Page 26 - Harlem Shavuot Companion 2020

How Fortunate!
By Shimon Yaakov Laxer, Rabbinical Student at The Jewish Theological Seminary

One of my favorite moments for all of Shavuot is the lead-up to
mussaf. Many communities traditionally begin by reciting some of
the most uplifting, joyous verses from the book of psalms, starting
with a beautiful line from chapter 84; ! ךתיב יבשוי ירשא How
fortunate are those who dwell in Your House!

While for us, these words are now daily liturgy, realize that they
were first declared with such genuine, blissfully-enraptured joy by
someone living at the time when this was actually the case! - when
the Almighty’s home was here on earth amongst us, in our glorious
and eternal capital, Jerusalem! What an opportunity our
predecessors had; To spend time in - or even dwell in, as the psalter
puts it - the Home of God. Ashrei, O’ God, are we with whom You
have chosen to share Your home!

The chaggim, Shavuot included, was the time when our Israelite ancestors living throughout all of
Canaan would make their yearly aliyah, accepting the invitation to both be seen by, as well as to
see the Almighty, in the grandeur of His Earthly Palace, our beloved Holy Temple. As the psalter
of chapter 84 continues; Better is one day with You in Your home, than a thousand days anywhere
else!

The ancient anonymous piyyut of Ya Eili, My god Yah, like the mussaf service which follows,
emphasizes and celebrates these themes.

These days we do not have such
opportunities as did the utterly-enthralled
author of psalm 84. But we can certainly
draw on the power of what he, as well as his
contemporaries left behind for us; the
intensity of their love, their closeness, and
their ecstasy, channeling all of this into our
yearnings and our own prayers to the
Almighty, reminding Him of the promise He
made long ago, which we shall never forget:
(Ezekiel 37:27-28)

My dwelling shall yet be amongst them; I
will be their god, and they will be My people,
and My Holy Dwelling shall be amongst
them forevermore!

May it be speedily in our days.

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