As is well known, the Ashrei is an alphabetic acrostic—the first line begins with an aleph, the second with bet, and so forth. It has long been noted that there is no line beginning with the letter nun—the text skips from the mem line to the samech line.
There have been countless attempts to explain the mystery of the missing nun; and a tantalizing aspect of the mystery is that a nun line has in fact been found in the Dead Sea scrolls! But rather than dwell on the question of what the nun line, if it ever existed, would have added to the prayer, let us turn to the impact of its absence.
The mem line that would have preceded the nun line reads, (literally ) “Your kingship is a kingship forever and always, and Your dominion for every generation and generation.” It is a statement that revels in power (in fact, almost wallows in it). It references two different kinds of authority—authority consented to by the governed, and authority imposed from above. And it refers to both authorities as timeless and permanent.
The following line, which begins with samech, and would have followed the nun line, shifts gears radically. Instead of glorifying power, it emphasizes that “G-d supports all who have fallen, and lifts up all who are bent low.” Note that this verse mentions G-d’s name; whereas the G-d of power goes nameless in the mem line. Note also that when the mem line talks about “always” and “every” its focus is on the scope of G-d’s authority over time. But in the samech line, the “all” and “every” refers to the ubiquity of G-d’s mercy, G-d’s compassion for all.
The contrast between these two verses, heightened by the absence of the nun line, is stunning and remarkable. Virtually every religion glorifies the power and authority of the god they believe in. But almost none pivot so dramatically from the power of dominance to the power of compassion.
How important is that? There is a tradition that anyone who recites the Ashrei three times a day gets a place in the World to Come. And why is the Ashrei so important? The rabbis say it’s because of the two lines which follow the samech line: “The eyes of all look hopefully to You, and You provide them nourishment in its proper time. Opening Your hand, You satisfy with contentment all that lives.” Once again, the all-encompassing power of G-d is recognized. And once again, it is the power of compassion, not the power of dominance, that makes the prayer so crucial for us.