Shavuot Hallel Paragraph Six

“How can I repay God for all His kindness to me?” (Psalms 116:12) The Dalyot Yechezkail (Volume 2, Nitzutzei Ohr) compares us to a borrower who, unable to repay a loan, asks the lender for a loan to repay the first loan. Everything we have is from God, even our ability to thank Him. King David therefore focused on two steps: 1) “I will raise the cup of salvations and the Name of God, I will invoke.” A true servant of God will look for opportunities to declare God’s Name in gratitude before others. 2) “My vows to God I will pay.” The servant of God will constantly look for ways to “make vows,” meaning, to accept personal practices that result from the inspiration of his public declarations of gratitude.

We sing this Psalm on Shavuot as a public declaration of the infinite good we received in Torah, and as a commitment to find our own personal ways to express our appreciation of the Ultimate Good of Torah.

We also pray that we should always experience our Torah study as Infinite Good, and that we should be inspired to discover new ways to express our gratitude for that Good.