Ashrei Hashem Beisecha . . .

Ashrei Hashem Beisecha . . . 

by Rabbi Avigdor Miller zt”l

384. The word “worlds” (Olamim) denotes three categories of time:

1) This world and the world of the souls; 

2) this world and the worlds of Moshiach, and later of the Revival of the Dead; 

3) this world of the present, this world in the past, and this world in the future.

The Kingdom of Hashem is the order par excellence which is set up for the benefit of Mankind, like the earthly kingdom which maintains law and order. Here it is stated that this order is not limited to any period of time so that it is not linked to the past or to the future; but it is an order “of all the worlds” and forever, including Time in all its categories.

The deep plan of the Creator continues with purposeful unity from the creation of the Universe; because from the beginning it was arranged how all successive eras would be conducted in all events and all details, like a long chain composed of many links, each connected with the foregoing and with the following.

Thus all the affairs of this world are linked to the life of the world of Souls in the Afterlife, and both are linked to the days of the Moshiach and to the Revival of the Dead.

For example: “There is no mitzvah written in the Torah with a promised reward, on which the Revival of the Dead is not dependent” (Kiddushin 39B).

The precept of sending away the mother-bird (which is an example of such a mitzvah – ibid), when it presents itself to a man, was due to the previously-made nest and to the previously-prepared birds and the previously-prepared tree. But the materials and instinct which caused the nest, and the birds and the tree: all resulted from the beginning of Creation by deep plan so that they be presented to a certain person at a certain future time, or to other men at other foreordained times, in order to award them with the merit of arising at the Revival of the Dead (see 460).

385. AND YOUR RULE IS IN EVERY GENERATION AND GENERATION. Here he speaks of the generations of men. Each generation differs in its spiritual and physical circumstances from the previous generations and from the following ones, and their conduct varies.

There is no comparison between the generations before the Flood and those afterward,

and there is no comparison of the generations before the Tower of Bavel to those afterward,

and there is no comparison between the generations that dwelt in the Land,

and the era of the First Sanctuary was unlike the era of the Second Sanctuary,

and the generations of the Second Sanctuary were very different from subsequent ones,

and the generations which dwelt in the land of Israel and in Bavel were unlike the generations afterward which lived in dispersal among the nations.

Therefore the verse states: the rule (control / dominion) of Hashem designs stratagems and contrivances to suit each generation, and even to suit each individual in every generation, although no two minds are alike (Sanhedrin 38A).

In addition, these stratagems are arranged from the very beginning of the world in such fashion as to suit all eras and all sorts of societies and persons. In addition, the dominion of Hashem over the generations is so absolute that all the affairs of the generations and all groups of men are connected and woven together from the beginning to the end of history The deeds of all men, and even their thoughts, are related to each other (in the individual’s affairs, and also from person to person and even from generation to generation) and are necessary to each other and affect each other. Even what savages do in their caves eventually affects Israel even to the last generations and even as affects matters pertaining to the Afterlife.

“Your rule” has control even over Man’s Free-Will which Hashem sometimes limited or abrogates (“Hashem hardened the heart of Pharaoh” – Shmos 9:12; vid. RMBM, Yeshiva 6:3)  Even when in full possession of Free-Will, men are able solely to choose to act, but the actual performance of the act is subject to Hashem’s decree.


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From “Praise, My Soul: Ideology of the Morning Prayers" by Rabbi Avigdor Miller zt”l

Beginning with the Mizmor shir chanukas habayis, in keeping with the Nusach Ashkenaz, and continuing through the Shemonei Esrei, Praise, My Soul contains a line by line explanation of the morning prayer, with nearly every word translated, phrases and the flow of the text explained.

This new enhanced edition, includes full Hebrew text of the Siddur, as well as Hebrew text of Pisukei Tanach, Gemara, Midrash, etc.