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The Nishmat Prayer
According to the Mishnah (10:7), we must recite Birkat Hashir, the ?blessing of song? at the Seder. One opinion in the Talmud (Pesahim 118a) states that this refers to the Nishmat prayer which says:
Were our mouths filled with song as the sea, our lips with adoration as the spacious firmament, were our eyes radiant as the sun and the moon?we would still be unable to thank and bless Your name sufficiently, O Lord our God?
Similarly, Menander (4th century B.C.E.) gives an example of a logos basilikos (words praising the King):
As the eyes cannot measure the endless sea, thus one cannot easily describe the fame of the emperor.
Thus, in Nishmat, the basileus is not the emperor, but God, the King of Kings (Stein, p. 27).IV)
Conclusion
What can we learn from all these parallels? The Jewish people throughout the generations did not live in a vacuum; it absorbed much from its surroundings. But it did not absorb blindly. The Sages absorbed the form of the symposium from the Hellenistic world, but drastically changed its content. The Greeks and Romans discussed love, beauty, food and drink at the symposium, while the Sages at the Seder discussed the Exodus from Egypt, the miracles of God and the greatness of the Redemption. The symposium was meant for the elite, while the Sages turned the Seder into an educational experience for the entire Jewish people.
Indeed, this pattern repeated itself throughout Jewish history. Various scholars have shown that the 13 Midot of Rabbi Yishmael and as well as the 32 Midot are based on exegetical methods borrowed from the Ancient Near East and the Hellenistic world. Rav Saadia Gaon and others were greatly influenced by the Muslim Qal?am, while Maimonides was greatly influenced by Aristotelianism.
Medieval Jewish bible commentators were influenced by Christian exegetes, while the Tosafists were influenced the by Christian glossators.(12) In most of these cases, the rabbis borrowed the literary, legal or philosophical form of their contemporaries but totally changed the contents.
We are bombarded today by a host of outside influences from the Western world. May God give us the wisdom to selectively adopt some of their forms and to fill them with Jewish content as the Sages did at the Seder.
For notes, see http://schechter.edu/pubs/insight55.htm.
Prof. David Golinkin is President of the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem.
The opinions expressed here are the author?s and in no way reflect an official policy of the Schechter Institute. If you are interested in reading past issues of Insight Israel, please visit the Schechter Institute website at www.schechter.edu. Rabbi Professor David Golinkin The Nishmat Prayer
According to the Mishnah (10:7), we must recite Birkat Hashir, the ?blessing of song? at the Seder. One opinion in the Talmud (Pesahim 118a) states that this refers to the Nishmat prayer which says:
Were our mouths filled with song as the sea, our lips with adoration as the spacious firmament, were our eyes radiant as the sun and the moon?we would still be unable to thank and bless Your name sufficiently, O Lord our God?
Similarly, Menander (4th century B.C.E.) gives an example of a logos basilikos (words praising the King):
As the eyes cannot measure the endless sea, thus one cannot easily describe the fame of the emperor.
Thus, in Nishmat, the basileus is not the emperor, but God, the King of Kings (Stein, p. 27).IV)
Conclusion
What can we learn from all these parallels? The Jewish people throughout the generations did not live in a vacuum; it absorbed much from its surroundings. But it did not absorb blindly. The Sages absorbed the form of the symposium from the Hellenistic world, but drastically changed its content. The Greeks and Romans discussed love, beauty, food and drink at the symposium, while the Sages at the Seder discussed the Exodus from Egypt, the miracles of God and the greatness of the Redemption. The symposium was meant for the elite, while the Sages turned the Seder into an educational experience for the entire Jewish people.
Indeed, this pattern repeated itself throughout Jewish history. Various scholars have shown that the 13 Midot of Rabbi Yishmael and as well as the 32 Midot are based on exegetical methods borrowed from the Ancient Near East and the Hellenistic world. Rav Saadia Gaon and others were greatly influenced by the Muslim Qal?am, while Maimonides was greatly influenced by Aristotelianism. Medieval Jewish bible commentators were influenced by Christian exegetes, while the Tosafists were influenced the by Christian glossators.(12) In most of these cases, the rabbis borrowed the literary, legal or philosophical form of their contemporaries but totally changed the contents.
We are bombarded today by a host of outside influences from the Western world. May God give us the wisdom to selectively adopt some of their forms and to fill them with Jewish content as the Sages did at the Seder.
For notes, see http://schechter.edu/pubs/insight55.htm.
Prof. David Golinkin is President of the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem.
The opinions expressed here are the author?s and in no way reflect an official policy of the Schechter Institute. If you are interested in reading past issues of Insight Israel, please visit the Schechter Institute website at www.schechter.edu.
