Bereishit: Zemer of The Week
עוֹד יִשָּׁמַע / Od Yishama – “Yet Again Will Be Heard”
(excerpt from Jeremiah 33:10–11)
Listen to Od Yishama here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLDhENgCgqQ&list=RDHLDhENgCgqQ&start_radio=1
עוֹד יִשָּׁמַע בְּעָרֵי יְהוּדָה וּבְחֻצוֹת יְרוּשָׁלַיִם
קוֹל שָׂשׂוֹן וְקוֹל שִׂמְחָה
קוֹל חָתָן וְקוֹל כַּלָּה
Once again shall be heard in the cities of Judah and the streets of Jerusalem
The sound of joy and the sound of gladness,
The voice of the groom and the voice of the bride,
“Od Yishama” celebrates the union of chatan and kallah, echoing the first couple in Bereishit. The eizer kenegdo relationship God creates in Eden is the prototype for all loving partnerships, where harmony is not the absence of opposition, but its sanctified form.
Singing this reminds us that love and joy are born not only from sameness, but from two voices learning to sing together “opposite” each other in harmony.
כָּל הָעוֹלָם כֻּלוֹ / Kol HaOlam Kulo – “The Whole World Is a Very Narrow Bridge”
(attributed to Rebbe Nachman of Breslov)
Listen to Kol Haolam Kulo here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjCyVSciLXM&list=RDXjCyVSciLXM&start_radio=1
כָּל הָעוֹלָם כֻּלוֹ גֶּשֶׁר צַר מְאֹד
וְהָעִקָּר – לֹא לְפַחֵד כְּלָל
The whole world is a very narrow bridge,
And the main thing – Is not to be afraid at all.
Life after Gan Eden is a narrow bridge: full of tension, risk, and the need for courage. This song invites us to cross that bridge together – to face challenge rather than flee it.
A traditional Zemer connected to this parsha:
The zemer for this week: ידידות מה
Listen to Mah Yedidut here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wS0-_fFytQ&list=RD0wS0-_fFytQ&start_radio=1
This zemer first appeared in 1545. It begins and ends with praise for Shabbos and Shabbos observers. In between, the middle stanzas cover a wide variety of laws of Shabbos. The zemer’s author, Menachem, modestly hid the acrostic of his name at the beginnings of the second, third, fourth, and sixth stanzas.
Major elements of this parsha include Hashem’s creation of the land, his matching of Adam and Chava, His creation of clothing for them, and His creation of the Shabbat Malka whose presence still fills Shabbat for us.
Some of the connections to the parsha:
· 1st line of 4th stanza: “נחלת יעקב יירש , בל ימצרים נחלה" (“They shall inherit Yaakov’s heritage – an unbounded estate”) – In the first Rashi in the Torah, he cites his father, R’ Yitzchak, that Hashem created the Land of Israel so that He would be able to give it to Yaakov’s descendants. (See Masechet Shabbos 118 for further details.)
· 2nd line of 4th stanza: “ולשדך הבנות” (“To arrange matches for maidens”) – As described by the Gemara (Berachot 61a), Hashem was the shadchan/matchmaker between Adam and Chava. Although business transactions are not allowed on Shabbat, discussing the non-financial details of potential “matches for maidens” is permitted (see Masechet Shabbos 150a).
· 3rd line of 1st stanza: "לבוש בגדי חמודות” (“Dressed in beautiful garments”) – Hashem created the first garments for Adam and Chava (Bereishit 3:21).
· End of 3rd stanza: “ששת ימים תעבוד, ובשביעי נגילה” (“Six days shall you labor, and on the seventh let us rejoice”) – The parsha details Hashem’s working for six days (Bereishit 1) and then resting on Shabbat (Bereishit 2:2-3).
1st line of 1st stanza: “את שבת המלכה” (“You, the Shabbat Queen”) – Likewise, the creation of Shabbat brought with it the creation of the Shabbat Malka.
· Acronym formed by the first letters of the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 6th stanzas: “מנחם” – At the end of Perek 5, Rashi observes that Menachem might have been a more accurate name for Noach.