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The Prayer Podcast is an attempt to make prayer meaningful, elevating and real in our day-to-day lives for every individual regardless of background.
This Podcast Series is Generously Underwritten by Dr. Leonard & June Goldberg
You're listening to Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe of Torch in Houston, Texas. This is the prayer podcast.
Good morning, everybody. We are now beginning our prayer podcast segment on Hodu. Hodu is the first part of, there's actually different opinions, the Sephard or Ashkenaz, whether you say it before or after Baruch Shammar. Baruch Shammar was the previous two episodes we talked about, which is the opening prayer, the opening blessing for Sukkot Yizimra for the verses of song. So now we begin Hodu. Now, there are three parts to Hodu.
We have to know that there are three parts. There is the first 14 verses, the second 14 verses, and then 22 verses. A total of 40 different verses. Some of them are from Devar Yamin, which is Chronicles, and some of it is from King David's Psalms. And these verses are sorry, 50 verses. And these are opening up our prayer. Now, some opinions who say that we recite it before, there's a reason why I'm telling you this,
why it's, whether it's before Baruch Shammar or after Baruch Shammar, is because we just came off the offerings. And now, as soon as we mention the offerings, we are going to recite this praise of Hashem, where when we mention the world of Asiyah, which we said there were four different worlds in our prayer journey, there are four different worlds that we journey, it sometimes attracts what's known as klipot, which is different negative forces that block our prayers from ascending to the heavens.
This prayer of Hodu gives us clarity and removes all of those barriers. It removes the deterrence of our elevation of prayer, and which is why it's recited according to some before Baruch Shammar and some after Baruch Shammar. And what is Hodu? Hodu means give thanks. Give thanks to Hashem. So I would like you all have your handouts and those of you who are going to be watching this later or listening to this on podcast, you have the link to the Google Drive where you can download these,
this prayer. So there were three parts to Hodu. We're today going to focus on part number one. I'm going to read it in Hebrew, and then I'll translate line by line, verse by verse. Hodu l'adayinoi kiru b'shmoi hodiyu ba'amim alilosov. Give thanks to Hashem. Declare His name. Make His acts known among the nations. The charge here, right at the onset, is declare Hashem's name. Make it known among the nations, meaning don't just leave it to us.
It's our secret, our relationship with G-d, our responsibility, is hodiyu ba'amim alilosov. Let the nations know of Hashem's miracles. Let the nations know of Hashem's acts. Shiru lo, zamru lo, sichu b'chol niflo'osov. Sing to Hashem, make music to Him and speak of all His wonders. Hisalolu b'shem kotsho, yismach leiv mevakshe Hashem. Take pride in uttering His name. Let your heart rejoice. You who seek Hashem. Dirshu Hashem ve'uzo, bakshu panav tamid. Search out Hashem and His strength. Seek His presence always.
This is like, this is giving us a charge for life. You want to know what the purpose of every single day of life? This verse. Search out Hashem and His strength. Look around. See Hashem's strength. Look at Hashem's might. Look at Hashem's doing, His actions. Seek His presence always in everything that you do. Seek the presence of Hashem. Hashem is there. You have to seek Him out. Zichu niflo'osov asher ha'so movsov u'mishpetey piyu. Remember His wonders that He performed. His marvels and the judgments He decreed.
There are marvelous things going on in this world. And you can sit and look at a sunrise, a sunset, the waves of the ocean. Look at the wind. Look at a hurricane. Look at a, at a, you know, any, any amazing natural event. It's not natural. It's, it's Hashem doing. A tornado. The power. A volcano. You look, an earthquake. You look at Hashem's mastery of the world. You see Hashem's grandeur. You see Hashem's greatness.
Remember His wonders that He performed. Not only then. Continues to perform every day. His marvels and His judgments He decreed. Zere Yisrael Avdo b'nei Yaakov b'chirov. You, the offspring of Israel, His servant. Children of Jacob, His chosen ones. This is a very interesting thing because many, in fact, there's over 2 billion Muslims in the world who are going with a mistaken idea that Abraham had two children of Isaac and Yishmael. And Yishmael got it. It's not what it says in the Torah.
Numerous times Hashem says, I'm giving it to your son Isaac, and Isaac is gonna have two children, Asav and Yaakov, and I'm giving it to Jacob. And we see here, it's reaffirmed in this opening prayer of Pesach de Zimra. Zere Yisrael Avdo, you, offspring of Israel, His servant. Children of Jacob, His chosen ones. Hu Hashem u'lekinu b'chol ha'aretz mishpatov. He is Hashem, our God, whose judgment, judgments fill the entire earth. Zichru le'olam brisod davar tzivah le'elev tov. Remember His covenant forever. Hashem made a treaty for us.