The Nishmat Prayer
According to the Mishnah (10:7), we must recite Birkat Hashir, the ?blessing of song? at the Seder. One opinion in the Talmud (Pesahim 118a) states that this refers to the Nishmat prayer which says:
Were our mouths filled with song as the sea, our lips with adoration as the spacious firmament, were our eyes radiant as the sun and the moon?we would still be unable to thank and bless Your name sufficiently, O Lord our God?
Similarly, Menander (4th century B.C.E.) gives an example of a logos basilikos (words praising the King):
As the eyes cannot measure the endless sea, thus one cannot easily describe the fame of the emperor.
Thus, in Nishmat, the basileus is not the emperor, but God, the King of Kings (Stein, p. 27).IV)
Conclusion
What can we learn from all these parallels? The Jewish people throughout the generations did not live in a vacuum; it absorbed much from its surroundings. But it did not absorb blindly. The Sages absorbed the form of the symposium from the Hellenistic world, but drastically changed its content. The Greeks and Romans discussed love, beauty, food and drink at the symposium, while the Sages at the Seder discussed the Exodus from Egypt, the miracles of God and the greatness of the Redemption. The symposium was meant for the elite, while the Sages turned the Seder into an educational experience for the entire Jewish people.
Indeed, this pattern repeated itself throughout Jewish history. Various scholars have shown that the 13 Midot of Rabbi Yishmael and as well as the 32 Midot are based on exegetical methods borrowed from the Ancient Near East and the Hellenistic world. Rav Saadia Gaon and others were greatly influenced by the Muslim Qal?am, while Maimonides was greatly influenced by Aristotelianism.
Medieval Jewish bible commentators were influenced by Christian exegetes, while the Tosafists were influenced the by Christian glossators.(12) In most of these cases, the rabbis borrowed the literary, legal or philosophical form of their contemporaries but totally changed the contents.
We are bombarded today by a host of outside influences from the Western world. May God give us the wisdom to selectively adopt some of their forms and to fill them with Jewish content as the Sages did at the Seder.
For notes, see http://schechter.edu/pubs/insight55.htm.
Prof. David Golinkin is President of the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem.
The opinions expressed here are the author?s and in no way reflect an official policy of the Schechter Institute. If you are interested in reading past issues of Insight Israel, please visit the Schechter Institute website at www.schechter.edu. Rabbi Professor David Golinkin The Nishmat Prayer
According to the Mishnah (10:7), we must recite Birkat Hashir, the ?blessing of song? at the Seder. One opinion in the Talmud (Pesahim 118a) states that this refers to the Nishmat prayer which says:
Were our mouths filled with song as the sea, our lips with adoration as the spacious firmament, were our eyes radiant as the sun and the moon?we would still be unable to thank and bless Your name sufficiently, O Lord our God?
Similarly, Menander (4th century B.C.E.) gives an example of a logos basilikos (words praising the King):
As the eyes cannot measure the endless sea, thus one cannot easily describe the fame of the emperor.
Thus, in Nishmat, the basileus is not the emperor, but God, the King of Kings (Stein, p. 27).IV)
Conclusion
What can we learn from all these parallels? The Jewish people throughout the generations did not live in a vacuum; it absorbed much from its surroundings. But it did not absorb blindly. The Sages absorbed the form of the symposium from the Hellenistic world, but drastically changed its content. The Greeks and Romans discussed love, beauty, food and drink at the symposium, while the Sages at the Seder discussed the Exodus from Egypt, the miracles of God and the greatness of the Redemption. The symposium was meant for the elite, while the Sages turned the Seder into an educational experience for the entire Jewish people.
Indeed, this pattern repeated itself throughout Jewish history. Various scholars have shown that the 13 Midot of Rabbi Yishmael and as well as the 32 Midot are based on exegetical methods borrowed from the Ancient Near East and the Hellenistic world. Rav Saadia Gaon and others were greatly influenced by the Muslim Qal?am, while Maimonides was greatly influenced by Aristotelianism. Medieval Jewish bible commentators were influenced by Christian exegetes, while the Tosafists were influenced the by Christian glossators.(12) In most of these cases, the rabbis borrowed the literary, legal or philosophical form of their contemporaries but totally changed the contents.
We are bombarded today by a host of outside influences from the Western world. May God give us the wisdom to selectively adopt some of their forms and to fill them with Jewish content as the Sages did at the Seder.
For notes, see http://schechter.edu/pubs/insight55.htm.
Prof. David Golinkin is President of the Schechter Institute of Jewish Studies in Jerusalem.
The opinions expressed here are the author?s and in no way reflect an official policy of the Schechter Institute. If you are interested in reading past issues of Insight Israel, please visit the Schechter Institute website at www.schechter.edu.
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