Barachu: The Call to Prayer, Communal Prayer and the Prayer Leader

(3) The mishna delineates distinctions in the halakhot of the zimmun blessing, based on the number of people present. How does one recite the zimmun? In a group of three people, the one reciting the zimmun says: Let us bless the One from Whose food we have eaten. In a group of three people and him, the one reciting the zimmun says: Bless the One from Whose food we have eaten, as even without him there are enough people to recite the zimmun. With the increase in the number of participants, the blessing is more complex. In a group of ten people, the one reciting the zimmun says: Let us bless our God. In a group of ten people and him, the one reciting the zimmun says: Bless our God. .... On a similar note, Rabbi Yosei HaGelili says: According to the size of the crowd, they recite the blessing, as it is stated: “Bless you God in full assemblies, even the Lord, you who are from the fountain of Israel” (Psalms 68:27). Rabbi Akiva said that there are no distinctions based on the size of the crowd: What do we find in the synagogue? Both when there are many and when there are few, as long as there is a quorum of ten, the prayer leader says: Bless [barekhu] the Lord. Rabbi Yishmael said that in the synagogue, one recites: Bless the Lord the blessed One.

Variantly: "When I call out the name of the L-rd": R. Yossi says: Whence is it derived that when those standing in the synagogue hear (from the prayer leader) "Bless the blessed Yod-keh-vav-keh" that they respond "Blessed is the blessed yod-keh-vav-keh forever"? From "When I call out the name of yod-keh-vav-keh, ascribe greatness to our G-d." Greater is he who answers "Amen" (to a blessing) than the blesser (himself). R. Nehorai said to him: This is the natural order of things: The common soldiers wage the war, and the heroes triumph! And whence is it derived that grace is recited with three? From "When I (1) call out the name of the L-rd, you (2) ascribe greatness to our G-d." And whence is it derived that when the grace leader says "Let us bless," that they respond after him "Blessed is He of whose we have eaten, etc." From "When I call out the name of the L-rd, ascribe greatness to our G-d." And whence is it derived that when one says (in the kaddish) "Let the great name be blessed," the response is "for ever and ever"? From "ascribe greatness to our G-d."..

(1) Know, a person must judge everyone favorably (Avot 1:6). Even someone who is completely wicked, it is necessary to search and find in him some modicum of good; that in that little bit he is not wicked. And by finding in him a modicum of good and judging him favorably, one genuinely elevates him to the scale of merit and can bring him to repent.

(2) This is the aspect of “In yet a little bit the wicked man is not; you will reflect upon his place and he will not be there” (Psalms 37:10). That is, Scripture warns to judge everyone favorably. Even if you see that he is completely wicked, you must search and seek the little bit of good in him, wherein he is not wicked. This is:

(3) In yet a little bit the wicked man is not—You must seek the “yet a little bit” of good that he still has within him, because in that place he is not wicked. For although he is wicked, how is it possible that he does not still possess even a little bit of good? Is it possible that throughout his life he never once did some mitzvah or good deed? And by your finding in him yet a little bit of good wherein he is not wicked, and your judging him favorably, you genuinely elevate him from the scale of guilt to the scale of merit, until, as a result of this, he returns [to God] in repentance.

(4) Thus, this is “In yet a little bit the wicked man is not.” By finding in the wicked person “yet a little bit” of good, as a result:

(5) you will reflect upon his place and he will not be there—That is, when you contemplate and consider his place and level, he is no longer there in his original place. For by finding in him yet a little bit of good, some good point, and judging him favorably, we genuinely move him from the scale of guilt to the scale of merit.

(6) This is the explanation of “you will reflect upon his place and he will not be there,” as explained above. Understand this.

(1) 2. Likewise, a person must find [some good point] within himself. It is known that a person must take care to be happy always and to keep very far away from depression {as has been explained in our works a number of times}.

(2) It may be that when he begins examining himself, he sees that he possesses no good whatsoever and is filled with sin, and that as a result the Evil One wants to push him into depression and sadness, God forbid. Even so, it is forbidden to fall on account of this. Rather, he must search until he finds in himself some little bit of good. For how is it possible that throughout his life he never once did some mitzvah or good deed? And even if when he begins examining this good thing he sees that it, too, is filled with flaws and contains no purity—i.e., he sees that the mitzvah or holy deed that he merited doing is itself comprised of impure motives, external thoughts and numerous faults—nevertheless, how is it possible that this mitzvah or holy deed contains not even a little bit of good? For in any case, despite this there must have been some good point in the mitzvah or good deed that he did.

(3) Thus, a person has to search and seek to find in himself some little bit of good in order to revive himself and to attain joy, as explained above. By searching until he finds a remaining little bit of good in himself, he genuinely moves from the scale of guilt to the scale of merit and can return [to God] in repentance. This, in the aspect of “In yet a little bit the wicked man is not; you will reflect upon his place and he will not be there,” as explained above.

