Not for us, Adonai, not for us, but rather for Your name, give glory for your kindness and for your truth. Why should the nations say, "Say, where is their God?" Our God is in the heavens, all that He wants, He has done. Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. They have a mouth but cannot speak; they have eyes but cannot see. They have ears but cannot not hear; they have a nose but do not smell. Hands, but they cannot feel; feet, but cannot walk; they do not make a peep from their throat. Like them will be their makers, all those that trust in them. Israel, trust in Adonai; their help and shield is He. House of Aaron, trust in Adonai; their help and shield is He. Those who fear Adonai, trust in the Lord; their help and shield is He. Not for us, Adonai, not for us: It is possible to understand the double language (lo lanu) as related to the Shechinah, the Divine Presence. The Psalmist wishes to raise the Divine Presence up from its downfall and to return its crown to its former glory. But one might think, why are we asking about this? There are other matters here: the people have been exiled and because of this, we should ask to reestablish David’s fallen Sukkah (Am. 9:11) so that we may go out of exile. To this we answer “Not for us,” even if we are in exile, we are not asking for us but for the Shechinah. “But rather for Your name give glory.” This of course, refers to the Divine Presence.

Why should the nations say, “Where now is their God?” That is, ‘Are all the promises and all of the comfort that was said to them related to some distant time?’ Or was it all a lie, God forbid? The statement, “Why should the nations say, “Where is (na) their God?” Na, exactly! The intent of the statement is - Why doesn’t God reveal Himself now at this second of promises and when destruction should be decreed (Is. 10:22) to the nations of the world. That is the meaning of *ayeh na, “*where now.” “Our God is in heaven.” A mortal king is quick to take vengeance before calamity takes place and either he or his enemy is killed. But the King of kings of kings lives eternally; God mocks his enemies because He can take vengeance at any time in life or even after death. That is why the verse says, “Our God is in heaven; all that He wants he does.” No one is saved from His hand as is His want. “Their Idols are silver and gold.” Their idols are mute. The statement continues, “Hands but they feel not; feet but walk not.” It should have said, “They have hands but they feel not…” so that it read like, “They have mouths…they have eyes, etc” Our teacher, RabbI Yitzchak,104 the head of the Rabbinic court in Cracow, explains that shattered pieces of idols are permitted (for other uses). But something that is still in the shape of a hand or a foot , etc, is prohibited since people could still worship them. Therefore, regarding a mouth, an eye, an ear or a nose, the Psalm says, “They have a mouth…” since the piece must be connected to the idol. But regarding a foot or an arm, it states, “Their arm, they feel not; their feet they walk not, alludes to an arm or a foot even when it is separated from the idol, it is still forbidden since they can be worshiped. The words of his mouth are truly wise!

“They do not make a peep from their throat.” It should have said, ‘It has a throat and it cannot make a peep.’ Further, the Psalm already said, “It has a mouth and it cannot speak.” When I was younger I explained this based on the story of Nebucadnezzer who placed the Holy Name in the mouth of an idol, and it began to speak. Daniel came and removed the Holy name105, as is said, “And I will deal with Bel in Babylon, and make him disgorge what he has swallowed…” (Jer. 51:44) This alludes to the verse, “They cannot make a peep with their throat.” In other words, if one sees an idol speaking (God forbid) it isn’t the idol that is talking but something else in its mouth or throat. Or maybe it is an evil spirit that entered there and is speaking as has been told. In other words, if your ears hear something this is not from the idols, as the verse says, “They do not make a peep in their throat.” Rather they make chirps and peeps from something else.

