Ascribe to God, O Families of the Nations

Good morning everyone. Welcome back to Learn to Daven - Day 56.

We're deep in Hodu now - the song that Dovid HaMelech composed on the day the Aron, the Ark, finally came home to Jerusalem. And today we hit a line that I think changes how you understand the whole prayer. Maybe how you understand the whole point of being Jewish.

Listen to it. "Havu la'Shem mishp'chos amim - ascribe to Hashem, O families of the nations - havu la'Shem kavod va'oz - give to Hashem glory and strength."

Now wait a second. Read that again. Who is Dovid talking to here? Not the Jews. Not Shevet Yehudah, not the Levi'im, not Klal Yisrael. He turns to the mishp'chos amim - the families of the nations. The whole world. Every people, every clan, every tribe on the face of the earth. And he says: you too. Give honor to the One God.

Here's what gets me about that. We tend to think of Judaism as a private thing. Our God, our Torah, our covenant. And that's true - we have a particular relationship with Hashem that no one else has. But Dovid HaMelech, in the most joyful moment of his life, in the song he sings when the Ark comes home - he doesn't keep the joy inside the family. He throws the doors open and calls out to everybody. Havu la'Shem mishp'chos amim. The whole world is invited.

This is one of the great secrets of who we are. The Jewish mission is particular, but the goal is universal. We were chosen - but not chosen instead of the world. We were chosen for the world. To be, as Yeshayahu says, an or lagoyim, a light unto the nations. Our job was never to be the only ones who know God. Our job is to bring the whole world to recognize Him.

And that's exactly where this prayer is pointing. Because where does history end? Listen to the navi Zecharyah, the very last words of his vision: "V'hayah Hashem l'melech al kol ha'aretz - Hashem will be King over the whole earth. Bayom hahu yihyeh Hashem echad ush'mo echad - on that day, Hashem will be One, and His Name will be One."

Now think about that line. Hashem is already One. He's One right now. So what does it mean that He'll be One "on that day"? The answer is - it's not about God changing. It's about the world changing. Today, Hashem is One, but the world doesn't see it. The world is fractured, full of a thousand little gods - money, power, ego, ideology. "On that day" means the day the whole world finally recognizes the truth that was always true. The day every one of the mishp'chos amim turns and says: there's only One.

And here's the Chassidic heart of it. The Rebbe taught, over and over, that this is the entire purpose of creation. Why did Hashem make a physical world at all? The Midrash says: nis'aveh HaKadosh Baruch Hu lihyos lo yisbarach dirah b'tachtonim - God desired a dwelling place in the lowest world. Not in heaven, where everything already screams His glory. Down here. In the messy, dark, ordinary world - this is where He wants to be at home.

And who makes that home? We do. Every time a Jew does a mitzvah, every time we bring a little more honesty, a little more holiness, a little more light into this physical world - we're building Hashem a dirah b'tachtonim. We're moving the whole world one inch closer to the day it turns and says "havu la'Shem" - give honor to the One.

So when you say this line tomorrow morning, don't say it quietly to yourself. Say it the way Dovid said it - looking outward. You're not just praising God. You're calling the whole world to come along. Havu la'Shem mishp'chos amim. Every family. Every nation. Come home.

Tomorrow: the most repeated line in all of tefillah - Hodu la'Shem ki tov, ki l'olam chasdo. Give thanks to Hashem, for He is good, for His kindness is forever. See you then.