We signed that treaty on every male, Jewish male child at eight days. We signed that covenant. The word He commanded for a thousand generations. Ar shekoras esavrom u'shvosa li yitzchok. That He made a treaty with Abraham and His vow to Isaac. Isaac, the son of Abraham. It's this, by the way, is recited in the blessing at the bris, when a child undergoes this same covenant. V'yamideu le'yakov le'chok li Yisrael brisolom. He then established it for Jacob as a statute, statute, for Israel as an everlasting covenant.
Again, He then established it for Jacob as the statute, for Israel as an everlasting covenant. This is our covenant. You want to know our ownership of the land of Israel? It's right here. We declare it every single morning. Do you know why it goes to Jacob? Because God said so. You know I went to Isaac? Because God said so. You know I went to Abraham? Because God said so. The same God who other people say, well, the children of Abraham is us.
Well, the same God who said that said it's also to Isaac and then to Jacob, who that inheritance of the land comes from. Until this very day, today being February 17th, 2026, for five, for three thousand, over three thousand three hundred years, there's conflict over this same piece of land. That amazing? We're living in a remarkable time where we're seeing Jacob is Israel. That's his name. That's it. Lema locha etayin eretz kanan cheval nachal aschem, saying, what did Hashem say? Listen to this quote.
Lecha etayin eretz kanan cheval nachal aschem, to you I shall give the land of Kanan as the portion of your inheritance. To whom? To you. To the Jewish people. To the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. B'hi yoschem m'sei misbar kimat v'gorembo, when you were but a few in number, insignificant and strangers there. Yisve yishalchum mi goy elgoy u'memam lochol ham acher. What were we doing? We were wandering from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another. We were going here, going there, wandering Jews.
We had no home. Hashem says, your land is the land of Kanan. Your land is the land of Israel. Kanan later changed name to the land of Israel. Lo iniyach le'ish le'ashkam v'yokhech aleyem malochim. He let no one rob them, and rebuked kings for their sake. You know what's amazing? We mentioned this yesterday in our class, if you took all of the riches that were stolen from the Jewish people in each one of our expulsions, in each one of our holocausts, in each one of our
massacres that befell the Jewish people, do you know the amount of wealth my grandparents had a home in Berlin? Gone. They never sold it. They never got money for it. My grandparents had a home in Lithuania. Gone. My grandparents had a home in Czechoslovakia and in Hungary. Gone. What happened to those houses? Hashem gave it to us elsewhere. You wonder why the Jewish people, and to me this is an unbelievable, an astonishing thing.
It doesn't make sense that six out of the top ten wealthiest people on planet Earth are Jews. I'll tell you why. It's because all of their lands were taken away from them. In one place, Hashem says, I'm going to give it to you elsewhere. You'll have extraordinary success beyond nature, elsewhere. You need to leave this place. We were wandering from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another. Is that changing? No, that hasn't changed. The people in Persia have been there for thousands of years.
The Jewish people, wandering around the world. The people in France, thousands of years. The Jewish people, wandering back and forth. We spoke about this yesterday in our Jewish inspiration podcast, about the Torah that was being studied in France. It was, the houses of study that you had, it was unbelievable. In Spain, until you had the Spanish Inquisition, where the Jewish people had to leave overnight. Either convert, or you're dead. The Jewish people ran away. Do you know, do you know that there's a famous
Jewish family called Toledano? They're from Spain. Very prestigious Sephardic family. Do you know why they have that name? I heard this from someone, his name is Toledano. He says, I'll tell you the history of my name. We lived in a place called Toledo, and we were expelled once and twice and three times. And then finally they said, Toleda, no, no more. We're not going back to there. And that became their name. Toleda, no. Toledano, that's where it comes from. It's in our name.
So it's a remarkable thing. We've always been pursued. We've been going from nation to nation, kingdom to one kingdom to another. But Hashem did not let them rob us. And Hashem rebuked kingdoms and kings for our sake. And Hashem says the following quote, Do not touch my anointed ones, and do not harm my prophets. So this concludes part number one of the Hodu. But I want to share a couple of things about this. This was a prayer that was composed by King David to be sung
in the temple. And in fact, back then there used to be two parts to this prayer. And one was read by the Tamid Shalshachah, by the morning offering of the Tamid. And then the second part was read by the afternoon Tamid offering. Hodu is an expression of a desire to share Hashem with humanity. As the Rambam states, when you reach a real level of love for Hashem, you want everyone to feel that love.
