The Power of Ashrei - Ashrei 18
צדיק ה’ בכל דרכיו, וחסיד בכל מעשיו
Righteous is Hashem in all His ways and magnanimous in all His deeds.
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When one invents or designs something, the “creator” of that object knows the workings and requirements of that object better than any other person can. The Ibn Ezra,1 amongst others, states that if one will ask why one species eats wheat while another eats barley, the answer is that Hashem knows what is best for each creation because He created it. The Chovos HaL’vavos,2 referencing our pasuk, suggests that one who struggles financially should think in his heart as follows: Hashem brought me to this world. He is the One who is withholding my livelihood from me at the current time, because He is the one who knows what is truly in my best interests. The Rokei’ach3 connects this pasuk to the previous one. If we wonder why one person seems to have so much more of everything than he needs, while others have so much less, we should remember that Hashem is just and knows exactly what we need, as we detailed in Ashrei 16 and 17.
The Smag and Smak count Tziduk HaDin, where we recognize and state that Hashem is just, as one of the 613 Mitzvos. The Chofetz Chaim suggests having in mind to fulfill this mitzvah when we say this pasuk in Ashrei. The author of sefer Nafshi Cholas Ahavasecha suggests using this pasuk to have the following kavanah: I believe and proclaim that Hashem is just in all that has transpired in my life until now and all that will happen to me in the future.
The Gemara in Rosh HaShanah 17b poses the first half of our pasuk as a contradiction to the second half. “Tzedek” means justice while “chesed” means above and beyond what is justice. Is Hashem just (צדיק) or does He act with chesed (as a חסיד), above and beyond what we deserve? The Ben Yehoyada explains that many times later in life it becomes clear to us that what initially appeared to us as דין, strict judgment, was in reality part of a great chesed that was only revealed later. We have all likely had such personal experiences or heard similar stories from the lives of others. This is the meaning of the first half of the pasuk, speaking of Hashem’s justice, and the latter half, speaking of His chesed. During what appears to us as דין, we must declare Hashem just (צדיק). If it is revealed to us later that the דין was really חסד, then we must certainly thank and praise Hashem at that point. Many times, the chesed is not revealed to us. However, as we have learned previously in Ashrei, all Hashem does is for our good. It is only a question of whether we will merit seeing that during our lifetime or not. It will, however, be clear at the time of Mashiach that all is/was for our good.
This pasuk once again, as so many in Ashrei before it, is an opportunity to contemplate and strengthen our emunah and bitachon, as well as to fulfill one of the 613 Mitzvos according to some Rishonim.
1 Ibn Ezra T’hilim 145:17
2 Chovos HaL’vavos - Shaar HaBitachon, as explained by Lev Tov
3 Rokei’ach volume 1, page 156