Close To Torah

David expressed his longing for Hashem to gather in the exiled nation and to return His Grandeur to Jerusalem. David cared very deeply for the suffering of both Hashem and the Jewish people. He expressed the deep longing of the Jewish people to be connected with Hashem.

Feels Like Forever

David expressed exile as (verse 2), “how long will You (Hashem) hide Your countenance from me?” Rashi points out that David states the words “how long” four times in this psalm. The four occurrences correspond to the four exiles. Midrash Tehillim (13:1) states that Hashem said, “you Klal Yisrael caused me to ask ‘until when’ four times (because of your terrible sins), thus I will send you into four exiles.” The Jews responded, “Hashem, You are correct; now please forgive us. We want You to be our King.” We see from this Midrash that the way to redemption is by turning to Hashem and asking Him to be our Ruler.

His Kindness

With all of the suffering and troubles that David described, he still remained strong in his faith. David proclaimed (verse 6), “I always rely on Your kindness, my heart rejoices at Your salvation of me.” The Midrash points out that there are four expressions of hope and joy found here. Each one refers to David’s firm belief that Hashem would save the Jews from the four oppressors. ‘I trust in Your loving kindness,’ refers to Babylon. ‘My heart will rejoice in Your salvation,’ in Persia and Media (Purim). ‘I will sing to Hashem,’ in Greece (Chanukah). ‘For He deals kindly with me,’ in Edom.

Salvation

Each galus, exile, has its specific challenge. The redemption from Babylon showed the Jews that they were still loved even with the destruction of the Temple. The Purim redemption was the time that the Jews committed themselves to Hashem in the depths of their hearts. The Chanukah salvation brought about the entire theme of praise and thanks being sung to Hashem. Our final galus, that of Rome, is one that we will only be saved from with immense compassion and generosity from Hashem. May we merit to sing this song speedily in our days.

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