Our Gemara on Amud Aleph continues the sugya of ayin yaffa, that certain sales and/or gifts are done with a generous spirit which implies that certain extras may be included in the sale or gift. As we have seen in other blogposts, the idea of a gift of being given generously with extras also applies to spiritual gifts.

Siach Sarfei Kodesh (Erev Shabbos Kodesh) uses this principal to explain an unusual phrase in the Shabbos morning Amidah. We say:

ישמח משה במתנת חלקו

Moshe rejoiced in the gift of his portion.

From the rest of the context of the prayer, the simple meaning is, as Moshe received the Tablets and divine blessings at Mount Sinai, amongst them, we received the gift of Shabbos.

Nevertheless, it is an unusual phrase. Really, what does Moshe’s gift, and his being happy with it, have much to do with Shabbos? 

Siach Sarfei Kodesh explains, based on the Gemara (Shabbos 88a): When the Jews said, “We will do” before even “We will hear,” 600,000 ministering angels came and tied two crowns to each and every member of the Jewish people, one corresponding to “We will do” and one corresponding to “We will hear.” But when the people sinned with the Golden Calf, 1,200,000 angels of destruction descended and removed them from the people.  The Gemara goes on to say that Moshe merited all of these crowns and took them. Siach Sarfei Kodesh quotes a tradition that when the Jewish people keep the Shabbos, those crowns are returned to them. 

We have learned that, even according to the opinion that a sale is not done with a generous heart, a gift always is. Since Shabbos is described as a gift and that Moshe gives it to us b-ayin yaffa, a generous spirit, the crowns get thrown along into the deal. We pray that Moshe rejoice in the gift because we hope we are worthy to have received these crowns once again.

I find it remarkable how we say so many prayers, and do not necessarily reflect on the depth of meaning, and turns of phrases. I have been saying this prayer since childhood, and it never occurred to me to wonder what is the reason that we are asking for Moshe to rejoice? One should make time to study beyond the translation of the prayers, but the possible meanings within them. Mishna Berurah (101:2 and 98:1) instructs one to study the meaning of the prayers, and also to not be distracted from the basic emotional and spiritual connection. One should study the meaning before praying, not during prayers. He notes that a pious mystic, about whom it was known that after he learned the secrets of Kabbalah,  he prayed with the simplicity of a newborn baby. This is similar to a chassidish peshat from the Baal Shem Tov (Toldos Yaakov Yosef, Eikev 81) in the Talmudic teaching (Berachos 17a), “To be arum cunning in one’s God fearing efforts.” The Hebrew word for cunning “arum” is a homonym for naked. The Besht says, when encountering God, one should be stripped naked of ego and self-ambition, and encounter God with a child-like naïveté.

Translations Courtesy of Sefaria, except when, sometimes, I disagree with the translation

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