Yishtabach

Built out of verses you just said

Abudarham (Rabbi David Abudarham of Seville, who wrote a classic commentary on the prayers around 1340) goes through Yishtabach phrase by phrase and finds a verse behind almost every one. Many are verses you said a few minutes ago. "Your name forever" and "the King" come from Tehillim 145:1, the first verse of Tehillah LeDavid in Ashrei. "Great and praised" is from Ashrei too. "Master of wonders" is from oseh fele, "doing wonders," words you said in the Song at the Sea. Even the word yishtabach, "be praised," is from a verse in Hodu.

Where the chazan steps up

The Tur (a code of Jewish law from the 1300s) writes that here the chazan stands up and begins Yishtabach. Right at this point he lists who is fit to lead: someone with no sins on his record, a good name since his youth, humble, liked by the people, with a pleasant voice, and used to reading the Torah, Prophets and Writings. The Beit Yosef (Rabbi Yosef Karo's commentary on the Tur) quotes the reason from Rav Amram Gaon (Babylonia, 800s): he says it at the front, standing, so that Kaddish can be said over it.

A blessing that skips "Blessed are You"

Most long blessings open with "Blessed are You, Hashem." This one does not, and the siddur prints the reason above it. Yishtabach is joined to Baruch She'amar: the two were set as one pair around the morning songs, one before and one after. The Baruch She'amar prayer tells that story. The Mishnah Berurah (a central commentary on daily Jewish law, around 1900) adds that the psalms in between do not break the pair, the same way the last blessing after Shema or after Hallel does not open with "Blessed."

Moshe's words, before he asked

The Hodu prayer tells Rabbi Simlai's rule: first praise God, then ask. The Gemara learns it from Moshe, who praised before he begged to enter the Land: "What god is there in heaven and on earth who can do like Your deeds?" Abudarham points out that "in heaven and on earth" in Yishtabach comes from that same verse. So the last blessing of praise before the main prayer borrows the words Moshe used right before his own request.

Not just any song

Near the end, God is the One "who chooses songs of praise." Abudarham ties "chooses" to God choosing the tribe of Levi, because the Levites sang in the Temple. Then he quotes the author of Sefer HaMinhagot, an earlier book of customs, who says it is wrong to change the words to "chooses song and music." Zimrah here means praise. God chooses song that praises, not every song. Saying "song and music" would mean He chooses any song at all.

"Life of the worlds"

The blessing ends with chei ha'olamim. Why ha'olamim, "the worlds," and not "forever" or "in the worlds"? Abudarham says those words point to time, limits and place. The letter heh in ha'olamim, he says, points to an existence with no beginning and no end. The Baruch She'amar prayer gives two more readings of these words.

One line, three versions

The closing words were not always the same. The Tur's text says "King, praised with songs of praise." Other law books have "God, great King with songs of praise." The Arizal (Rabbi Yitzchak Luria, the great teacher of Kabbalah in Tzfat, 1500s) had "King, great and praised with songs of praise." The Kaf HaChaim (a Sephardic law commentary from Jerusalem, early 1900s) writes that the Arizal's version is "our custom." This siddur combines the last two: "God, King, great and praised with songs of praise."

The song that is left over

The closing words say God "chooses shirei zimrah," songs of praise. Rabbi Simcha Bunim of Peshischa (a Chassidic master in Poland, died 1827) read shirei as "leftovers." You sing every song and praise you have in you, and your heart is still burning and wants to praise more. That love is the leftover of the song, the part that stays in the heart. God chooses that, he said, and it matters more than the singing itself. Now say the last line again.

ועדיין לבו בוער באהבה ורצונו עוד לשבח ולפאר, האהבה זו נקראת שירי זמרה היינו שיריים של זמרה הנשאר בלב

Why music lifts you

Rav Kook (the first Chief Rabbi of the Land of Israel, who died in 1935) wrote in his private notebooks on "who chooses songs of praise." Music and poetry make every high hope in you stronger. That, he says, is a law of the human soul, a spark of the great light of all that exists. We cannot picture the music of the whole universe. But when holy songs lift us, we catch sight of God's order in everything and are filled with wonder. Out of that joy we say this blessing.

קצר הוא ציורנו מלתאר את הערך השירי המוסיקלי של כל היש ביחודו הנשגב

God made it depend on you

The Ramchal (Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, a Kabbalist from Italy who died in 1746) explains what all of Pesukei DeZimra is for. Its purpose is to reveal the light of God's presence through the praises we say. God chose to make that revealing depend on this one act: us praising Him. That, he writes, is what "who chooses songs of praise" means. Now read those words again.

