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הוֹדוּ

Hodu

David's song for the day the Ark came to Jerusalem (Divrei HaYamim I 16:8-36).

Daven with it Read it here

Draft. This siddur is waiting for a rav's review. For a halachic question, ask your rav.

At a glance

When: Every morning, after the offerings, before Baruch She'amar
From: Divrei HaYamim I 16:8-36
First sung: By Levites at the Ark, about 3,000 years ago
Also in Tehillim: Chapters 105, 96 and 106, with small differences

The moment behind it

David's first try at bringing the Ark (the chest that held the Tablets from Sinai) to Jerusalem ends in death. It rides on a new wagon, the oxen stumble, a man named Uzza reaches out to hold it, and God strikes him dead. The Ark waits three months in another man's house. Now Levites carry it on their shoulders, as Moshe commanded, with shofars, cymbals and harps. That day David gives Asaf and his fellow Levites this song of thanks.

Rabbi Yosef Karo (author of the Shulchan Aruch) cites an older book: while the Ark was in its tent, David set this song for the daily offering, half mornings, half afternoons. Peninei Halakhah, a modern law guide, says Sefard puts it after the offerings since it continues them.

Divrei HaYamim I 13, 15:3, 15:15, 15:28, 16:7; Beit Yosef, Orach Chaim 50; Peninei Halakhah, Prayer 14:2

The words

Hebrew, then English. Open "What it means" under any line for the explanation.