Israel, trust in Adonai… This is related to what is taught in the Holy Zohar. The nations of the world are ruled over by seventy heavenly princes. When their measure of sins is full, the prince is removed because of its sin, and afterwards the nation falls from him, as scripture states, “On that day, Adonai will punish the host of heaven in heaven and the kings of the earth on earth.” (Is. 24:21) But Israel is different since Israel is is governed by the Blessed One. God is our Heavenly Prince, so to speak, and we are protected forever. If that is so then God protects us. When we say, “Israel, trust in Adonai their help and their shield,” we mean, God is their help since He is their Heavenly ruler, so to speak, He can protect them, We are His people and the flock He shepherds so that we continue to be and the name Israel will exist forever just as God exists forever. We then say, “House of Aaron, trust in Adonai…” Since they are the heads of the house of Israel and it is written about them, “They shall teach Your laws to Jacob, (Deut 33:10) ” and “You shall go to the priest in charge…” (Deut. 26:3) We have a tradition that if the leaders of the nation are meritorious then the whole nation will be meritorious. So, we say, “House of Aaron, trust in Adonai…” You are the Kohanim and the Levites. You do not have a portion in the land. Instead of seeking gain, leave it and busy yourself in Torah. Rather trust in Adonai for God will sustain you, for He is their help and shield. If you do not trust in God and you pursue the vanities of this world, then Israel will be poisoned by sin for if the head of the people are not worthy, the entire people will be unworthy. This is similar to the juxtaposition of verses in Parshat Vayikra. The nation's sin offering is connected for the sin of the prince. There it teaches us that if you see communal sins that are frequent in Israel, know that the leaders of the community must have sinned….for a leader is not appointed unless he has a box of creeping creatures hanging over him.106 There are many like him both before and after - that is the reason for the juxtaposition of the verses dealing with the sin of the community; they are caused by the sins of the leaders (nasi). That is why we single them out in Psalms and say, “House of Aaron, trust in Adonai…” You will forever be among the people of Israel and their merit or sins is on your heads!! Since we have said, “Israel, trust in Adonai,” for we are God’s people and are under His governance. We became God’s own allotment (Deut. 32:9) when He divided up the nations. During the generation of the Tower of Babel, God took us to be his portion and therefore a Prince could not be placed over us. In response to this we say, “Those who fear God, trust in Adonai, He is their help and their shield.” The sages explain that those “Who fear God,” refers to converts. Rashi explains it this way. One might have thought that the converts were originally under the governance of one of the heavenly princes. If that were the case, then when that prince was destroyed so would the nation under its governance, as well as the converts who came from that nation. To this we say, “Those who fear God trust in Adonai.” Even though you are converts, you are like natural born Jews, “So trust in Adonai!” When you had the merit of dwelling beneath the wings of God, you no longer had a connection to that nation and its heavenly prince. For the one who converts is like a baby who was just born. They even stood at Mount Sinai. This is the meaning of the language, “A convert who converts…” The sages hinted that they were already considered converts for their souls were raised up in heaven and they were present at the awesome events at Mount Sinai even before their actual conversion took place. Not only that, but this convert brings a Holy Spark that always resided in that nation that should have resided in the inheritance of God but it was delayed until that moment. That is why we call him “A convert who converted,” and not a gentile who converted since that spark was in him until the day of his conversion and destined to conversion. That is why we say, “Fearers of Adonai, - Converts - trust in Adonai,” Even though they were not under the governance of a heavenly prince but the Holy One of Israel, your king; trust in God for he will protect you.

