Mi Yiten and Uteshuat Tzaddikim

Everything good comes from Zion

Rabbi Levi, a teacher quoted in Midrash Tehillim (an old collection of rabbinic teachings on Tehillim), says that all the blessings, comforts and good things God brings to Israel come from Zion. He lists seven, each with its own verse. Among them: Torah, "Torah will go out from Zion" (Yeshayahu 2:3). Blessing, "Hashem bless you from Zion" (Tehillim 134:3). Help, "May He support you from Zion" (Tehillim 20:3). And rescue: our line.

A psalm about being laughed at

Psalm 14 opens with someone who says in his heart, "There is no God." Verse 6 then turns to the poor: "You put to shame the plan of the poor, because Hashem is his shelter." Rashi explains that the mockers call Israel's plan shameful because Israel trusts in Hashem. Only after that comes our line, the wish for rescue.

Shelter, just before and at the end

Just before Mi Yiten, Psalm 14:6 says Hashem is the poor person's machseh, his shelter. The second passage ends: "because they took shelter (chasu) in Him" (Tehillim 37:40). It is the same Hebrew root, chet, samekh, hey. So the verse just before our first line and the last words of our second line both talk about taking shelter in Hashem. The second one says why the rescue comes: because they took shelter in Him.

Why Yaakov, and not Avraham?

The verse says "Yaakov will rejoice, Israel will be glad." Midrash Tehillim asks why it names Yaakov and not Avraham or Yitzchak. Reish Lakish (a sage of the Gemara) says that when Israel sins, Yaakov senses it even in the Cave of Machpelah, where he is buried. In the same way, when joy comes to Israel, Yaakov rejoices more than all the fathers. On Psalm 53, God says something close: when the children were struck, the fathers were struck with them, and when you are comforted, they will be comforted with you.

Return, or rest?

"Beshuv Hashem shevut amo" is usually translated "when Hashem returns the captivity of His people." Radak notes that the first word can be read two ways. It can mean "when He returns" them. Or it can mean "when He gives rest," the way the same root is used in Yeshayahu 30:15, "In returning and rest you will be saved." Metzudat David, a commentary on Tanach from the 1700s, reads it as the time when Hashem calms the people who have come back.

The second passage is on Motzaei Shabbat too

Siddur Sefard has a prayer for the start of the week, said at Melava Malka, the meal after Shabbat. It asks God to open a long list of "gates" in alphabet order: gates of light, blessing, understanding, healing, peace. The last one is the gate of rescue. Then it closes the list with "as it is written," and quotes Uteshuat tzaddikim.

A set time for a broken heart

Rebbe Nachman of Breslov (a Chassidic master in Ukraine, 1772 to 1810) writes that it is a great mitzvah to be happy always, and that a person has to fight to push gloom away. Bring yourself to joy in any way you can, he says, even with silliness. A broken heart is good too, but only for a set time each day. The rest of the day, be happy. Now read "Yaakov will rejoice" again.

צָרִיךְ שֶׁיִּהְיֶה בְּשִׂמְחָה תָּמִיד, רַק בְּשָׁעָה מְיֻחֶדֶת יִהְיֶה לוֹ לֵב נִשְׁבָּר

Early and gentle, or late and hard

Rabbi Moshe Alshich (a leading rabbi in Safed in the 1500s) says redemption can come in two ways. If people are worthy, it comes early and calmly, without the hard times that come before the Mashiach. If not, it comes at its set time, through hard events that push people to return. He builds on the Gemara (Sanhedrin 98a), which reads Yeshayahu 60:22 as two paths: if they are worthy, God hurries it; if not, it comes in its time. He reads "Mi yiten mitzion" as asking for the first way: redemption with joy and songs, not with pain.

זכו אחישנה ויהיה בלי חבלי משיח רק בשובה ונחת ואם לא זכו בעתה... כי אם נגאל בשמחה ובשירים

The deepest exile is sadness

Rabbi Natan of Breslov (Rebbe Nachman's main student) quotes this verse, "Yaakov will rejoice, Israel will be glad." He writes that the main exile is sadness. And joy, he says, comes from the point of truth in the heart of every Jew. Whoever remembers that he is still a descendant of Israel, whatever state he is in, can make himself happy wherever he is.

וְכָל אָדָם כְּפִי מַה שֶּׁהוּא אִם יִזְכֹּר אֶת עַצְמוֹ שֶׁאַף-עַל-פִּי-כֵן הוּא מִזֶּרַע יִשְׂרָאֵל... יָכוֹל לְשַׂמֵּחַ אֶת עַצְמוֹ בְּכָל מָקוֹם שֶׁהוּא

Not even for one moment alone

Rabbi Meshulam Feivush Heller of Zbarazh (a Chassidic master in Galicia in the 1700s) reads "The rescue of the righteous is from Hashem." He says the righteous, when they look at themselves honestly, know they could not stand against their own inclination to do wrong for even one moment without God's help. Even so, God rescues them, because they took shelter in Him. He warns that just reading humble verses like "I am a worm, not a man" is not enough. King David said them from the heart.

שאין בכחם בלתי עזר מהשם לעמוד נגד היצר אפי' רגע אחד אעפ"כ יושיעם כי חסו בו

How do I say God's Name in these verses?

As Adonai, not as it is spelled. The Mishnah Berurah (a central commentary on daily Jewish law, written around 1900) says the four-letter Name may not be pronounced as written. You read it as if Adonai were written, with the vowels of Adonai, and think of its real spelling only in your mind. It quotes a Mishnah (Sanhedrin 10:1): Abba Shaul says one who pronounces the Name with its letters has no share in the World to Come. The Name appears three times in these verses.

My Tikkun HaKlali booklet is falling apart. Can I throw it out?

No. The Rambam (Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon, the great codifier of Jewish law, who died in 1204) rules that it is forbidden to burn or destroy sacred writings with your own hands, along with their commentaries. He rules that sacred writings which have worn out are buried. The booklet has Tehillim in it, and Tehillim is one of the sacred writings. That is why worn-out holy books are set aside for burial, not put in the trash.