Rabbi Simlai, one of the Sages: first praise God, then pray. So we open with the song David set to be sung daily before the Ark:
הוֹדוּ לַייָ קִרְאוּ בִשְׁמוֹ הוֹדִיעוּ בָעַמִּים עֲלִילֹתָיו.
Give thanks to Hashem, call out in His name, tell the peoples what He has done.
What it means
David gave this song to Asaf and his fellow Levites on the day the Ark (the chest that held the Tablets from Sinai) was brought to Jerusalem. Radak (Rabbi David Kimchi, Provence, around 1200) notes that these are two psalms, both also in Tehillim with small differences: Tehillim 105:1-15 up to "do My prophets no harm," and Tehillim 96 from "Sing to Hashem."
Divrei HaYamim I 16:7; Radak on Divrei HaYamim I 16:8
שִׁירוּ לוֹ זַמְּרוּ לוֹ שִׂיחוּ בְּכָל נִפְלְאוֹתָיו. הִתְהַלְּלוּ בְּשֵׁם קָדְשׁוֹ יִשְׂמַח לֵב מְבַקְשֵׁי יְיָ.
Sing to Him, make music to Him, talk about all His wonders. Take pride in His holy name. Let the heart of those who seek Hashem be glad.
What it means
Sing to Him, make music to Him, talk about all His wonders. Take pride in His holy name. Let the heart of everyone who seeks Hashem be glad.
"Sing" and "make music" are two different things. Radak: "with the mouth and with an instrument." It was meant literally. The Levites David placed in front of the Ark had harps, lyres and cymbals, and two priests blew trumpets.
Radak on Divrei HaYamim I 16:9; Divrei HaYamim I 16:5-6
דִּרְשׁוּ יְיָ וְעֻזּוֹ בַּקְּשׁוּ פָנָיו תָּמִיד. זִכְרוּ נִפְלְאֹתָיו אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה מֹפְתָיו וּמִשְׁפְּטֵי פִיהוּ.
Search for Hashem and His strength, seek His presence always. Remember the wonders He has done, His signs and the rulings He has spoken.
What it means
Which wonders? The commentary printed under Rashi's name on Divrei HaYamim says: the ones that happened to the Ark. The Philistines captured it and were struck with a plague of mice. The cows that pulled it home walked straight ahead, though their calves were shut up behind them. "The whole song was made about the Ark."
Rashi on Divrei HaYamim I 16:12; Shmuel I 6:10-12
זֶרַע יִשְׂרָאֵל עַבְדּוֹ בְּנֵי יַעֲקֹב בְּחִירָיו. הוּא יְיָ אֱלֹהֵינוּ בְּכָל הָאָרֶץ מִשְׁפָּטָיו.
You descendants of Israel, His servant, children of Yaakov, His chosen ones: He is Hashem our God. His judgments are in all the earth.
What it means
You descendants of Israel, His servant, children of Yaakov, His chosen ones: He is Hashem our God. His judgments reach all the earth.
In Tehillim 105 this line says "descendants of Avraham." Here it says "descendants of Israel." Radak explains that both mean the same people. Avraham had other descendants too. The descendants of Israel, meaning Yaakov, are only us.
Radak on Divrei HaYamim I 16:13; Tehillim 105:6
זִכְרוּ לְעוֹלָם בְּרִיתוֹ דָּבָר צִוָּה לְאֶלֶף דּוֹר. אֲשֶׁר כָּרַת אֶת אַבְרָהָם וּשְׁבוּעָתוֹ לְיִצְחָק.
Remember His covenant forever, the word He commanded for a thousand generations, which He made with Avraham, and His oath to Yitzchak.
What it means
"A thousand generations" is read two ways. Radak: the promise to Avraham stands for a thousand generations. The Rashi commentary: "the word" is the Torah, which was meant to come after a thousand generations. The world could not last without it, so God passed over 974 of them. That leaves 26 from the creation of the world to the giving of the Torah.
Radak, Rashi and Metzudat David on Divrei HaYamim I 16:15
וַיַּעֲמִידֶהָ לְיַעֲקֹב לְחֹק לְיִשְׂרָאֵל בְּרִית עוֹלָם. לֵאמֹר לְךָ אֶתֵּן אֶרֶץ כְּנָעַן חֶבֶל נַחֲלַתְכֶם.
He set it up for Yaakov as a fixed law, for Israel as a covenant forever, saying: To you I will give the land of Canaan, the portion you will inherit.
What it means
"To you" is one person. "Your inheritance" is many. Radak: the promise was said to each of the three fathers on his own, and "your inheritance" is spoken to all of Israel. The Rashi commentary: "With each and every one He made a covenant to give them the land of Canaan."
Radak and Rashi on Divrei HaYamim I 16:18
בִּהְיוֹתְכֶם מְתֵי מִסְפָּר כִּמְעַט וְגָרִים בָּהּ. וַיִּתְהַלְּכוּ מִגּוֹי אֶל גּוֹי וּמִמַּמְלָכָה אֶל עַם אַחֵר.
When you were few enough to count, hardly any, and outsiders in the land, they wandered from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another people.
What it means
Why bring up how few they were? The Rashi commentary: so that no one can say you took the land because you were many. The promise was made when the family could be counted and had no fixed home. Avraham went to Egypt and to Gerar, Yitzchak moved too, and Yaakov spent twenty years in Lavan's house.
Rashi on Divrei HaYamim I 16:19-20
לֹא הִנִּיחַ לְאִישׁ לְעָשְׁקָם וַיּוֹכַח עֲלֵיהֶם מְלָכִים.
He let no one exploit them, and for their sake He rebuked kings:
What it means
Which kings? Radak: Pharaoh and Avimelech. Each of them took Sarah, and each was stopped. God struck Pharaoh and his house with great plagues, and He came to Avimelech in a dream at night.
Radak on Divrei HaYamim I 16:21; Bereishit 12:17 and 20:3
אַל תִּגְּעוּ בִּמְשִׁיחָי וּבִנְבִיאַי אַל תָּרֵעוּ.
Do not touch My anointed ones, and do My prophets no harm.
What it means
In the plain sense these are Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov. Radak: "My anointed ones" means My great ones, because kings honored them as if they were anointed kings. The Hittites called Avraham "a prince of God among us." And "My prophets" is meant literally. God told Avimelech about Avraham: "He is a prophet."
