Rabbi Roodyn

Day 3

Perhaps the most famous line of the chapter, and certainly the most popular song is the next verse.

אַחַת שָׁאַלְתִּי מֵאֵת ה’ אוֹתָהּ אֲבַקֵּשׁ שִׁבְתִּי בְּבֵית ה’ כָּל יְמֵי חַיַּי לַחֲזוֹת בְּנֹעַם ה’ וּלְבַקֵּר בְּהֵיכָלוֹ:

One thing I asked of Hashem, that I shall seek: To live in the house of Hashem all the days of my life, to behold the sweetness of Hashem and to contemplate in His sanctuary.

The Ibn Ezra suggests that David Hamelech wrote this psalm at the end of his life, once he had a sense of perspective on the meaning of life, this he states, is his life’s goal: To see and understand the pleasantness of Hashem’s Torah (Metzudos David) and to learn the secrets inner meaning of the Torah (Ibn Ezra).

The Radak says that even though David was fully confident that Hashem would protect him from all his oppressors, he nonetheless asked Hashem to remove them and their threat totally, so that he can fully dedicate himself to spiritual pursuits.  He asks to be able to visit the House of Hashem each morning (Rahshi: levaker is related to the word boker)  and to be able to learn from the kohanim who are totally focused on their service of Hashem (Ibn Ezra) and contemplate Torah ideas (sforno).

The Malbim says that this request of שבתי בבית ה’ is not to the exclusion of all other needs, rather that through his dedication to Torah study that he will receive his heart’s desires.

However he did not ask for this in order to be able to take care of all his personal needs.  His motivation behind asking to dwell in the House of Hashem, was not so that he would be freed of the need to wage war.

Rather he is asking that he needs be fulfilled despite the fact that he is not asking for them specifically, he is just asking for the most important thing, to dwell in the House of Hashem and to bask in His presence through Torah study and prayer.

On Rosh Hashana we don’t pray for ourselves per se. Although it is the yom hadin, the day of judgement, the tefillos are not full of personal requests. Rosh Hashana is a day of בתוך עמי אנכי יושבת, a day of dwelling amongst our people. We are judged as individuals on the basis of how much we actively identify with the Jewish people as a whole and most importantly, our national mission of Kiddush Hashem.

A brief look at the prayers for Rosh Hashana will immediately show that the essence of the day is one of identifying with Hashem’s plan for creation, to bring all of mankind to an awareness of, and connection with Him.

The extent to which we can honestly say this line of achas sha’alti is the degree to which we genuinely desire that connection with Hashem, which itself is the greatest pleasure possible. The message of Rosh Hashans is that this is the source of all blessing, and everything else that we need will flow from there.