(4) That is, just as has been explained above, that we must judge others favorably, even the wicked, and find in them some good point, and by doing so move them from the scale of guilt to the scale of merit, in the aspect of “in yet a little bit… you will reflect…”—the same applies with regard to oneself. A person has to judge himself favorably and find in himself some remaining good point, in order to give himself the strength to avoid falling completely, God forbid. On the contrary, he will revive himself and bring joy to his soul with the little bit of good he finds in himself—i.e., that once in his life he merited doing a mitzvah or good deed.

(5) Likewise, he must go on searching until he finds in himself yet another good thing. And although this good thing too is mixed with much impurity, still, he must extract some good point from there as well. Indeed, he must go on searching and gathering further good points.

(6) And it is through this that melodies are made. As explained elsewhere, the aspect of playing a musical instrument is the aspect of gathering the good ruach from the ruach of gloom, depression; see there. {The principle is that music of holiness is extremely lofty, as is known. In essence, music is made through the separation of good from evil; by selecting and gathering the good points from the bad, melodies and songs are created. Study there well.}

(7) Therefore, by not letting himself fall, but reviving himself by searching and seeking until he finds in himself some good points, gathering and separating those good points from the evil and impurity within him—through this melodies are made, as explained above. Then, he is able to pray and sing and give praise to God.

(8) For it is known that when a person becomes depressed over his gross physicality and evil deeds, and he sees how very distant he truly is from holiness, it generally makes him completely incapable of praying. He cannot even open his mouth at all, due to the magnitude of the depression, sadness and heaviness that come over him when he sees how exceedingly distant he is from God.

(9) However, if he revives himself by means of the aforementioned suggestion—

(10) that is, although he knows within himself that he committed evil deeds and numerous sins, and that he is exceedingly distant from God, yet he nevertheless searches and seeks until he finds some remaining good points in himself, as explained above, and he brings himself vitality and joy through this; for it is certainly right that a person feel ever-increasing joy over every good point stemming from the holiness of Israel that he yet finds in himself—then, when he revives himself and brings himself to joy through this, as explained above, he is then able to pray, sing and give praise to God.

(11) This is the aspect of “I will sing to God b’odee (with the little I have left)” (Psalms 146:2). Specifically b’ODee—i.e., by means of my OD that I find in myself, the aspect of “In yet a little bit the wicked man is not,” as explained above. By means of this point I am able to sing and give praise to God, as explained above.

(12) And this is: I will sing—Specifically “I will sing”; i.e., the songs and melodies that are made by gathering the good points, as explained above.

(13) {[Rebbe Nachman], of blessed memory, cautioned us to live by this teaching, for it is a major foundation for anyone who wishes to draw closer to God and not lose his eternal reward completely, God forbid. In most cases where people are far from God, the main reason for this is sadness and depression. They fall into depression because they see for themselves the great harm they have caused through their actions, each person commensurate with what he himself knows of his heart’s affliction and his anguish. Due to this they become depressed, and most of them despair [of] themselves completely. As a result they pray without any concentration, and do not even do what they are still capable of.

(14) Thus, a person has to be very sagacious in this matter. For although all his depressions are due to the evil deeds he did indeed commit, still, that he fell into depression, and that sadness and melancholy descend upon him because of this, is nothing but the work of the Evil One, who discourages him in order to defeat him completely, God forbid. One must therefore be very resolved to live by this teaching, to each time search and seek within himself a little bit of good and good points, etc., as explained above. Through this he will revive himself and bring himself joy, and he will still look forward to God’s help. He will be able to pray, and sing and give praise to God, in the aspect of “I will sing to God with the little I have left,” as explained above. And because of this, he will merit to genuinely return to God, as explained above.}

(1) 3. Know, too, that someone who is capable of making these melodies—i.e., gathering the good points that are to be found in each Jew, even a Jewish sinner, as explained above—he can lead the communal prayers. For one who leads the communal prayers is called the messenger of the people; he must be sent by all the people—i.e., he must gather every good point that is to be found in each of the congregants. All these good points are merged in him, so that when he stands up to pray, it is with all this good. This is the meaning of “messenger of the people.” Thus, he must have within him this exalted aspect, as a result of which all the points are drawn to him and become merged within him.

(2) And someone who can make the aforementioned melodies—i.e., he is capable of judging all people favorably, even the rabble and the wicked, because he persistently searches and seeks to find the good points in all of them, through which melodies are made, as explained above—this tzaddik, since he is on this level, is capable of being the cantor and messenger of the people. That is, he can lead the communal prayers, because he has within him this aspect, which is a necessary requirement to be a truly fitting messenger of the people. For he must possess the aspect whereby all the good points are drawn to him and are merged within him, so that he is capable of gathering all the good points that are to be found in each Jew, even a Jewish sinner, as explained above.