Radak on Divrei HaYamim I 16:19 and 16:22; Bereishit 23:6 and 20:7
שִׁירוּ לַייָ כָּל הָאָרֶץ בַּשְּׂרוּ מִיּוֹם אֶל יוֹם יְשׁוּעָתוֹ. סַפְּרוּ בַגּוֹיִם אֶת כְּבוֹדוֹ בְּכָל הָעַמִּים נִפְלְאֹתָיו.
Sing to Hashem, all the earth. Announce His rescue day after day. Tell of His glory among the nations, His wonders among all the peoples.
What it means
A second song starts here. Seder Olam (an early rabbinic book of chronology) says the Levites sang the first part every morning and this part every afternoon. The Rashi commentary adds when: over the morning daily offering and over the afternoon one.
Seder Olam Rabbah 14; Rashi on Divrei HaYamim I 16:12
כִּי גָדוֹל יְיָ וּמְהֻלָּל מְאֹד וְנוֹרָא הוּא עַל כָּל אֱלֹהִים. כִּי כָּל אֱלֹהֵי הָעַמִּים אֱלִילִים וַייָ שָׁמַיִם עָשָׂה.
For Hashem is great and greatly praised, and He is awesome above all gods. For all the gods of the peoples are empty idols, but Hashem made the heavens.
What it means
The Rashi commentary calls idols "emptiness, the work of human hands," and it notices one verb doing two jobs. The prophet Chavakuk describes a craftsman who "makes mute idols." Here, Hashem "made the heavens." One is made by people. The other made everything.
Rashi on Divrei HaYamim I 16:26; Chavakuk 2:18
הוֹד וְהָדָר לְפָנָיו עֹז וְחֶדְוָה בִּמְקֹמוֹ.
Splendor and beauty are before Him, strength and joy are in His place.
What it means
The Gemara (the rabbis' discussions built on the Mishnah) quotes Rav Pappa learning from this verse: "There is no sadness in the presence of the Holy One." It then has to square that with a verse in which God weeps. Tehillim 96 has "strength and beauty in His sanctuary." This version has "strength and joy in His place."
Chagigah 5b; Tehillim 96:6
הָבוּ לַייָ מִשְׁפְּחוֹת עַמִּים הָבוּ לַייָ כָּבוֹד וָעֹז. הָבוּ לַייָ כְּבוֹד שְׁמוֹ שְׂאוּ מִנְחָה וּבֹאוּ לְפָנָיו הִשְׁתַּחֲווּ לַייָ בְּהַדְרַת קֹדֶשׁ.
Give to Hashem, families of peoples, give to Hashem glory and strength. Give to Hashem the glory His name deserves. Bring a gift and come before Him. Bow to Hashem in the beauty of holiness.
What it means
Radak: this song was written about the Ark, but it is also about the future. When God brings us out of exile and gathers us, every family of peoples will give Him glory and strength, as the prophet Zechariah says: "Hashem will be King over all the earth."
Radak on Divrei HaYamim I 16:28
חִילוּ מִלְּפָנָיו כָּל הָאָרֶץ אַף תִּכּוֹן תֵּבֵל בַּל תִּמּוֹט. יִשְׂמְחוּ הַשָּׁמַיִם וְתָגֵל הָאָרֶץ וְיֹאמְרוּ בַגּוֹיִם יְיָ מָלָךְ.
Tremble before Him, all the earth. Yes, the world is set firm. It will not be shaken. Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice, and let them say among the nations: Hashem reigns.
What it means
Tremble, and then be glad? The Rashi commentary explains the difference between kings. When a human being takes the throne, everyone is unhappy, because no one knows whether his judgments will sweep people away. When God reigns, heaven and earth are glad.
Rashi on Divrei HaYamim I 16:31
יִרְעַם הַיָּם וּמְלוֹאוֹ יַעֲלֹץ הַשָּׂדֶה וְכָל אֲשֶׁר בּוֹ. אָז יְרַנְּנוּ עֲצֵי הַיָּעַר מִלִּפְנֵי יְיָ כִּי בָא לִשְׁפּוֹט אֶת הָאָרֶץ.
Let the sea and all that fills it thunder, let the field and everything in it celebrate. Then the trees of the forest will sing out before Hashem, because He is coming to judge the earth.
What it means
Why would anyone sing because a judge is coming? Metzudat David (a line-by-line commentary on the Prophets and Writings, 1700s): He comes to pay each one what his deeds have earned. The Rashi commentary, on the line before this: God comes only "to repair the world." The singing trees, Metzudat David adds, are a figure of speech for joy filling the world.
Metzudat David on Divrei HaYamim I 16:33; Rashi on 16:30
הוֹדוּ לַייָ כִּי טוֹב כִּי לְעוֹלָם חַסְדּוֹ.
Give thanks to Hashem, for He is good, for His kindness lasts forever.
What it means
You know this line from Hallel. In Tehillim it also opens psalm 106, and the next two lines here are how that psalm ends. Later in this same chapter, David appoints Heiman, Yedutun and the other chosen singers "to thank Hashem, for His kindness is forever."
Tehillim 106:1; Divrei HaYamim I 16:41; Rashi on Divrei HaYamim I 16:34
וְאִמְרוּ הוֹשִׁיעֵנוּ אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׁעֵנוּ וְקַבְּצֵנוּ וְהַצִּילֵנוּ מִן הַגּוֹיִם לְהוֹדוֹת לְשֵׁם קָדְשֶׁךָ לְהִשְׁתַּבֵּחַ בִּתְהִלָּתֶךָ.
And say: Save us, God who rescues us, gather us and rescue us from the nations, to give thanks to Your holy name, to take pride in praising You.
What it means
The Rashi commentary asks the obvious question: where had anyone been exiled in the days of David, that he should say "gather us from the nations"? Radak answers that David was telling them to pray, every single day, for the gathering of exiles that was still to come.
Rashi on Divrei HaYamim I 16:34; Radak on Divrei HaYamim I 16:35
בָּרוּךְ יְיָ אֱלֹהֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל מִן הָעוֹלָם וְעַד הָעֹלָם וַיֹּאמְרוּ כָל הָעָם אָמֵן וְהַלֵּל לַייָ.
Blessed is Hashem, God of Israel, from forever and to forever. And all the people said Amen, and gave praise to Hashem.
What it means
The song ends at "forever." Radak: when the singers finished and said this verse, all the people answered Amen and gave praise to Hashem. Metzudat David reads the last words as David's instruction: everyone should say Amen, "meaning: it is true," and then add praise, each in his own way.
Radak and Metzudat David on Divrei HaYamim I 16:36