You want to share it with everyone. When you see the most beautiful thing in the world, what do you say? You don't say keep it to yourself. Say come take a look. This is amazing. When we feel that love for Hashem, we don't keep it to ourselves. We share it with the entire world. Hodu is an expression of exactly that love. Look at the world. Nations of the world. Look at the world first for ourselves to understand and to internalize,
but then to share it with the world. The charge of this prayer is Hodiu be'amim al ilosav. Inform the nations of the world of Hashem's control and His mastery of everything. Even what we call nature. There's no such thing. There's no such thing as nature. Nature is Hashem. And our sages talk about how important it is for us to call it out for what it is. There's no such thing as mother nature. Even things that seem ordinary. There's morning, there's evening, there's sunrise, there's sunset.
Every day, this is the way it works. It's a new creation every single day. So inform the nations. Publicize the greatness, just like Abraham did, which is why we recite this prayer in the prayer of Abraham in the morning. In Shacharis. King David composed this to be sung before the Ark every day. Oh, so then our sages over here say that this is why many recited before Sukkot Ezimra, before Baruch Shammar, when the offerings are mentioned. Why? Because Tfilos keneget timidim tiknum.
The prayers are replacing the offerings in the temple. And because this was sung for the temple twice every day, today in our prayer, we sing it as well. And this was for 33 years. It was sung till King Salmon moved the temple to Jerusalem. Kiru bishmo, all of your success. Kiru bishmo. Recognize that it's from Hashem. Hodu. What did we say here? Hodu Hashem. Give thanks to Hashem. For what? For all of your success that you experience. Kiru bishmo. Attribute it to Hashem.
Attribute it. Declare in his name. Declare his name. Meaning, I was able to succeed and become a doctor. Thank you, Hashem. It was you. It was your hand. Thank you, Hashem. I was able to close that deal, to get that job, to marry that person, to have those children, to have all of these blessings, to enjoy from this world. Kiru bishmo. Attribute it to Hashem. Ascribe it to Hashem. Hodiu, inform the nations. And then we say what? Shiru lo, zamru lo.
Our sages tell us it's a good piece of advice for the Jewish people. Some talk through life. Some sing. And some praise. What's the advice for us? Praise Hashem. Shiru, to the point where it becomes a song. Don't just talk it. Sometimes you get, you talk, you can talk, you get excited, you start singing the praise and then it becomes not only words of praise, it becomes a song. Shiru lo, sing to Hashem. Praise Hashem's greatness. Bichol niflo osav, in all of of
Hashem's deeds, in all of his deeds, everything. Look at a leaf. Take one leaf and look at it. Put it up to the sunlight. Bichol niflo osav, in all of his wonders. Hisalu bishem kodsho, we carry Hashem's name. Why do we, what do we say? Kishem Hashem nikro aleichem. The name of Hashem rests upon you. We have to do Hisalu bishem kodsho. Take pride in that. Don't hide it. As we said, take the Star of David out. Take the Chai out.
Wear it as a badge of honor. Hisalu, right? Hisalu bishem kodsho. Even if you don't feel it now. Because a time will come. Yismach leiv mevakshe Hashem. There will come a time. Let your heart rejoice, you who seek Hashem. You will have a time where the nations will recognize, and we will recognize, how all along we were the blessed ones. Even though sometimes we feel downtrodden. We feel October 7th. We feel holocausted.
We feel that we've had programs and everyone's out to get us. Yismach leiv mevakshe Hashem. They, those who seek Hashem and want to come closer, they should see Hashem through you. We should be representatives of Hashem in this world. When people look, they say, ah, that's a representative of God. That's what it should, that's the way it should be. To that degree, Yismach leiv, the secret that we want to share with the world is the happiness that comes from simply being someone who seeks out God.
This is the beginning of Pesukit Yizimra. We seek out God. This desire to share with everyone else what we already have. The ability to be close to God. Dear Shua Hashem, Ve'uzo. Search out Hashem and His strength. And this, our sages tell us, is the ark. The ark represented that strength. The ark, by the way, today we have an ark in our synagogue where we keep the Torah in. We should know, there's a halacha, the halacha tells us,
we learned this in our everyday Judaism podcast, that whenever the Torah passes you, you not only stand up, but you follow, you escort the Torah. To what? To the ark. This is our recognition today. You want to search out Hashem and His strength. You want to see it. Seek His presence always. What's the presence of Hashem that we're able to feel in the most tangible way in our generation?
