Kriat Shema Al Hamitah (Part 25)
“The amount of sleep required by the average person is five minutes more.”
Wilson Mizener – American Playwright
Kriat Shema al Hamitah continues:
A song of ascents. Praiseworthy is everyone who fears Hashem, who walks in His paths. When you eat the labor of your hands, you are fortunate and it is well with you. Your wife shall be like a fruitful vine in the inner chambers of your home, your children like olive shoots surrounding your table. Behold! So shall be blessed the man who fears Hashem. May Hashem bless you from Tzion and may you gaze upon the good of Yerushalayim all the days of your life. And may you see children born to your children, peace upon Israel.
(Tehillim 128)
Rabbi Moshe Met (1550-1605) was the Rabbi of several prestigious communities in Galicia and Poland. He was considered one of the greatest Halachic authorities in his generation. He authored numerous scholarly works, the most famous of which is “Mateh Moshe”, a compendium of Halachic rulings and Mussar discourses. In Mateh Moshe, Rabbi Met explains that the reason we recite Psalm 128 before we go to sleep at night is because it mentions vines and olive shoots. Our Sages teach (Brachot 57a) that both vines and olive shoots seen in a dream are considered favorable omens, bringing the dreamer manifold blessings.
Midrash Tanchuma explains that the verse “When you eat the labor of your hands, you are fortunate and it is well with you” teaches us that to build a lasting relationship with Hashem, we must not rely on miracles or on zechut avot – the merits of our ancestors; rather each person should toil, using the tools that Hashem has bestowed upon them, and then Hashem will bless them with success in their spiritual endeavors.
The chapter ends with the poignant and evocative words “And may you see children born to your children, peace be upon Israel.” We live in truly miraculous times. Growing up I would estimate that at least half of my class did not have grandparents at all. And, yet, Baruch Hashem, our generation lives the words of this psalm! I was once at a wedding when a distinguished Rabbi who I was extremely close to, a scholar of renown, was informed of the birth of his first great-grandchild. He burst into tears and couldn’t stop crying for several minutes. I had never seen him lose control of his emotions like that and when he finally composed himself, I asked him what had moved him so much. He told me that his father was not even forty when he passed away and he did not merit to see even one of his children under the Chuppah. And, now, here he was, having married off all of his children and some of his grandchildren, witnessing the establishment of a yet another generation. “It’s a miracle!” he kept repeating and shaking his head in disbelief at how blessed he was.
Rabbi Shimshon Raphael Hirsch writes that this beautiful chapter of Tehillim is a description of how a Jewish home should look: A home founded on Yirat Hashem, surrounded by children and grandchildren following in the path of their forefathers; a home that is a wellspring of nachat for our Father in Heaven. It is truly a beautiful depiction. A depiction that cannot occur without the grandiose dreams and aspirations that Jewish parents have for their children.
I read a very moving story about a Shabbat visit that Rabbi Yerucham Olshin, the venerated Rosh Yeshivah of the famed Beth Medrash Govoha in Lakewood, made to Queens. At the reception in his honor on Friday night, a young boy made his way into the crowded room. He approached the head table and extended his hand to Rabbi Olshin. Rabbi Olshin gently took the child’s hand and spoke with him for a few moments. And then, to the surprise of those present, the Rosh Yeshivah got up and left together with the boy. A short while later Rabbi Olshin returned alone. It transpired that Rabbi Olshin had asked the young boy where he learned. The boy told him that he travelled every day to a cheder in Brooklyn. Rabbi Olshin then asked him how he got from Queens to Brooklyn each day, and the boy told him that his mother drove him. The boy then mentioned that his mother had accompanied him to the house so that he could say “Good Shabbos” to the Rosh Yeshivah. On hearing that, Rabbi Olshin immediately got up and told the boy to take him to his mother, who was waiting outside in the cold. On finding her Rabbi Olshin showered the mother with blessings that that her beautiful, pure dreams and hopes for her son be realized!
To be continued…