Adonai who remembers us, will bless; He will bless the House of Israel; He will bless the House of Aharon. He will bless those that fear Adonai, the small ones with the great ones. May Adonai bring increase to you, to you and to your children. Blessed are you to Adonai, the maker of the heavens and the earth. The heavens are Adonai's heavens, but the earth He has given to the children of man. It is not the dead that will praise Adonai, and not those that go down to silence. But we will bless Adonai from now and forever. Halleluyah! (Psalms 115) Adonai who remembers us: The Holy Zohar107 is understood to be from the word Zachar, male, and Beit Yisrael, The house of Israel, because in rabbinic literature women are said to be “a man’s house.” states “God who remembers us (zaharanu)” - refers to the men. “He will bless the house of Israel,” refers to the women.” See what is written there at length. From this we take away the explanation, zacharnu - men; Beit Yisrael, the women. We will explain the rest of the passage based on this, with God’s help. It would appear that this is based on what is stated in the sixth chapter of Yevamot, ”Anyone who dwells without a wife, dwells without a blessing, as it says, “To cause a blessing to rest on your house.” (Ez. 44:30)”108 The Ra’anach,109 of blessed memory, writes, “Isaac sent for Jacob and blessed him. He instructed him, saying, “You shall not take a wife from among the Canaanite women. Up and go to Paddan Aram…May El Shadai bless you…” (Gen. 28:1-3) At first since Jacob dwelled without a wife, without a blessing. Therefore, Isaac gave him a blessing. But when he commanded him, “Up and go to Paddan Aram and take a wife,” Isaac said, ‘My blessing is not necessary for when you take a wife you will receive a blessing from God. For this is the way one blesses one's house. Rabbi Ishmael expresses this opinion in Hullin 49a, “The Kohanim bless Israel and the blessed Holy One blesses the Kohanim, as it says, “And I will bless them.” (Num. 6:27) This means, I will bless the Kohanim. That which is stated “God who remembers us” refers to the men and when the blessed Holy One blesses the men it is certainly because they were married. If this was not so, then they would have dwelled without blessing. And since it says, “He will bless the house of Israel - this refers to the women. The women were worthy of a blessing because they caused the men to be blessed. This is so for Israel but for the Kohanim there is another quality as well. Until the Kohanim marry, since they bless Israel, the Holy One blesses them, as it says, “And I will bless them.” When they marry, it goes without saying that they are blessed from above. Each day they are blessed from heaven. But here it says, “He will bless the House of Aaron,” - this refers to the wives of the Kohanim. They are blessed but the wives of the kohanim are especially fitting for a blessing because they bring a special blessing upon their husbands. Therefore, we say “He will bless the House of Aaron!” The passage continues, “May Adonai bring increase to you, to you and to your children.” At first God blesses the Kohanim, and the converts; afterwards it states, “May he bring blessing, this is second and third upon you and your children. The third is certain a hazakah,110 a legal presumption, that it is good in the sight of God to continue to bless Israel without stopping.

“Blessed are you to Adonai, Maker of heaven and earth.” It is possible that this is related to what the sages said, “In the beginning God (elohim) created…” At first it arose in God's thoughts to create the world with the attribute of justice but he saw that the world could not exist solely with justice, so God combined the attribute of mercy with justice, as is stated, “When God (Adonai Elohim) made earth and heaven.” (Gen. 2:4) We learn that regarding heavens and earth God combined the attribute of mercy with justice in order to maintain the world. This is why we say, “Blessed (beruchim)111 are you to Adonai, maker of heaven and earth.” That is to say, do not ask why should humanity be blessed by God when human beings have many sins hanging from the hem of his robe? For there isn’t a righteous person on earth who does good and doesn’t sin! We answer this by saying, “Blessed are you to Adonai,” The name of compassion creates the heavens and earth as it the attribute of compassion becomes partnered in creation, as the verse hints, “On the day that Adonai Elohim creates earth and heaven.” It is for this that they are blessed by God with the attribute of mercy. In His great mercy, “The heavens are the heavens of Adonai and the earth He gave to human beings.” From this we learn that Israel is blessed from heaven with richness and dignity. It is through this blessing that the earth is given to human beings. Idolaters together with Esau are wicked so that even in their life they are called, “dead,” as it says, “The dead can not praise God nor can those who go down to silence.” Their time has not arrived and they will continue to perform evil acts with Duma112 is the Aramaic word for silence. (Wikipedia) until their time comes, as it says in *Masechet Chagigah,113 “*The dead “- these are idolaters; “Nor the ones who go down to Duma” - These are even Israelites. Since idolaters and descendents of Esau are not blessed by God it is not possible for them to merit this world. That is why Jacob, our forefather, gave this world to Esau. One who is not blessed by God can not acquire this world. “And we shall bless God from now and forever, Hallelujah,” After the reference to the blessing the psalmist states, “The earth was given to human beings.” We benefit from the blessing of heaven and earth with great wealth while Esau and his followers cannot.