## Rabbi Sacks on Rosh HaShana Mahzor, Shaharit, Nishmat

###### Rabbi Sacks on Rosh HaShana Mahzor, Shaharit, Nishmat 1
[Rabbi Sacks on Rosh HaShana Mahzor, Shaharit, Nishmat 1](https://torahapp.org/share/book/Rabbi%20Sacks%20on%20Rosh%20HaShana%20Mahzor/s/Shaharit,_Nishmat/r/1)

**English Edition; Koren Publishers Jerusalem, 2019:**
נִשְׁמַת *The soul of all that lives.* This magnificent poem is composed of two parts. The first, according to Rabbi Yoḥanan, is the “blessing of the song” mentioned in the Mishna as a conclusion to saying Hallel in the Seder service on Pesaḥ (*Pesaḥim* 118a). Just as there, so here, it stands as a conclusion to the recitation of Psalms. The second part, beginning “To You alone we give thanks,” is mentioned in the Talmud (*Berakhot* 59b) as a thanksgiving prayer for rain.
The first section is an extended meditation on the last words of the book of Psalms: “Let all that breathes praise the LORD.” Hebrew has many words for soul, all deriving from verbs related to breathing. *Neshama* – the word linking this passage to the end of Psalms, means to breathe deeply, as we are able to do in a state of rest. In the still silence of the turning world it is as if we hear all that lives singing a song of praise to God who brought the universe into being, sustains it, and guides the destinies of all things.
The second section is composed around a phrase from Psalms: “All my bones shall say, LORD, who is like You?” – thus ingeniously linking the psalms of praise with the Song at the Sea, which contains the same phrase “Who is like You?” Through a fine series of images, the poet expresses the human inability to adequately thank God, itemizing how the various limbs (“All my bones”) may praise Him.