Tehilim 113.
1. Praise HaShem. Praise HaShem, you His servants; praise the name of the HaShem.
2. Let the name of HaShem be praised, from now and forevermore.
3. From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of HaShem is praised.
4. HaShem is exalted over all the nations, his glory above the heavens.
5. Who is likeHaShem our God, the One who sits enthroned on high?
6. Who stoops down to look on the heavens and the earth?
7. He raises the poor from the dust, and lifts the needy from the ash heap;
8. To seat them with princes, with the princes of His people.
9. He settles the childless woman in her home, as a happy mother of children.
Praise HaShem.
This Psalm explains the uniqueness of Jewish praising of God. With it, we inaugurate every Hallel (a portion of our liturgy recited in the most joyous occasions throughout the year).
The first part of the psalm answers a few questions: (i) Who should do the praising? – the servants of God should do the praising. (ii) What should be praised? – the name of God should be praised. (iii) When should this praise be done? – from now and till eternity. (iv) Where is this praise being done? – all throughout the world, from east to west.
In the second part, the psalmist observes that it is not only Jews who praise God. From east through west, “God is exalted by all the nations!” Why? “On account of the heavens He is honored.” Anyone, and not only Jews, is able to lift their eyes and appreciate the divinely magnificent wisdom with which the cosmos was designed.
In the third part, the psalmist notes that, although all the nations may praise, exalt, and honor HaShem as an Intelligent Designer, Jewish praise is significant in another regard. Our God, as opposed to how God is perceived by other nations, is unique. We know that He dwells up high, we understand—like everyone else—that the Cosmos was created by Someone beyond our understanding. Unlike everybody else, however, we also know that God who dwells up high, but also descends and supervises the earthly affairs happening down below!
We, Jews, are able to appreciate that the same God who is beyond our reach, is the One who brings about justice in this world, in the smallest of scales. He raises the poor from the garbage and brings him to the highest status among his own people (which is more unlikely even than achieving a high status somewhere else, somewhere new). He makes a barren mother bear children, happily. Because we discern God also in the micro-scale, our praise of Him is unique.
It is possible that the “raising of the poor from the garbage to be among the affluent of his own people” refers to the redemption from Egypt. From slaves, we became a glorious nation, one which Egypt eventually sought out in alliance (in the times of King Solomon). The ‘barren mother’ may be an allusion to the Land of Israel, which is often termed a ‘barren mother’ so long as her children, the People of Israel, are not living in it. Thus, the psalm would be praying that in the same way God brought us from destitution to riches with the Exodus, so too He should once again bring the Children of Israel back to their Land with the redemption with Melekh HaMashiach.
