This week, we are going out of our usual order. Under other circumstances, we would be discussing the unique kedushah blessing in the musaf amidah. But we have just completed Purim, and there is a line in the siddur that is taken directly from the megillah reading, so what could be more topical?
The havdalah blessings mark the separation between the holy Shabbat and the not-so-holy weekdays. The transition between them is a time fraught with tension, as we leave the peace and tranquility of Shabbat and return to the stress, and perhaps even danger, of the regular week and world.
It is understandable, then, that havdalah is introduced with 8 verses making reference, explicitly or contextually, to salvation. The last of these verses is repeated by the congregation: “layhudim haitah orah v’simcha v’sasson v’ikar,” followed by the prayer: “ken tihieh lanu.” “The Jews had light and happiness, joy and honor” “may we have them also.”
That verse is taken from the megillah, where it is a celebration of the victory over Haman (may his name be blotted out) and the evil forces within Persia that were plotting against the Jewish community there. What is remarkable, though, is the fact that G-d is never mentioned in the megillah. In other words, the one prayer (of eight) about salvation that literally “bears repeating” is the one that comes from a time when the hand of G-d was least evident.
This custom reflects a profound insight. Verses about salvation that come from a time when G-d’s signature on His handiwork seemed to be everywhere, and where every single farmer knew they were standing on G-d’s good earth (as explained to me by Swedish priest Erland Svala) may be of little comfort to people of our time, when G-d seems to be eclipsed, if not absent altogether. Instead, we repeat a verse from the Book of Esther, a verse that reminds us that “light and happiness, joy and honor” can come to us even when the hand of G-d behind it is invisible to our eyes.
“Ken tihieh lanu.” “May we have them also.”
Rabbi Robert L. Wolkoff