Shabbat Chol Hamoed Succot Hallel Paragraph Three

“Not we, God, not we,
but Your Name deserves honor for Your kindness, Your truth.
How can the pagans ask, “Where is their God?”
Now our God in the heavens did just what He desired.”

The Ma’asei Hashem (Ma’asei Mitzrayim, Chapter 13) explains that two revelations of God’s power took place in Egypt: The plagues proved that God has the power to compel someone to do His will. When God instructed the Children of Israel to borrow gold and silver from the Egyptians, which the former masters willingly did, God was proving that He has the power to convince someone to change his mind, not through force, but through awareness. The Egyptians became “friends,” to their former slaves.

The second revelation is described as “Your truth.”

We change our lives each Shabbat by observing the numerous and complex laws. We change our lives on Succot when we move out of our comfortable homes into the Succah. We honor the truth of God’s Torah and Mitzvot when we are willing to make such drastic changes from pure conviction and awareness.

We celebrate the clarity God gives us to perceive “Your truth,” as we sing this psalm.