How to say it

The Shulchan Aruch (the main code of Jewish law) rules: pause between elilim and vaHashem. The Tur (the earlier code it is built on) gives the reason: so that God's name does not sound as if it is joined to the idols before it.

Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 51:6; Tur, Orach Chaim 51

The story

Did cows sing it first?

Before David was king, the Philistines captured the Ark (the gold-covered chest that held the Tablets from Sinai). After seven months they sent it home on a wagon pulled by two cows. The verse says the cows "went straight." The Hebrew word sounds like "sang," so the Midrash (Bereishit Rabbah, the classic collection on Bereishit) asks which song. It gives several answers. Rabbi Eliezer's: Hodu. Another rabbi there tells the cows: Moshe worked so hard to teach the Levites to sing, and you sing on your own.

Shmuel I 6:1, 6:10-12; Bereishit Rabbah 54:4

The main altar was somewhere else

David put the Ark in a tent in Jerusalem. The main altar was in the town of Givon, where kohanim (priests) brought the daily offerings. At the Ark he left Levites with harps and cymbals and two kohanim with trumpets, to serve "each day's task on its day." The commentary printed as Rashi on Divrei HaYamim (Chronicles, the last book of Tanach) says the Ark needed no kohanim for offerings. Radak (Rabbi David Kimchi, Provence, around 1200) thinks offerings were brought there. Either way, the Ark had song every day.

Divrei HaYamim I 16:1, 16:4-5, 16:37-40, with the commentary printed as Rashi and Radak

Half in the morning, half in the afternoon

Seder Olam (an ancient rabbinic book that works out the timeline of Tanach) says the Levites did not sing it all at once. In the morning they sang from "Give thanks to Hashem" to "do My prophets no harm." In the afternoon they sang from "Sing to Hashem, all the earth" to the end. They kept this up for 43 years, until King Shlomo brought the Ark into the Temple. Radak says these are really two separate psalms. We say both, back to back, every morning.

Seder Olam Rabbah 14; Radak on Divrei HaYamim I 16:8 and 16:23

The same song is in Tehillim

Almost every line here is also in Tehillim. The first part is the opening of Tehillim 105. The second is Tehillim 96. The last three verses are the first line and the last two lines of Tehillim 106. Radak says David wrote the song for the Ark. Later, putting Tehillim together, he wrote the first part there and made it longer. The wording differs a little. Tehillim 96 has "strength and beauty in His sanctuary" and "come into His courtyards." Here it is "strength and joy in His place" and "come before Him."

Tehillim 105:1-15, 96, 106:1 and 106:47-48; Radak on Divrei HaYamim I 16:8 and on Tehillim 105:1

The last line is the crowd

The song itself ends with "Blessed is Hashem, God of Israel, from forever and to forever." The words after that are Tanach reporting what happened next: "And all the people said Amen, and gave praise to Hashem." Radak explains that when the singers finished that verse, the whole crowd answered. The commentary printed as Rashi describes how it began: Asaf, the head of the Levite singers, would start "Give thanks to Hashem," and the other Levites answered after him.

Divrei HaYamim I 16:5-7 and 16:36, with Radak and the commentary printed as Rashi

The Gemara hears schoolchildren

"Do not touch My anointed ones, and do My prophets no harm." In the song this is about Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov. The Gemara (the rabbis' discussions built on the Mishnah) reads it another way. Rav says "My anointed ones" are schoolchildren, and "My prophets" are Torah scholars. Two more lines follow. The world keeps going only because of the breath of children learning in school. And children are not pulled out of school even to build the Temple.

Shabbat 119b; Radak on Divrei HaYamim I 16:22

The note printed at the top

This siddur prints a note before Hodu, based on the Tur (a law code from the 1300s). It quotes Rabbi Simlai in the Gemara: a person should always set out God's praise first, and only then pray. The Gemara learns it from Moshe, who first said "You have begun to show Your servant Your greatness," and only afterward asked, "Let me cross over and see the good land." The Tur says that is why verses of praise were placed before the main prayer. On Hodu he adds: David set it to be said every day before the Ark.

Berakhot 32a; Tur, Orach Chaim 51

Hard questions

My friend's siddur has this after Baruch She'amar. Who is right?

Open a Nusach Ashkenaz siddur and Hodu comes after Baruch She'amar, the blessing that opens the verses of praise. In this siddur it comes before. The Tur (a law code from the 1300s) already knows both customs. He prefers the Ashkenaz one: say the blessing first, so that every psalm has a blessing before it and after it.

