina said to him: Have you concluded all of the praises of your Master? Even these three praises that we recite: The great, the mighty, and the awesome,

• had Moses our teacher not written them in the Torah (Deuteronomy 10:17),
• and had the members of the Great Assembly not come and incorporated them into the Amida prayer (see Nehemiah 9:32),

we would not be permitted to recite them.

And you went on and recited all of these. It is comparable to a man who possessed many thousands of golden dinars, yet they were praising him for owning a thousand silver ones. Isn’t that deprecatory toward him? All of the praises one can lavish upon the Lord are nothing but a few silver dinars relative to many thousands of gold dinars. Reciting a litany of praise does not enhance God’s honor.

...Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: Why are the Sages of those generations called the members of the Great Assembly? It is because they returned the crown of the Holy One, Blessed be He, to its former glory. How so?

Moses came and said in his prayer: “The great, the mighty, and the awesome God” (Deuteronomy 10:17).

Jeremiah the prophet came and said: Gentiles, i.e., the minions of Nebuchadnezzar, are carousing in His sanctuary; where is His awesomeness? Therefore, he did not say awesome in his prayer: “The great God, the mighty Lord of Hosts, is His name” (Jeremiah 32:18).

Daniel came and said: Gentiles are enslaving His children; where is His might? Therefore he did not say mighty in his prayer: “The great and awesome God” (Daniel 9:4).

The members of the Great Assembly came and said: On the contrary, this is the might of His might, i.e., this is the fullest expression of it, that He conquers His inclination in that He exercises patience toward the wicked. God’s anger is flared by the gentile nations’ enslavement of His people, yet He expresses tremendous might by suppressing His anger and holding back from punishing them immediately. Therefore, it is still appropriate to refer to God as mighty. And these acts also express His awesomeness: Were it not for the awesomeness of the Holy One, Blessed be He, how could one people, i.e., the Jewish people, who are alone and hated by the gentile nations, survive among the nations?

The Gemara asks: And the Rabbis, i.e., Jeremiah and Daniel, how could they do this and uproot an ordinance instituted by Moses, the greatest teacher, who instituted the mention of these attributes in prayer? Rabbi Elazar said: They did so because they knew of the Holy One Blessed be He, that He is truthful and hates a lie. Consequently, they did not speak falsely about Him. Since they did not perceive His attributes of might and awesomeness, they did not refer to them; therefore, they cannot be criticized for doing so.

R. Gershon Henoch Leiner of Radzin גרשון חנוך העניך ליינר

(1839 - 1891 CE)

All prayer and Divine service come before God by way of the name YHVH, which is the secret of the Sefirah of Tiferet, which includes all of the revealed attributes.

And all of the praises of God arranged in the first three blessings of the Amidah also allow one to recognize God’s His revealed attributes.

Notwithstanding that God is exalted above all attributes, yet still, in prayer, one should not praise God in a way that he does not know Him. This is referred to in the Gemara (Megilah, 25a): A certain man went to lead the prayer service in the presence of Rabbi Hanina and said, “The great, the mighty, the awesome, the majestic, the strong, the powerful God.” Rabbi Hanina said to him: Have you finished the praises of your Master? Even the first three terms of praise could not be recited, had not Moshe wrote them in the Torah (Devarim, 10:17) and the Men of the Great Assembly came and ordained them (see Nehemia, 9:32), we could not say them. And you say all this! It is as if a man had billions of gold coins and people praised his wealth by saying that he had a thousand. Wouldn’t that insult him? In this episode, the prayer leader actually related to God through these lofty appellations, as is explained by the Rambam.³⁵⁶See Guide for the Perplexed, section One, chapter 59.

Rabbi Hanina was saying to him, how can you praise God based upon your perception at this moment? In another moment God may illuminate to you an understanding of awesome heights thoroughly beyond your present perception, as incomparable as gold is to silver.

Thus, Rabbi Hanina said to him, “Even the first three terms of praise could not be recited, had not Moshe wrote them in the Torah.” Meaning, that which is written in the Torah contains the entire creation. This is akin to what we quoted from the Zohar as an introduction (see section 4, Zohar Yitro). “And the Men of the Great Assembly came and established them in the prayer,” which means that they clarified the fact that these three attributes³⁵⁷“Great, mighty, and Awesome” or Hesed, Gevurah and Tiferet. These sefirot are the essential qualities of Zeir Anpin, which the author mentions below. are graspable by all Israel.

This is as it is said in the Gemara (Yoma, 69b), “Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said, why were they called men of the Great assembly? It is because they restored the crown to its former glory. Moshe had come and said, The great God, the mighty, and the awesome. Then Yirmiyahu and omitted the attribute, ‘Awesome.’³⁵⁸See Yermiyahu 32:18, “…You are the great and mighty God.” Daniel omitted the word ‘Mighty.’³⁵⁹Daniel 9:4, “O Lord, you are a great and awesome God.” But they returned the crown of Divine attributes to its ancient completeness.”³⁶⁰By opening the Amidah prayer with all three attributes mentioned by Moshe. They made it clear that these were truly His attributes of might, and these were truly His attributes of Awe.

That is to say, every Jew can always recognize these attributes. Therefore, all prayers to God are arranged in praise via His recognizable, revealed attributes. They are all included in the attribute of Zeir Anpin, also called Tiferet Yisrael (the splendor of Israel). Even though there are attributes far loftier than these, yet prayer can only be directed to the place where man’s mind can reach. This is why Yermiyahu and Daniel omitted certain attributes. Since they knew that G-d was true, they mentioned only the attributes that God revealed to them in their prophetic experience.

However, in the time of the members of the Great Assembly, who had already seen God’s great salvations in the Purim miracle, they identified that these were indeed God’s mighty actions, and these where truly God’s awesome deeds. In this way they restored the crown of God’s attributes to the way it was first perceived by Moshe. ...

It is written in the Torah: “For the Lord your God is the God of gods and the Lord of lords” (Deuteronomy 10:17),

and it is written immediately afterward: “He executes the judgment of the fatherless and widow” (Deuteronomy 10:18), displaying his humility in caring for even the weakest parts of society.

It is repeated in the Prophets: “For thus says the High and Lofty One that inhabits eternity, Whose name is sacred” (Isaiah 57:15),

and it is written immediately afterward: “In the high and holy place I dwell with him that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones” (Isaiah 57:15).

It is stated a third time in the Writings, as it is written: “Extol Him Who rides upon the clouds, Whose name is the Lord” (Psalms 68:5),

and it is written immediately afterward: “A father of the fatherless, and a judge of widows” (Psalms 68:6).