January 30, 2024 - 20 Shvat 5784
I dedicate this post to my father, who passed away on Sunday, the 19th of Shvat, 5784 (January 29, 2024) at around midnight. My uncle called me at around 9 am from the States to deliver the news to me, and I would like to tie this in with a form of prayer referred to as tza'akah, which in Hebrew translates as "a shout."
You see, while prayer is typically composed of words meant to convey a host of feelings, emotions, and requests, tza'akah is a whole other type of prayer, that can even be said to take it to another level. The primary mode of tza'akah is a prayer composed of no words at all, but rather is a primal sound emanating from the depths of one's heart, a sound that conveys how the person feels and which cannot be structured into any meaningful words. It is literally a shout, but one which expresses that which even words cannot convey, and so in that way surpasses the limits that even the deepest and most well-chosen words can hope to describe.
It can be thought of like the unrestricted and unhinged cry of a baby, which while having no logical or syntactical meaning and lacking all words, it conveys the most unadulterated and unfiltered wave of expression. Perhaps likewise it is most interesting that this shout, when migrated to prayer, serves as one of the most profound forms that a person can muster, springing from the well of his soul, transferring meaning in a way that the most insightful words, intuitively crafted to capture meaning in its truest form, cannot compare to.
Dad, may your neshama have an aliyah.
2 comments:
I am sorry for your loss.
When a person prays, he should clearly express his words to God. Still, this does not preclude a person from reaching a depth of prayerful attachment to God that words cannot express. (The Divine Code by Rabbi Weiner, 2nd edition, p 95)
Beautiful, thank you.
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