The other order has its own logic. Rabbi Yosef Karo, in his Beit Yosef (his commentary on the Tur), quotes an older book of laws and customs, Orchot Chaim: this song was said at the daily offering, half in the morning and half in the afternoon. You have just finished the passages about that offering. Peninei Halakhah (a modern guide to Jewish law by Rabbi Eliezer Melamed) spells out the connection: in the Sefard custom Hodu comes first because it continues the daily offering.

The Arizal (Rabbi Yitzchak Luria, the Kabbalist of Tzfat, who died in 1572) said Hodu first. When the early Chassidim brought that order to towns that had never used it, it could cause an uproar. Shivchei HaBesht (stories about the Baal Shem Tov, the founder of Chassidut, printed around 1815) tells of a Rabbi Nachman, from the context Rabbi Nachman of Kosov, who walked into a study hall and led the prayers. When he began Hodu before Baruch She'amar, the room filled with rage. They let him finish only because they could not stop listening to him pray.

What did the Arizal himself say about differences like this? His student Rabbi Chaim Vital records his teaching: heaven has twelve windows, one for each tribe, and each tribe's prayers go up through its own. So each person should hold on to the custom of his family. The example he gives of that kind of difference is this one: Hodu before Baruch She'amar, or after.

The Aruch HaShulchan (a law code from around 1900) is blunter. One person says Hodu first, another says Baruch She'amar first, and "this is no difference at all." His one condition: it is not good manners to depart from what the congregation around you does.

Tur, Orach Chaim 51,Beit Yosef, Orach Chaim 50, quoting Orchot Chaim,Peninei Halakhah, Prayer 14:2,Kaf HaChaim, Orach Chaim 50:7,Shivchei HaBesht 75,Sha'ar HaKavanot, Nusach HaTefillah,Aruch HaShulchan, preface (printed with Choshen Mishpat)

Why is a Jewish prayer talking to every nation on earth?

Count how often the rest of the world comes up here. "Make His deeds known among the peoples." "Sing to Hashem, all the earth." "Give to Hashem, families of peoples." "Let them say among the nations: Hashem reigns." Most of the siddur is Israel talking to God. This song keeps turning to face everyone else.

When it was first sung there was real news to tell. Radak (Rabbi David Kimchi, Provence, around 1200) says "His deeds" means what God did to the Philistines over the Ark. They had captured it in battle and then sent it back themselves. On the line "strength and joy are in His place," he adds: all the time the Ark sat in Philistine land, there was wailing and crying there.

Radak also offers a second way to read "call out in His name": teach people the way of God. His proof is Avraham, about whom the Torah uses the same words. So the opening line can mean more than "say thank you." It can mean: say it where others hear.

The second half looks further ahead. Rashi (the classic commentator, France, 1000s), on the same psalm in Tehillim, says it is about the future, and the ending proves it: "He is coming to judge the earth." The line "Hashem reigns," he writes, is a song for the time to come.

Should the world be nervous about that? The commentary printed as Rashi on Divrei HaYamim says no. When a human being takes power, everyone is unhappy, because nobody knows whether he will judge harshly. When God reigns, the heavens and the earth are glad. In the song, the sea, the fields and the trees of the forest join in.

Radak holds the two together. The second half was said about the Ark, he writes, and it is also about the future: when God gathers Israel from exile, every family of peoples will give Him glory and strength, and the nations will say that Hashem reigns. So the song tells what God already did and describes a day that has not come yet.

Radak on Divrei HaYamim I 16:8, 16:23, 16:27 and 16:28,Bereishit 13:4,Rashi on Tehillim 96:1 and 96:10,Divrei HaYamim I 16:31, with the commentary printed as Rashi

It says God let no one harm them. Is that how history went?

The lines are: "He let no one exploit them, and for their sake He rebuked kings: Do not touch My anointed ones, and do My prophets no harm." Anyone who knows some Jewish history will stop here.

Start with who "them" is. The song says it just before: when you were few in number, outsiders in the land, wandering from nation to nation. That is Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov. Radak (Rabbi David Kimchi, Provence, around 1200) names the kings: Pharaoh and Avimelech, who each took Sarah and were stopped. The commentary printed as Rashi on Divrei HaYamim adds Lavan, warned in a dream to leave Yaakov alone. So the claim is narrow. A few families with no army walked between kingdoms, and kings were told to keep their hands off.

Why mention it at all? The same commentary explains "when you were few": so that no one can say you took the land because there were so many of you. The promise was made when there was almost nobody to make it to.

Tehillim does not pretend the protection went on forever. That commentary points out that there the psalm keeps going past this line. The next verse is "He called a famine on the land," and the family ends up in Egypt.

