The song "Tzur MiShelo", generally printed in Bentchers, Siddurim, Zimronim, etc., as a Friday night song, follows the pattern of Bentching (grace after meals), praising G-d and praying for redemption, in the order of the blessings therein.
I have heard some say that you should not sing the song, at least in its entirety, prior to Bentching, because you would fulfill the Biblical requirement of Bentching and reciting the formal Bentching would, in essence, be saying unnecessary blessings, which is prohibited.
However, not everyone practices this stringency, and I'm sure many don't even know about it, and furthermore, someone wrote the song for a reason, right?
Furthermore, I know some communities (I'm using community on the micro-level here to mean groups of people not related who gather for prayers and meals together, not the macro-level of entire synagogues and/or neighborhoods or groups of neighborhoods that share common resources like synagogues, schools, Mikvaoth, etc.) who specifically sing this song as part of their introduction to Bentching. I don't know if this is a widespread custom or limited to those I've encountered who do so, but they are primarily Middle Eastern.
Other than the opinion of the GR"A, cited above, does mainstream thought follow the opinion that you shouldn't recite it prior to Bentching, or do they dismiss that approach (and if the latter, why)?
Is the custom to recite it as an introduction to Bentching based on something? Is it widespread?
Answer
It should be clear to anyone with a Shulchan Aruch that one can certainly bentch after having sung this song. Consider these factors, all of which the Shulchan Aruch says leaving out would require you to redo your bentching, and all of which are missing in Tzur Mishelo:
- You must mention both Brit and Torah (OC 187:3)
- You must mention the Kingship of the House of David (OC 187:4) [it never says 'melech' in Tzur Mishelo]
- You must mention Retzei or Yaaleh VeYavo as appropriate (OC 188:6) [this only applies to the relevant meals which is most of the time]
- You must mention both God's name and His Kingship in every blessing (OC 214:1)
To further support my position, consider two other issues which the Shulchan Aruch debates ("yesh omrim") if you need to redo your bentching if you left these out:
- You must have positive kavana to fulfill the mitzva (OC 60:4)
- You must have a chatima (a conclusion to the blessing) for every blessing (OC 187:1 and MA ad loc)
And even in these cases were one to say that the d'oraita requirement has been fulfiled (my opinion is that this can be argued well for the 3rd and 5th issue) then you still would be required to say all the blessings anyway as a rabbinic enactment.
However you spin it, there is surely sound basis to say the entire bentching after singing Tzur MiShelo according to the Shulchan Aruch.
In terms of my personal experience, I have never seen anyone be careful about this except in jest. I sing Tzur Mishelo often at my shabbat table.
No comments:
Post a Comment