In Parshat Va’Etchanan, as B’nai Yisrael are about to enter
the Land of Israel, Moshe tells them (Dvarim 4:39): “Viyadata hayom vihashevota
el levavecha ki HaShem hu haElokim bashamayim mimaal v’al haaretz mitachat ein
od”, “You will know today and take to your heart that God is the only God in
heaven above and on earth below; there is no other.”
We are familiar with this quote as it was later adapted into
the Aleinu prayer which we recite three times a day.
According to Rabbi Yisrael Yehoshua Trunk of Kutna who lived
at the end of the 19th century, when we look at our daily lives we
can see God’s Divine Providence and all of the hidden miracles that He performs.
Seeing what God has done for us, we must internalize in our hearts that He is
our God. The reason that it says “today” is because each day, when we see God’s
miracles we recognize that our God is the only true God.
Aleinu affirms our belief in one God. In the Middle Ages,
many Jewish martyrs who were burned at the stake recited Aleinu as they were
being executed in the hope that one day all of the nations would recognize God.
There is a line in Aleinu which the Church thought was an
affront to Christianity: “For they bow to vanity and emptiness and pray to a
god which helps not.” This quote is from Yishayahu 45:20 and was actually part
of the prayer before Christianity even existed. From the year 1400, Siddurim in
parts of
were removed. In
the Jews were forced to sing Aleinu out loud so that the authorities could make
sure that the Jews weren’t quietly saying those words. Today, most Siddurim
have put those words back, yet some Siddurim (such as the Artscroll) still have
those words in parenthesis.
Outside of
every synagogue that I have been to on Shabbat recited Aleinu out loud omitting
the controversial words, yet in
the full Aleinu is almost always said quietly. Originally, I thought that it
was because in Israel by the end of the service people want to get home to eat
and rest as Shabbat is our only day off while in Chutz Laaretz (outside of
Israel), people have time to sing as they still have a whole other day off on
Sunday. I am now more convinced that in
the prayer is said quietly because in
the congregation to sing it out loud. Rabbi Yosachar Yaakovson (1901-1972)
heard that in
first part of Aleinu was being sung out loud even though they never had a decree
in
sing it out loud. He believes that the minhag spread to more countries even
though it was not forced upon them like in
It is time for Jews around the world to recite the full
Aleinu as we wish and strengthen our belief in one God.