Then look at how Hodu ends: "Save us, God who rescues us. Gather us and rescue us from the nations." David had this sung on a day of celebration, the day the Ark came to Jerusalem. Radak explains: he was telling them to pray, every single day, for the gathering of exiles that would be needed in the future. Metzudat David (a commentary on the Prophets and Writings from the 1700s) says: pray for the people of the last exile.

So the song remembers a time when God stood between a few wanderers and kings, and it also carries a line for times that would not feel like that. The commentators quoted here do not explain why one generation is shielded and another is not. The song does not either.

Divrei HaYamim I 16:19-22 and 16:35, with Radak and the commentary printed as Rashi,Tehillim 105:16-17,Metzudat David on Divrei HaYamim I 16:35

Sparks

Short ideas from the Chassidic masters, the Kabbalah and the Mussar teachers.

Zohar

The sun sings this

The Zohar (the central book of Kabbalah) describes how the day begins. Through the last hours of the night, angels sing. When the light comes up, the morning stars sing. Then the sun sets out, and it sings too. What does it sing? The Zohar answers with the first words of this prayer: "Give thanks to Hashem, call out in His name. Sing to Him, make music to Him." Israel sings below and the sun above. Rabbi Elazar adds: if people's hearts were not blocked and their eyes not shut, they could not stand how sweet that sound is.

בְּשַׁעֲתָא דְּנָטִיל שִׁמְשָׁא בְּגַלְגְלוֹי, פָּתַח קַל נְעִימוּתָא, וְאָמַר שִׁירָתָא... אִלְמָלֵא דִּבְנֵי עָלְמָא אֲטִימִין לִבָּא וּסְתִימִין עַיְינִין לָא יַכְלִין לְמֵיקָם מִקָּל נְעִימוּתָא דְּגַלְגָלָא דְּשִׁמְשָׁא

Zohar, Parashat Vayakhel

Rav Kook

The looking is the point

"Let the heart of those who seek Hashem be glad." Rav Kook (the first Chief Rabbi of the Land of Israel, who died in 1935) reads this as a line about seeking itself. The seeking, he writes, is the thing we are after, not the finding. Being finished is never possible, because there is always more: we go "from seeking to seeking." And it is not that God is missing. He is there for us at every moment. We keep looking anyway, and because what we are looking for has no end, he says, we are full of strength and joy.

הבקשה בעצמה היא התכונה המבוקשת, לא המציאה... כי הננו צועדים מגודל אל גודל, ומבקשה לבקשה

Rav Kook, Olat Re'iyah, on Hodu

Chassidut

Every step up, the noise comes back

Rebbe Nachman of Breslov (a Chassidic master who died in 1810) teaches that every time a person moves up a level, a new ring of trouble wakes up and surrounds him. He lists what it is made of: imaginings, thoughts, cravings, confusion and obstacles. Only one thing makes them give way, he says: the greatness of the Creator. Then he points to Hodu. Citing the teachings of the Arizal (Rabbi Yitzchak Luria of Tzfat, who died in 1572), he says this prayer was set up for that purpose. When we speak of how great God is, those forces are subdued.

וְאִי אֶפְשָׁר לְהַכְנִיעַ הַקְּלִפּוֹת, הַיְנוּ הַדִּמְיוֹנוֹת וְהַמַּחֲשָׁבוֹת וְהַתַּאֲווֹת וְהַבִּלְבּוּלִים וְהַמְּנִיעוֹת שֶׁבַּמַּדְרֵגָה, אֶלָּא עַל־יְדֵי גְּדֻלּוֹת הַבּוֹרֵא

Rebbe Nachman of Breslov, Likutei Moharan I:25

Rav Kook

Why the forest is waiting

The prayer says the trees of the forest will sing when God comes to judge the earth. Rav Kook explains why trees would care. The forest, he writes, is where the injustice of the animal world shows. It is full of predators, and the strong tramples the weaker. The trees hold the forest up and shelter everything hidden in it. He pictures them as mourners, stuck giving cover to a world full of wickedness and robbery. When God's justice spreads through all of existence, that ends, and the trees sing.

היער, בו מתגלה, בעת אשר העולם מלא תוהו, אי־הצדק שבעולם החי. הוא מלא טורפים, אשר החזק רומס את החלש ממנו

Rav Kook, Olat Re'iyah, on Hodu

Chassidut

Thanks from far away

Near the end we ask to be saved "to give thanks to Your holy name, to take pride in praising You." The Sefat Emet (Rabbi Yehudah Aryeh Leib Alter of Ger, a Chassidic leader who died in 1905) quotes this line in a Chanukah teaching. Thanking and praising, he says, are different things. Thanks is possible even when we are far away. Praise is higher: it is felt in a person's own self. He suggests that thanks is also for lowly generations "who do not feel so much." On a morning when you feel nothing, start with the first word: Hodu, give thanks.

