Tehilim – 113
The chapters of Hallel, according to the explanation of Rabbeinu Don Yitzchok Abarbanel, deal predominantly with the Future Redemption, the anticipation thereof, and the comparison between it and the First Redemption
at the time of the Exodus from Egypt.
הַלֲלוּיָ-הּ-“Hallelujah”-Praise the L-rd. And who are the appropriate people to praise Hashem? הַלֲלוּ עַבְדֵי ה‘-The servants of Hashem should praise, for only they, and no other people, are fit to praise and laud Him. And who should we praise? הַלֲלוּ אֶת שֵׁם ה‘-Praise the Name of Hashem, for we are completely unable to fathom the essence of Hashem and therefore we are entirely incapable of praising Him. That which we are able to comprehend is only His Name as it has been revealed to us through the Prophets, and it is that Name which we are praising, for more than that we cannot fathom. And when is the appropriate time to praise Hashem? מֵעַתָּה יְהִי שֵׁם ה’ מְבֹרָךְ-The Name of Hashem should be Blessed from now, which is the time of the Exodus from Egypt, for at that time His individual supervision over all people was recognized by all, וְעַד עוֹלָם-and forever, as from now on people will always know about the supervision of the creations by Hashem. And where are the places where they praise the Name of Hashem? In all the World, because מִמִּזְרַח שֶׁמֶשׁ-from the rising of the sun, which is on the East side of the World from which the sun shines forth, עַד מְבוֹאוֹ-until its setting, which is on the West, where the sun sets at night, מְהֻלָּל שֵׁם ה‘-the Name of Hashem is praised, as all the Nations acknowledge the existence of the original Cause of the Creation of all the Worlds, but רָם עַל כָּל גּוֹיִם ה‘-Hashem is exalted over all the Nations, Hashem is considered to be exalted by all the Nations, and they therefore consider that because of his tremendous transcendence he does not oversee all the details and the deeds of Mankind, and they think that עַל הַשָּׁמַיִם כְּבוֹדוֹ-His glory is only over the Heavens, and not over Mankind on the Earth. However, that is not the truth, only מִי כַּה’ אֱלֹקֵינוּ-who is like Hashem our G-d, who, even though in actual fact He is lofty and exalted-הַמַּגְבִּיהִי לָשָׁבֶת-who elevates Himself to sit, nevertheless, הַמַּשְׁפִּילִי לִרְאוֹת בַּשָּׁמַיִם וּבָאָרֶץ-He lowers himself to see (what takes place) in the Heavens and the Earth, for his supervision protects and accompanies all the deeds of Mankind, and because of the magnitude of His supervision, He will occasionally change the laws of nature, מְקִימִי מֵעָפָר דָּל-He raises the poor person from the dust of his poverty, מֵאַשְׁפֹּת יָרִים אֶבְיוֹן-from the garbage dumps He will elevate the pauper who has nothing, in the same way that He elevated Klal Yisrael (the Jewish People) in Egypt from their lowliness and poverty, and even though the heavenly constellations forecast that this person will be poor and indigent, HaKadosh Baruch Hu will lift him up to the peak of the heights, לְהוֹשִׁיבִי-to make him sit in a high important place עִם נְדִיבִים-with great people, and not only with great people from other nations who did not know him at the time of his low state, but עִם נְדִיבֵי עַמּוֹ-with the great ones of his nation even though they were acquainted with him in his poverty-and in general one does not honor a pauper who rises to greatness-and in the same way מוֹשִׁיבִי עֲקֶרֶת הַבַּיִת-He seats the barren woman of the house, Hashem takes the childless woman, who was worried and miserable because she had no children, and changes the laws of nature and the constellations until she becomes אֵם הַבָּנִים שְׂמֵחָה-the happy mother of children. Therefore, הַלְלוּיָ-הּ-“Praise the L-rd.”-It is incumbent upon you, the servants of Hashem, to praise Him for his power over all the Worlds.
Tehilim – 114
Now the Poet proceeds to prove from the Exodus from Egypt itself all of the above concepts concerning the way Hashem directs the World: בְּצֵאת יִשְׂרָאֵל מִמִּצְרָיִם-When Klal Yisrael went out of Egypt, when בֵּית יַעֲקֹב-the house of Yaakov went out מֵעַם לֹעֵז-from a nation who speak a foreign tongue, which is not Leshon HaKodesh (the Holy Tongue) הָיְתָה יְהוּדָה לְקָדְשׁוֹ-Yehudah was His Holy one, for Yehudah had always been the holiest and preferred tribe, as kings over the other tribes, and they were the ones who sprang first into the waters of the Red Sea and sanctified Hashem’s Name, and יִשְׂרָאֵל מַמְשְׁלוֹתָיו-Yisrael were His subjects. And given that both Yehudah and Yisrael were holy before the L-rd, הַיָּם רָאָה וַיָּנֹס-the sea saw and fled, like someone who runs away and flees from one who is stronger than himself, and so too הַיַּרְדֵּן יִסֹּב לְאָחוֹר-the Jordan turned backwards, when Yehoshua Bin Nun and Klal Yisrael arrived to cross it in order to enter Eretz Yisrael. הֶהָרִים רָקְדוּ כְאֵילִים-The hills danced like rams, at the time of the Giving of the Torah, when all the hills melted away because of Hashem, and the whole of Mount Sinai trembled because Hashem had descended upon it, and גְּבָעוֹת כִּבְנֵי צֹאן-the mountains also (danced) like young sheep. And the Poet asks מַה לְּךָ הַיָּם כִּי תָנוּס הַיַּרְדֵּן תִּסֹּב לְאָחוֹר-“Sea, why do you flee? Jordan, why do you turn backwards?” הֶהָרִים תִּרְקְדוּ כְאֵילִים גְּבָעוֹת כִּבְנֵי צֹאן-“Hills, why do you dance like rams? Mountains, why do you (dance) like young sheep?” “Surely this is not your natural normal behavior?” And they answer him, that in actual fact it was not done naturally, rather the transformation effected at the Splitting of the Red Sea and the parting of the Jordan were (directly) מִלִּפְנֵי אָדוֹן-because of the Master of the World Who created all and Who rules over all,חוּלִי אָרֶץ-Who created the World and established it. It was מִלִּפְנֵי אֱלוֺקַ יַעֲקֹב-because of the G-d of Yaakov, and being that He acted as a G-d towards Yaakov, He attacked the Laws of Nature and nullified them, in order to save His people Yisrael from the hands of the Egyptians. One must not wonder about this metamorphosis, for inasmuch as at the time of the Creation of the World Hashem created land from water, so too He can now reverse the process, הַהֹפְכִי הַצּוּר אֲגַם מָיִם-Who transforms the stone to a puddle of water-He can change even לְמַעְיְנוֹ מָיִם חַלָּמִישׁ-the strongest stone into a spring of water, and at the Splitting of the Sea Hashem changed the water into stone, to enable Klal Yisrael to cross over, whereas in the Desert He made water from a stone, to enable Klal Yisrael to drink.