That's His Torah. I was once in a synagogue, the rabbi stopped in middle of the reading of the Torah between the aliyahs, that they're calling up people, and he stops and says, people, talking to his congregants, and he says to them, do you realize what's going on here? This is Hashem's Torah. He is talking to us. It's not just reading, oh, this is Bible. We're just reading some, no, Hashem is actually talking to us. Dershu Hashem v'uzo, seek out Hashem and His strength. Zichru niflo sev, remember,
remember His wonders that He performed. Remember the creation from Genesis where Hashem created the world. For what? For us. Remember Mosav. What's Mosav? His marvels, his wonders. That's the exodus from Egypt. Mishpitei pihu. What's Mishpitei pihu? The judgments that He declared. What is that? That's the commandments that were given to us at Mount Sinai. All of this, zichru niflo sev, asher asah, Mosav, u'mishpitei pihu. And then we get to zichru la'olam briso, davat zivu la'elef dor.
Remember His covenant forever, the word He commanded for a thousand generations. What's that referring to? Our bris with Hashem is forever. Abraham, to Isaac, to Jacob, to each and every one of us. We are a link in that chain. Now we have to remember, we, the nation, saw, we all saw the miracles that Hashem brought to the Jewish people. So that we can fulfill that covenant. Hashem takes that covenant very seriously. What did they do, the Jewish people, when they were leaving Egypt?
They got through the sea. Does the sea split for them? What did they do? They stopped. Az Yashir Moshe, it's time to sing a song. What do you mean stop? They're chasing after you. No, no, no, this is a time to you seeing the wonders of Hashem. Don't say, you know what? Let's go. Let's go. Let's continue driving. No, stop on the side of the road. Put your phone away. Don't take pictures of the sunset. Just you see Hashem's glory.
Hashem is coloring a beautiful picture for you, a beautiful canvas of a sunset for you to enjoy right now. Sing His praise. Don't let that moment go by and say, you know what? I have the picture. We'll look at it at a different time. Now, my grandfather said this is one of the flaws of technology. Is that we just rely on everything. It's being recorded. It's being videoed. It's being photographed. It's okay. I don't need it. I'll get it later.
No, it's for us to enjoy right now. Hashem made it right now in front of our eyes so that we stop and sing and dance. The truth is, is that if we had our priorities right, we would be dancing on the rooftops every single day. It wouldn't be Fiddler on the Roof. It would be Howard on the Roof. Every day. Every day. Because we see Kifle Osof. You see his marvels. You see his wonders.
Imagine if we're able to connect with such a prayer every single morning. This is the way we start our day. Recognizing every single morning. The Maodani is establishing that we have a soul. Thank you, Hashem, for restoring my soul. But now we're opening it up further, deeper and deeper. We're gonna go in through our journey, through Pesuket HaZimra, and we're gonna give thanks and song. We're gonna try to sing every
praise to Hashem. Not prayers, not thanking Hashem only for things of the past, which we're gonna get to at the end of Pesuket HaZimra. We sing the Az Yashir. But every part of this, our job is to sing Hashem's praise. Hodu la Hashem, kiru bishmo. Sing out Hashem. Hodiu ba'amim al ilosav. Go out and tell the nations. Do you know how Hashem is so amazing? Do you know his wonders? You know the things he's done? And I'm sure any honest person out there, Gentile, will say, you know something?
It's quite unique what God did for the Jewish people. It's unbelievable. But you need honesty for that. Some people have hatred for that. That very statement, for that very fact. This is the gift of our prayer that we have composed for us, so that we can bring out these emotions, and we can sing our praise to Hashem. Hashem should bless us that we should have the ability to feel a closeness, to feel a connection, and to feel all of these gifts
that he bestows upon us every single day, to feel that closeness, to feel that joy. My dear friends, Hashem should always accept our prayer lovingly. Amen.
You've been listening to Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe on a podcast produced by TORCH, the Torah Outreach Resource Center of Houston. Please help sponsor an episode so we can continue to produce more quality Jewish content for our listeners around the globe. Please visit torchweb.org to donate and partner with us on this incredible endeavor.