כי הלל למעלה מהודאה והודאה הוא אפילו כשאנחנו מרוחקים. והלל הוא הרגשה בעצמותם

Sefat Emet, Chanukah, 5648 (1887)

Halacha

The practical laws. For a final ruling, ask your rav.

Where do I have to pause?

After elilim, "idols." The Shulchan Aruch (the main code of Jewish law) rules that you pause between elilim and vaHashem shamayim asah, "but Hashem made the heavens." The Tur (a law code from the 1300s) explains: so that "and Hashem" does not sound as if it goes back to the words before it. The Mishnah Berurah (a central commentary on daily Jewish law, from around 1900) says a short pause. The Eliyah Rabbah (Rabbi Eliyah Shapira of Prague, about 1700) adds: not longer, or it will sound like the end of the verse.

Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 51:6; Tur, Orach Chaim 51; Mishnah Berurah 51:14; Eliyah Rabbah 51:5

I know these lines from Tehillim. Does the exact wording matter?

Yes. Most of Hodu also appears in Tehillim, in chapters 105 and 96, with small changes. The Tur records the custom to say it "as it is written in Divrei HaYamim." The Abudarham (Rabbi David Abudarham of Seville, 1300s, a classic commentator on the prayers) lists the differences one by one. The Eliyah Rabbah turns some of them into instructions: say lecha eten eretz Kena'an with no et before eretz, and ya'alotz hasadeh with a tz, not a z. The Abudarham also notes the hard k of kol in ki kol elohei ha'amim.

Tur, Orach Chaim 51; Abudarham, Shacharit of Shabbat; Eliyah Rabbah 51:5

I came late. Can I skip Hodu to catch up?

The Shulchan Aruch says a latecomer shortens this section to pray with the congregation, and Hodu is not on its list. The Rema (Rabbi Moshe Isserles, who added Ashkenazi practice to it) adds Hodu if there is time. The Kaf HaChaim (a Sephardic law commentary, early 1900s) notes this fits those who say Hodu after Baruch She'amar. He himself leans toward the Kabbalists: say everything, in order. The Mishnah Berurah cites the Chacham Tzvi (Rabbi Tzvi Ashkenazi, about 1700): that is for praying alone. Latecomers skip.

Shulchan Aruch and Rema, Orach Chaim 52:1; Mishnah Berurah 52:1 and 52:4; Kaf HaChaim 52:2-3

This minyan says Hodu after Baruch She'amar. Which order is right?

Both are old. The Tur records places that say Hodu first, and prefers Baruch She'amar first, so every psalm has a blessing before and after. The Arizal (Rabbi Yitzchak Luria, the Kabbalist of Tzfat, 1500s) said Hodu first. His student Rabbi Chaim Vital records his teaching: keep your ancestors' order of prayer. Hodu before or after Baruch She'amar is his example. The Aruch HaShulchan (a law code from around 1900) calls it "no difference at all," but says it is not proper to depart from what the congregation does.

Tur, Orach Chaim 51; Sha'ar HaKavanot, Nusach HaTefillah; Kaf HaChaim 50:7; Aruch HaShulchan, Choshen Mishpat, preface

We do not have ten yet. Do we wait before starting Hodu?

The Kaf HaChaim records the custom. The Kaddish belongs before Hodu, as the writings of the Arizal have it. If ten are not there yet, the custom is to go on with Hodu and say the Kaddish later, right before Baruch She'amar. He writes that this is what is done at Beit El, the Kabbalists' synagogue in Jerusalem. As for places that say Hodu, then Kaddish, then Hashem Melech, he brings this comment: "I have not found this in any book." The Mishnah Berurah lists both spots for Kaddish as customs.

Kaf HaChaim, Orach Chaim 50:6; Mishnah Berurah 51:10

Half of Hodu was for the afternoon. Did anyone say it at Mincha?

At least one teacher did. The Beit Yosef (Rabbi Yosef Karo's commentary on the Tur) quotes a tradition that Hodu was sung in two parts: with the morning daily offering, from Hodu to "do not harm My prophets," and with the afternoon one, from Shiru laHashem to the end. Rabbi Yom Tov Lipmann Heller (1600s, known for his Mishnah commentary) writes that for this reason his teacher, Rabbi Yaakov Ginzburg, said Shiru laHashem again before Mincha. The Eliyah Rabbah quotes this. Siddur Sefard does not print it at Mincha.

