Posted on 03/31/22
There is a special prayer which stands as a beacon of our innermost desires and yearnings and which is inserted into our prayers recited on our holydays – i.e. those yom tovim enumerated in the Torah as moadim, special times of meeting between Hashem and His people. This prayer is known as Ya’aleh v’Yavo – based on the first two requests, “may there rise, come …”. This prayer is striking in its poetic beauty and heartfelt entreaties, asking G-D to take note of us on these days of meeting and (notably) remembrance. Before asking some basic questions, let’s take a look at the prayer in its entirety:
Since we will be saying this prayer this upcoming Shabbos (because this Shabbos is Shabbos HaChodesh as well as Rosh Chodesh Nissan); and also saying it during the entirety of the Passover holiday (beginning just two weeks from this Shabbos), I thought it would be a good time to try and discern the inner meaning of this beautiful, but enigmatic, prayer. Let’s begin with a few questions:
• Whenever we pray to Hashem, it seems that we always would want our prayers to “rise, come, reach, be
seen, be favored, be heard …” etc. before His kisai hakavod (Throne of Glory). So why make a special request for this during these yom tovim? Why are the moadim a more propitious time for our requests to come before Him?
• What does it mean when we ask Hashem to remember “our remembrance” and “our consideration"? These
seem to be very general terms; what exactly are we asking for? What remembrance? What consideration?
• How can we be asking G-D to remember “the remembrance of Mashiach …”? How can you ‘remember’
something that hasn’t ‘happened’? The last time I checked, the Messiah has not yet arrived!
• The list of holydays listed here on which we are directed to say Ya’aleh v’Yavo is impressive; it includes all the
Biblical holidays, including the Shalosh Regalim (i.e. the 3 Pilgrim Festivals: Pesach, Shavuos, Succos and Shemini Atzeres, associated with Succos) and the Yamim Nora’im (i.e. the Days of Awe: Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur). However, two holydays stand out with regard to whether or not the Ya’aleh v’Yavo prayer is added to their liturgy: (1) Rosh Chodesh (on the list) – seems relatively minor to be zocheh to Ya’aleh v’Yavo; why does it fit into the group? and (2) Shabbos (off the list) – seems relatively major to be excluded; why do we not say Ya’aleh v’Yavo on Shabbos kodesh?
Our Sages tell us that our moadim are not simply signposts on a linear calendar in which time is a straight line on which we happen to be traveling. Rather, our Sages see the moadim as the true anchors of reality through which time passes in a spiral fashion; where we circle back each year and revisit the event, but on a slightly different level than the previous year or the year to follow. It is the event that happened on that particular moed which anchors time, and not vice versa.
And so, we ‘meet’ with Hashem at these incredibly significant nexuses in time: at the ‘Time of Freedom’, we celebrate together with Hashem our Exodus from slavery; at the ‘Time of Spiritual Revelation’, we celebrate together with Hashem our receiving of the Torah, etc. And every year we attempt to relive the event, becoming spiritually revitalized as we once again experience the power of that particular Time via the moed that resonates with it. We celebrate together with our Father in Heaven, bonding and re-membering our unique Covenant and how our relationship has strengthened through the living and reliving of that particular event and that shared experience.
Think of your family getting together for a wonderful simcha, and then reliving that moment through subse-quent anniversary events. Those anniversary events will be both like and unlike the original simcha: IY”H many family members will still be there, some new ones will have joined, while others may have passed on; but the family unit will have grown and matured, along with all the individual members that are part of the larger entity – past, present and future.
These get-togethers, these moadim, can be a great source of simcha and nachas – but only when we frame the event in a positive and functional way, remembering ‘for the good’ and cherishing all that is unique and sustaining with the growing/changing family unit. However, we intuitively understand that nothing can grow out of discord and macklokes. We must not dwell on bad memories; rather, it is best to learn from them and leave them shelved away where they will not be a stumbling block to further growth. The building blocks of a strong and functional relationship, infused with joy, can only be built from positive memories.
In his book entitled “Awakenings” (1973), the eminent neurologist, Oliver Sacks, tells of individuals who had lost the ability to store memories, and, as such, had no identity (see also “The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat” 1985). The quintessence of identity – of knowing who I am and what I am, both as an individual and as part of a larger community – is based on the ability to re-member the events that form the backbone of zikaron – memory. It is no wonder that the very first ‘request’ in our Shmoneh Esrei prayer is for binah (understanding) and da’as (knowledge). True knowledge is an offshoot of binah (from the word boneh – to build). Without the ability to build from various bits of information and to recall and re-member that precious coalescence of knowledge, then we are nothing but drifting bits of protoplasm in a vast universe; there is no identity.
The Ya’aleh v’Yavo prayer acts as a magnifying glass, a tool enabling us to focus acutely on these themes of zikaron, remembrance, and national identity. It is relatively short in content, but absolutely magnificent in its scope – capturing the essence of who we are and what we hope to achieve during this special moment in Time. In Ya’aleh V’yavo, we are in the moment! To paraphrase, here is what we are saying:
“Please, dear G-D, take stock of our national memories as Your people and as Your nation. Let these remem-brances rise, come, reach, be noted, be favored, be heard, be considered and (especially) be re-membered. Let all these good memories come before You as we are right now, at this moment, making collective ‘deposits’ for Your consideration into our celestial memory bank (feek’do’nay’nu, from the word pee’kadon = deposit), and let them coalesce into a plan of action for our ultimate deliverance; for goodness, for grace, for kindness and for compassion – both as individuals and as parts of the national whole. Please let our actions, hopes, prayers and re-membrances from this moed, and from every moed – past, present and future – become a momentous and unstoppable force: ultimately leading inexorably to the fulfillment of our combined national dream and mission statement of Geulah and Redemption, making Your Name great for all mankind in the world.”
It is especially propitious to ask G-D that our remembrances “rise, come, reach …” etc. come before You on these moadim: times when we were partners, participating together in the realization of our shared vision. In every instances of moed, klal Yisrael were an essential part of the ratzon Hashem, striving mightily to partici-pate in the task at hand and obey the mitzvos associated with that z’man. Here was the furnace in which our shared memories were forged! Rosh Chodesh also fits this pattern: as the first mitzvah given to the Jewish people, we were told Hachodesh ha’zeh la’chem – time is now given over to you; it is now your responsibility to use it wisely. Which was not the case with Shabbos kodesh: the b’nei Yisrael were not partners with Hashem in the Maaseh Breishis (Creation of the World). Our acknowledgement and celebration of Shabbos kodesh is not the same as our active participation during moed. That is why Ya’aleh v’Yavo is not part of the Shabbos liturgy.
We strive to create ‘good’ memories on all of the moadim, to forge a solid foundation of remembrances. This is especially true on the Day of Remembrance par excellence: Yom HaZikaron/Rosh Hashanna. We have a mesorah that during the musaf prayer of that day, only ‘good’ memories can be used in the pesukim that exemplify the sections of that prayer, known as malchiyos, zichronos and shofros [Rosh Hashanna 32a].
The fact that the Ya’aleh v’Yavo prayer talks of “the remembrance of Mashiach” should not surprise us. The national desire for the coming of the Messiah is so prevalent, it has actually become a part of our national character and is an essential ‘remembrance’. In G-D’s world, where time as we know it does not exist, the even-tual coming of Mashiach is like a memory! May we be zocheh to see the Geulah Shleimah speedily in our days!
Wishing you all a wonderful Shabbos Kodesh • Avraham Cohen