(1) Some time afterward, God put Abraham to the test. He said to him, “Abraham,” and he answered, “Here I am.”
Hineni is a combination of the words "Hineh" and "Ani", "Here I [am]".
Each of us says "Hineni" when we offer our prayers on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. We stand in the same place as Abraham, ready for God to 'test' us by compelling us to think about who we were and who we hope to be. The test is different for every person since each of our goals are different for the coming year. What has been testing or trying ourselves and our souls this past year?
(ב) אברהם ויאמר הנני. הקב״ה לא אמר לו בפעם א׳ אברהם קח נא אלא המתין לו עד שנתיישב דעתו של אברהם והבין כי דבר גדול רוצה הקב״ה לדבר עמו. והשיב הנני והי׳ זה כדי שלא יבהל לשמוע.
God did not say to Abraham "Take your son..." all at once. Rather, God waited [after a few words] until Abraham's mind had calmed down and it was clear Abraham understood there was a major matter God wanted to discuss with him. Abraham answered "Hineni" in order to show God he was prepared to listen.
"Hineni" is Abraham's way of telling God he's ready to listen. How can we be ready to listen to our hearts and to hear our prayers so that they can not only stay on our hearts, but go into our hearts.
(8) They heard the sound of the LORD God moving about in the garden at the breezy time of day; and the man and his wife hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden. (9) The LORD God called out to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” (10) He replied, “I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid.”
(1) ואירא, this feeling of fear is similar to that experienced by the Jewish people in Exodus (34:30) when, because of the sin of the golden calf, the people were afraid to face him after his face radiated light when he returned from Mount Sinai.
Ironically, it is the willingness to say "I'm not prepared", "I'm not ready", that can help us get to the vulnerable place when we can start doing teshuvah to prepare for the High Holidays.
Rabbi Alan Lew suggests we ask ourselves the following questions as we prepare for the High Holidays - to help us get to a "Hineni" state of mind:
- What is the recurring disaster in my life?
- What is the unresolved element that keeps bringing me back to this same moment over and over again?
- What is it that we keep getting wrong?
- What is it that we persistently refuse to look at, fail to see?
- What transition point are we standing at?
- What is causing sharp feeling in us, disturbing us, knocking us a little off balance?
- Where is our suffering?
- What is making us feel bad?
- What is making us feel at all?
Rabbi Alan Lew This is Real and You Are Completely Unprepared. (2003)
Uvchen: From Machzor Lev Shalem (p. 149 - Quoting from Rabbi Reuven Hammer z"l)
Stages of redemption are described in this series of prayers. The first paragraph implores God to cause the entire world to live with reverence for God.
The next paragraph discusses...the particular: the return of Israel to its land (and specifically to Jerusalem) and the kingship of David.
The third paragraph describes the rejoicing that will come to the righteous "when You remove the tyranny of arrogance from the earth" and God will rule alone over Zion and Jerusalem.
(יב) דָּבָר אַחֵר, פְּרִי עֵץ הָדָר, אֵלּוּ יִשְׂרָאֵל, מָה אֶתְרוֹג זֶה יֵשׁ בּוֹ טַעַם וְיֵשׁ בּוֹ רֵיחַ, כָּךְ יִשְׂרָאֵל יֵשׁ בָּהֶם בְּנֵי אָדָם שֶׁיֵּשׁ בָּהֶם תּוֹרָה וְיֵשׁ בָּהֶם מַעֲשִׂים טוֹבִים. כַּפֹּת תְּמָרִים, אֵלּוּ יִשְׂרָאֵל, מָה הַתְּמָרָה הַזּוֹ יֵשׁ בּוֹ טַעַם וְאֵין בּוֹ רֵיחַ, כָּךְ הֵם יִשְׂרָאֵל יֵשׁ בָּהֶם שֶׁיֵּשׁ בָּהֶם תּוֹרָה וְאֵין בָּהֶם מַעֲשִׂים טוֹבִים. וַעֲנַף עֵץ עָבֹת, אֵלּוּ יִשְׂרָאֵל, מָה הֲדַס יֵשׁ בּוֹ רֵיחַ וְאֵין בּוֹ טַעַם, כָּךְ יִשְׂרָאֵל יֵשׁ בָּהֶם שֶׁיֵּשׁ בָּהֶם מַעֲשִׂים טוֹבִים וְאֵין בָּהֶם תּוֹרָה. וְעַרְבֵי נָחַל, אֵלּוּ יִשְׂרָאֵל, מָה עֲרָבָה זוֹ אֵין בָּהּ טַעַם וְאֵין בָּהּ רֵיחַ, כָּךְ הֵם יִשְׂרָאֵל יֵשׁ בָּהֶם בְּנֵי אָדָם שֶׁאֵין בָּהֶם לֹא תּוֹרָה וְלֹא מַעֲשִׂים טוֹבִים, וּמָה הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא עוֹשֶׂה לָהֶם, לְאַבְּדָן אִי אֶפְשָׁר, אֶלָּא אָמַר הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא יֻקְשְׁרוּ כֻלָּם אֲגֻדָּה אַחַת וְהֵן מְכַפְּרִין אֵלּוּ עַל אֵלּוּ, וְאִם עֲשִׂיתֶם כָּךְ אוֹתָהּ שָׁעָה אֲנִי מִתְעַלֶּה, הֲדָא הוּא דִכְתִיב (עמוס ט, ו): הַבּוֹנֶה בַשָּׁמַיִם מַעֲלוֹתָו, וְאֵימָתַי הוּא מִתְעֲלֶה כְּשֶׁהֵן עֲשׂוּיִין אֲגֻדָּה אַחַת, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (עמוס ט, ו): וַאֲגֻדָּתוֹ עַל אֶרֶץ יְסָדָהּ...