פסוקי דזמרה הכונה בהם בכלל לגלות אור פניו ית׳ ע״י התהלות שאנו מתהללים בו

A song with no author's name

In the Ten Days of Repentance this siddur adds Tehillim 130. The Zohar (the central book of Kabbalah) notices that it never says who wrote it. That is because it is a song every person in the world will say, in every generation. "From the depths" means praying from the depths of your heart. But, the Zohar asks, David already said "with all my heart I sought You." So why depths? Its answer: aim your request at the deepest source, the bottom of the well that the streams come out of to bless everything.

כל מאן דמצלי צלותא קמי מלכא קדישא, בעי למבעי בעותיה, ולצלאה מעמקא דלבא

Do I stand for Yishtabach?

It depends on your community. The Shulchan Aruch (the main code of Jewish law) says the chazan says it standing. The Rema (who added Ashkenazi practice to it) records a custom to stand. The Shulchan Aruch HaRav (the law code of the first Chabad Rebbe) says the custom is to stand even when praying alone. The Kaf HaChaim (a Sephardic law commentary, early 1900s) reports the plain custom in his community: someone praying alone does not stand.

Do I have to say the list of praises in one breath?

No. From shir ushvachah, "song and praise," comes a long list of praise words. The Magen Avraham (a 1600s law commentary) quotes the Shelah (Rabbi Yeshayahu Horowitz, early 1600s): say them in one breath. The Mishnah Berurah (a central law commentary, about 1900) rules: do not stop in the middle, but one breath is not needed. The Ben Ish Chai (Rabbi Yosef Chaim of Baghdad, late 1800s): do not rush them in one breath. Say them pleasantly, like listing a king's praises. He counted them on his fingers.

When do I answer Amen to Yishtabach?

At the end. The chazan says Baruch Atah Hashem in the middle of the last line, but the Shulchan Aruch rules that the blessing ends only at chei ha'olamim, "life of the worlds." Answer Amen there. Amen to your own Yishtabach? The Shulchan Aruch records that custom, and the Kaf HaChaim says the Arizal (the 1500s Kabbalist of Tzfat) taught it too. The Rema says Ashkenazim do not. The Kitzur Shulchan Aruch (a short law guide, 1860s): if you finish with the chazan, answer.

Why is the chazan just standing there before Yishtabach?

He may be waiting for a minyan. Kaddish comes right after Yishtabach, and Kaddish is said only after something said with ten. So the Rema rules: with no minyan yet, the chazan waits before Yishtabach, silent, until ten arrive. The Kitzur Shulchan Aruch: wait up to nearly half an hour, then say Yishtabach and keep waiting. When ten come, they say a few verses first, and then the chazan says Kaddish. Someone praying alone does not wait: the Mishnah Berurah says to say Yishtabach right away.

Yishtabach is over. Can I talk, or put on my tallit?

Not talk. The Shulchan Aruch calls talking between Yishtabach and Yotzer Or, the next blessing, a sin. Some allow a pause for a community need or a mitzvah, and the Rema says many shuls put the prayer for the sick here. The Kaf HaChaim says to be strict even for a mitzvah. But if your tallit or tefillin just arrived, this is the place: not between the psalms and Yishtabach, rules the Shulchan Aruch, but after it. Once Kaddish starts, stop for nothing until Yotzer Or.

I'm late. Can I just jump in at Yishtabach?

No. Yishtabach is the closing blessing of the psalms of praise, and it is joined to Baruch She'amar, the opening one. The Shulchan Aruch rules: say Yishtabach only if you said Baruch She'amar and some of the psalms. The Mishnah Berurah calls starting at Yishtabach on the road or in a rush a mistake: the blessing is said in vain. The Shulchan Aruch HaRav: say Baruch She'amar and a few psalms, or start at Yotzer Or. The Baruch She'amar page lists the shortest version a latecomer can say.

Why does my siddur add a psalm here before Yom Kippur?

From Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur, the siddur adds Tehillim 130, Shir HaMa'alot Mima'amakim, "from the depths," after Yishtabach. The Magen Avraham (a 1600s commentary on the Shulchan Aruch) reports it from the writings of the Arizal, then leaves a question open: talking here is forbidden. The Mishnah Berurah copies his question. The Kaf HaChaim quotes one rabbi who said only someone who knows its Kabbalistic intentions should stop to say it, and others who answer: everyone says it, and that is the practice.