When reflecting upon the various meanings of a shul in Jewish life, the idea that immediately stands out is prayer. Yes, a synagogue is often the center for all aspects of communal life, but at its core, it is meant to be the locus for Divine encounter that is the heart of the tefillah experience. When a person considers which prayers are primary, clearly the Shemonah Esrah has a unique status: it is said at least three times a day, and the structure of all of the various services revolves around it. When contemplating the depth of this consequential tefillah, one must take notice of a preface that the Sages (Gemara Berachos 4b) added to it. It is a verse from Psalm 51, and as this is our congregation’s 51st Annual Dinner, I would like to share a thought about it here, in the dinner journal.
The pasuk states, “Lord, open my lips, that my mouth may declare Your praise.” One explanation for why this was attached to the beginning of Shemonah Esrah is actually quite simple. Chapter 51 of Psalms is known as the Chapter of Repentance in which King David, sullied by sin, reaches out from the spiritual depths to revive and restore his relationship with the Almighty. Hence, the aforementioned verse is David’s plea that his lips, stained by transgression, once again be allowed to sing the Lord’s praises. Similarly, we begin one of the most important prayers every day with these words of King David, recognizing that we too are unworthy of conversing with the King as a result of spiritual misdeeds and thus we ask Hashem’s permission and for His help to allow us to speak to Him. However, based upon a comment of the Ramban, there is perhaps another meaning to this pasuk’s inclusion as part of the Shemonah Esrah.
Nachmanides teaches that the hebrew word for lips, sifasai, is related to the hebrew phrase for a riverbank, sifas hanahar. Just as a riverbank confines the river to its channel, so too, the lips of a human being confine the soul within. Rav Mordechai Gifter zt”l explains further that a human being is born self-centered and limited. The soul is restricted within the narrow confines of the body. When one stands before the infinity of the Almighty, the eternal soul surges until it ‘overflows’ the ‘banks’ of the body. Hence, as we are about to scale the peak expression of the soul in prayer, we quote these words of King David, asking God to allow the essence of our soul to go beyond the bounds of the finite.
In a communal setting it is not only in prayer that the soul moves beyond its normal boundaries of self-centeredness and limitation. When one engages in acts of chesed, of going beyond oneself on behalf of another, we similarly find this sense of the soul overflowing its banks and confinements. This is what we honor this evening at Congregation Israel of Springfield’s 51st Annual Gala Dinner. We honor individuals who have consistently demonstrated their ability to move beyond self in search of the Divine and of the Divine in each other. We unite together as we express our gratitude to our honorees who tirelessly toil to make our congregation a warm and outstanding center of religious life. Our Gala Dinner enables us to celebrate the contributions of these individuals who personify the values of arvus and achdus, responsibility and unity:
Daniella and Ben Hoffer, Rabbi Israel E. Turner Memorial Award/Guests of Honor;
Jessica and Dr. Noam Zeffren, Young Leadership Award;
Rachel Beer, Aishet Chayil Award;
Dr. Moshe Rosenwein, Edward Konigsberg Memorial Award;
Eva Warshaw, Joseph Tammam Memorial Youth Community Service Scholarship Award.
May Hashem continue to grant the honorees and their families, and our entire Kehilla, the blessings and rewards that come from Divine and communal service. Mazel Tov!