Beit Yosef, Orach Chaim 50; Divrei Chamudot on the Rosh, Berakhot chapter 5; Eliyah Rabbah 51:5

Sources

Show the 10 sources quoted on this page

Divrei HaYamim I 16:37
וַיַּעֲזָב שָׁם לִפְנֵי אֲרוֹן בְּרִית ה׳ לְאָסָף וּלְאֶחָיו לְשָׁרֵת לִפְנֵי הָאָרוֹן תָּמִיד לִדְבַר יוֹם בְּיוֹמוֹ
He left Asaf and his brothers there, before the Ark of Hashem's covenant, to serve before the Ark always, each day's task on its day.
Seder Olam Rabbah 14
בשחר היו אומרים הודו לה' קראו בשמו וגו'... ובין הערבים היו אומרים שירו לה' כל הארץ וגו'... וכך היו אומרים כל ארבעים ושלש שנה לפני הארון, עד שהביאו שלמה לבית העולמים
In the morning they would say "Give thanks to Hashem, call out in His name..." and in the afternoon they would say "Sing to Hashem, all the earth..." They said it this way before the Ark for all forty-three years, until Shlomo brought it into the Temple.
Bereishit Rabbah 54:4
אָמַר רַבִּי שְׁמוּאֵל בַּר נַחְמָן כַּמָּה יְגִיעוֹת יָגַע בּוֹ בֶּן עַמְרָם עַד שֶׁלִּמֵּד שִׁירָה לַלְוִים, וְאַתֶּם אוֹמְרוֹת שִׁירָה מֵאֲלֵיכֶם, יִישַׁר חֵילְכֶם
Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachman said: How hard the son of Amram [Moshe] worked until he taught the Levites to sing, and you cows sing on your own. Well done.
Shabbat 119b
״אַל תִּגְעוּ בִּמְשִׁיחָי״... אֵלּוּ תִּינוֹקוֹת שֶׁל בֵּית רַבָּן... אֵין הָעוֹלָם מִתְקַיֵּים אֶלָּא בִּשְׁבִיל הֶבֶל תִּינוֹקוֹת שֶׁל בֵּית רַבָּן
"Do not touch My anointed ones": these are schoolchildren... The world keeps going only because of the breath of schoolchildren.
Berakhot 32a
דָּרַשׁ רַבִּי שִׂמְלַאי: לְעוֹלָם יְסַדֵּר אָדָם שִׁבְחוֹ שֶׁל הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא, וְאַחַר כָּךְ יִתְפַּלֵּל
Rabbi Simlai taught: a person should always set out the praise of the Holy One, blessed be He, first, and only then pray.
Tur, Orach Chaim 51
ויש מקומות שנוהגין לומר מזמור לתודה הודו לה' קראו בשמו כאשר הוא כתוב בדברי הימים לפי שדוד קבעו לאומרו בכל יום לפני הארון
There are places where the custom is to say Mizmor LeTodah and "Give thanks to Hashem, call out in His name" as it is written in Divrei HaYamim, because David set it to be said every day before the Ark.
Beit Yosef, Orach Chaim 50, quoting Orchot Chaim
בזמן הזה נוהגים לומר אחר ברייתא דרבי ישמעאל וכו' הודו לה' קראו בשמו וכו' ופסוקים אחרים וכתוב בספר א"ח שהטעם לפי שכל השנים שהיה הארון ביריעה תיקן דוד שיהיו אומרים זה המזמור
Nowadays the custom is to say, after the teaching of Rabbi Yishmael (his thirteen methods for reading the Torah), "Give thanks to Hashem, call out in His name" and other verses. The book Orchot Chaim writes that the reason is that all the years the Ark was in a tent, David set that this psalm should be said.
Sha'ar HaKavanot, Nusach HaTefillah
שיש ברקיע י"ב חלונות כנגד י"ב שבטים וכל שבט ושבט עולה תפלתו דרך שער א' מיוחד לו... כגון להקדים הודו קודם ברוך שאמר או אח"כ
There are twelve windows in heaven, matching the twelve tribes, and each tribe's prayer goes up through one gate of its own... for example, saying Hodu before Baruch She'amar or after it.
Aruch HaShulchan, preface (printed with Choshen Mishpat)
או שזה אומר "הודו" קודם "ברוך שאמר" וזה אומר "ברוך שאמר" קודם... אין זה שינוי כלל, דכל אחד יכול לעשות בה כפי רצונו... אחת היא, אלא שאין מדרך ארץ לשנות מכפי שנהגו הציבור
Or one person says Hodu before Baruch She'amar and another says Baruch She'amar first... this is no difference at all, since each person may do as he wishes... It is all one. Only, it is not good manners to depart from what the congregation does.
Radak on Divrei HaYamim I 16:35
ואמרו גם כן עתה "הושיענו", כלומ': בכל יום ויום התפללו על קבוץ גליות שעתיד להיות
Say "save us" now as well. That is: each and every day, pray for the gathering of the exiles that is going to happen.

Every prayer in the siddur