The fruit of a goodly tree, this is Israel, just as an etrog has both taste and a good smell, so too Israel has among them people with Torah and good deeds.// Date palms - this is Israel, just as the date palm has flavor but no smell, so we find in Israel people with Torah but no good deeds.//The branches of thick trees - this is Israel also, just as myrtle has a smell but no taste, so some people have good deeds but no Torah.//And willows of the brook - this is also Israel, just as a willow has no taste nor smell, so too there are those without Torah or good deeds.//What does God do with all of us? God cannot do away with all of us.(Note: God promised to Noah.) Rather, God said - let them all be bound together as agudah achat, as one bunch [like lulu & etrog on Sukkot] and they will grant atonement to one another...
We're all in this together on the High Holidays!
(ב) שמחים בבנין עירך וששים בעבודתך. חוקרי הלשון חקרו בתכונת השמות שמחה וששון, וקבעו, כי שמחה יונח על הרגש בתחלת הדבר הנכון לבוא. וששון — בסוף התוצאה מהדבר הנרצה, ולפי זה יתבאר כאן שמחים בבנין עירך, שהוא רק כהקדמה להעבודה בביהמ״ק, וששים בעבודתך — ביהמ״ק, שזה עיקר ותכלית קדושת ירושלים. ולהנחה זו של המדקדקים הנזכרים יסכים גם הלשון בפזמון אל אדון (לשחרית של שבת), כי צבא השמים (הם השמש והירח וכוכבים וכו׳) ״שמחים בצאתם וששים בבואם״, כלומר, שמחים בצאתם למלא תפקידם, וששים בבואם — לאחר שהוציאו פעולתם. וע׳ מש״כ שם בכלל ענין שמחתם בזה. וכן יסכים להנחה זו הלשון בתפלה לרה״ש ויוהכ״פ ״שמחה לארצך וששון לעירך״, כי הקיבוץ להארץ היא התחלת הגאולה והכניסה לירושלים היא עיקר גאולת הארץ. אך על הנחה זו יש להעיר מישעיה (ל״ה י׳) ששון ושמחה ישיגו....
(2) We shall be joyful (semachim) in the rebuilding of Zion, Your city, and exultant (sasim) in Your service: There are many different words for joy in the Hebrew language. Some suggest that these words each have a slightly different nuance from one another. In this passage, “semachim, joyful” refers to the feeling one has in anticipating some great or happy event while “Sasim” from the word “Sason, exultant” refers to the experience of joy upon witnessing the fulfillment of the event. Israel is joyful in anticipating the rebuilding of the Temple but they will feel a complete sense of exultation upon participating in the Temple service once the Temple is rebuilt. Similarly, in the Shacharit service on Shabbat morning we say, “Semachim bitzaytam vasasim bovo’am,” in the beautiful poem, “El Adon.” We are told that the heavenly host are joyful in going out (to fulfill God’s will) and exultant when they come back (having fulfilled God’s will.)...And similarly the language of the High Holiday prayers agrees with this reasoning "Happiness in Your land, and gladness to Your city." For gathering in the Land is the beginning of redemption, and entering Jerusalem is the essential part of the redemption in the Holy Land.
These highlighted words we traditionally recite together in this second paragraph of the Uvchen.
Note that Jerusalem - City of Peace/Wholeness (Shin/Lamed/Mem) refers back to the first main idea of 'bound together', of unity.
Spiritual unity is the place of being whole inside ourselves, feeling that all the parts of our lives fit together like the pieces of a puzzle.
The image here takes us back to the idea of pilgrimage to Jerusalem, everyone coming together in Jerusalem at the Temple, a sense of nationhood and peoplehood that transcends us as individuals and links us together as people today and also past to present and present to future.