Elul Hallel VI.I

“Give thanks to God Who is good, for His kindness is forever!
Let Israel declare that His Kindness is forever!
Let the House of Aaron declare that His kindness is forever!
Let those who are in awe of God declare that His kindness if forever! “ (Psalms 118:1-4)

Rav Yechezkail Levenstein explained that we must read these four verses as ascending from one level to another: We begin to offer thanks as part of the entire creation, but are not satisfied.

We rise to the level of Israel and offer songs of gratitude for the opportunities offered by being part of the covenant between God and Israel.

We are so moved by our expressions of thanks that we want to intensify the gratitude by singing as part of the “Kingdom of Priests,” as we were promised at Sinai.

Our songs of thanks raise us to a point at which we are still not satisfied with all the expressions of gratitude until this point; we want our thanks to come from an even higher point; those who achieve Awe of God.

We sing these four verses in this order as we begin the month of Elul to celebrate our opportunity to ascend to higher levels of attachment each day of the month so that the songs of thanks of the previous day are no longer sufficient to express the intensity of our gratitude.

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