Song of the Barley

We continue in our Perek Shira series, and today we will talk about the song of the Barley kernel : שִׁבֹּלֶת שְׂעוֹרִים אוֹמֶרֶת. תְּפִלָּה לְעָנִי כִי יַעֲטֹף וְלִפְנֵי יי יִשְׁפֹּךְ שִׂיחוֹ (תהילים קב א) The barley kernel says, A song to the Poor Man. As he wraps himself in front of Hashem, he pours out his prayers. The word yaAtof means to wrap himself, but the Radak says, it doesn't mean to literally to wrap himself, but rather, when someone is praying and he's in a difficult situation, he's hunched over as if he's wrapped within himself. The Malbim says the term YaAtof refers to hunger, as it says נַ֝פְשָׁ֗ם בָּהֶ֥ם תִּתְעַטָּֽף i n Tehilim 107,5 and also in Iyov in chapter 2. So the term of LaAtof refers to someone that is in hunger . Regardless, this poor man is in trouble and he's crying out to God. The Mabit explains that this poor man eats barley , which is actually animal food . This barley is, so to say, expressing the song of the poor man who has nothing to eat, to the extent that he'll eat even barley , and he pours out his heart to Hashem. The term of Si'ach means someone that's in pain . Rabbenu Bachye says in Bereshit 24,63, that Yitzhak Avinu used the term LaSuach BaSadeh when he went out to pray. Tefila L'Ani ki YaAtof and it's actually a Gemara in Masechet Berachot and a Midrash Rabba in Bereshit 60,14. We see from here that Yitzhak Avinu represents Middat HaDin (Avraham is hesed, and Yitzhak is Din/judgment) and וְלִפְנֵי יי יִשְׁפֹּךְ שִׂיחו ֹ was the prayer of Yitzhak Avinu, which is Minha . Avraham Avinu symbolizes Hessed – as it says, in the morning, there is kindness. The birds are chirping, everyone's in a good mood. But once the sun is sitting, there's impending doom. Nothing happened yet, but Yitzhak Avinu's Mincha , which is Middat HaDin is hovering. It looks like something is going to happen. And Yaakov Avinu's Tefila is Arbit - in the night. So at Minha , nothing happened yet . But it looks like we're in a little trouble here. That's Middat HaDin and that's the prayer of this poor man. He doesn't know where his next meal is coming from. Nothing has happened yet, but he has what to worry about. So the barley is connecting to the poor man on the simple level, as we said from the Mabit, because a poor man eats barley. But the Sror HaMor in Vayikrah 23,10, and other places says that barley symbolizes God's judgment. We know the days of the Omer are days of judgment, and we start off with the barley Korban. That's when the students of Rabi Akiva passed away. The Sotah , a lady who is suspected of being unfaithful, brings a barley offering to arouse God's judgment. Barley symbolizes judgment . He points out that the wordfor barley , שעורה SeOrah , is spelled with a ש sin , but it's interchangeable with a Samech ס ( as Sotah is spelled with a ס Samech in the Torah with a ש sin in the Gemara ). And the word sa'arah means hurricane , a wind of turmoil and tumult that is coming to the world. That's barley . So barley symbolizes the judgment that's coming, and the barley is telling us, Pray . Wrap yourself in a talet, wrap yourself in yourself. Pour out your heart and we could turn it around. Yitzhak Avinu prays and what happens? His wife comes with 10 camels of gold. He becomes the wealthiest of the Avot . He turns everything around. Yitzhak Avinu is Pachad, Emah, Yirah, which are three terms of fear and that have the same initial letters as Pote'ach Et Yadecha; because with his fear and his praying, he turned everything around. Our last thought on this pasuk is from the Chida in his sefer Homat Anach on Tehilim . In perek 102,1 he tells us in the name of the Yavetz that there are three reasons why a prayer should be received. One is because the person is easy . He takes insults. Number two because is he controls his desire. And number three is that he prays a lot, and he cites this pasuk תְּפִלָּה לְעָנִי כִי יַעֲטֹף וְלִפְנֵי יי יִשְׁפֹּךְ שִׂיחוֹ and says, Tefila L'Ani means he's humble , YaAtof means he wraps himself , which we said also could mean he's hungry , which means he controls his desire. And Lifnei Hashem Yoshpoch Sicho means he is constantly praying . That's the increased prayer. So those are three secrets for one's prayer to be answered. תְּפִלָּה לְעָנִי כִי יַעֲטֹף וְלִפְנֵי יי יִשְׁפֹּךְ שִׂיחוֹ The barley's song is teaching us the secret to overcome the Middat HaDin , Hashem's trait of justice.