The Birth of Broken Hallelujah
Ps. 104:35
It is a broken Hallelujah. Born out of a cry for justice and for a world lived with love and awe, not rage and terror, the first Hallelujah shows up in the Hebrew Bible today, waiting patiently until the 104th Psalm to wail out its longing for a more perfect possible.
It’s a Hebrew word that can’t be translated and so the world knows it in its original form.
Today we wail this Hallelu-ya as a prayer for the healing of our broken, bleeding world.
"It is worth studying the Hebrew language for ten years in order to read Psalm 104 in the original."
Thus wrote Johann Gottfried Herder, 18th century German philosopher, theologian, poet and early advocate of equal civic rights for all - including Jews. He was a radical and pioneer, but not the first to appreciate the layers and complexity of today’s futurist psalm that describes the world as a place of harmony and wonder, worthy of constant praise.
And although praise is not new to the Psalms this chapter does include a dramatic novelty — it indeed ends with the first Hallelujah!
There will be many more Hallelujahs in the following psalms but today’s burst of praise is noteworthy - and especially so because of its immediate context. It’s born of sin. Or perhaps of sinners. It depends on how you translate the verse.
Psalm 104 ends with what seems to be a vision for the glorious future that will build on the world’s harmony with even more messianic justice. The last verse is famous because it can be read in different ways — do we want to see sins vanish from our world — or sinners? One Hebrew word could be read both ways.
יִתַּ֤מּוּ חַטָּאִ֨ים ׀ מִן־הָאָ֡רֶץ וּרְשָׁעִ֤ים ׀ ע֤וֹד אֵינָ֗ם בָּרְכִ֣י נַ֭פְשִׁי אֶת־יְהֹוָ֗ה הַֽלְלוּ־יָֽהּ׃
May sinners disappear from the earth,
and the wicked be no more.
Bless Yah, O my soul.
Hallelujah.
Ps. 104:35
Most translations prefer the latter - reading the Hebrew word ‘Ha’taim’ to mean ‘sinners’.
But there was a famous rabbinic scholar who lived some 1,700 years ago and had a different opinion. Beruriah was known to be very wise and the only woman-scholar mentioned by name in the Talmud as a respected teacher of Torah.
She was the daughter and wife of distinguished scholars and although there are only a few preserved teachings or stories about her — she stands out as an original thinker - and In this case - more compassionate than most.
The Babylonian Talmud’s Tractate Berachot includes her original interpretation of this verse, in the context of an anecdote:
“There were violent thugs in Rabbi Meir’s neighborhood that caused him a great deal of anguish. Rabbi Meir prayed for mercy for them, that they should die. But Rabbi Meir’s wife, Beruriah, said to him: What is your thinking? The verse in Psalms does not mean“Let sinners cease from the land”? Actually it is written, "Let sins cease from the earth, and let the wicked be no more "(Psalms 104:35)! Rather, pray for God to have mercy on them that they should repent, for if they repent "the wicked will be no more". Rabbi Meir saw that Beruriah was correct and he prayed for God to have mercy on them, and they repented.”
In two days we will begin the month of Elul - the last month of the Jewish year and the start of the season of return, repentance and renewal. Each year at this time we take stock of what we’ve done wrong and what we’ve done well, what needs fixing, what needs improvement, and how we can be more helpful to our hurting world. Rabbi Meir’s initial response is familiar to us — let the ones who do wrong be punished, or even vanish from our life altogether, whatever it takes. But Beruriah’s vision of the world is deeper and more holistic and kind — love the sinner, not the sin — help people find the path to being better.
We need her wisdom to help us forgive ourselves and others, and find a path forward from the finger-pointing bitter divides that define these difficult days of death. We wish for wonder, we yearn for hope.
Although the Talmud quotes her - it follows this anecdote with another teaching, on behalf of a few male rabbis, that connects the text about the sinners to the first appearance of Hallelujah in our sacred texts. Why does it show up here? Because only at the end of time - when there are no more villains and thugs in our midst — will we all sing aloud to praise creation.
I’m with her. And I prefer Beruraiah’s careful and compassionate reading.
Praise her and praise all that helps us deal with wrongs and heal our reality in the kindest, wisest, and most patient ways.
Healing and consolation to the broken hearts and broken Hallelujahs.
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