Perek Shira - The Song the Horse

[Music] [Applause] [Music] the horse says behold let the eyes of slaves that look to the hands of their masters like the eyes of the maidservant that look to the hand of her mistress so too are our eyes to Hashem our God until he is gracious to us mighty formidable and untiring horses are loyal servants to their masters the sages noted six characteristics of the horse it eats a lot it excretes little it loves licentiousness it loves battle it is haughty and it disdained sleep it sleeps throughout the day in brief naps totalling to approximately three hours daily this is sufficient for it to retain its unequaled vitality these traits stem from its mighty and fiery nature yet even this powerful creature can be led by a child even after its superhuman labor the domesticated horse can only look hopefully towards the hand of its masters to feed him the horses greatness coupled with its subservience represent the attitude man ought to have to his benefactor Hashem a righteous man does not assume Hashem owes him for his service but rather requests his needs Hermits master as a plea for mercy and loving-kindness the horse sings to its creator not with its mass and brawn but rather with its eyes which incidentally are larger than the eyes of any other mammal on land with these it sings behold like the eyes of slaves that look to the hands of their masters but the eyes of the maidservant that looked at a hand of her mistress so too are our eyes to Hashem our God until he is gracious to us our forefathers were described as running like horses to do the will of Hashem they did so even though they went through many ordeals in which they appear to have been mistreated by their master nevertheless they comprehended Hashem is perfect benevolence and maintained their faiths and wholehearted allegiance to their faultless God they made no demands on their master they served tirelessly they prayed only for compassion it was because of their unquestioning devotion that he loved them so we are their progeny and heirs this superhuman power is latent within us and we are capable of attaining the same unshakable faith a person is therefore required to say when will my deeds reach the calibre of the deeds of my forefathers if a person would humbly acknowledge that baldly possesses and has accomplished are in truth gifts of loving-kindness from the hand of his master he would be overwhelmed with gratitude and would constantly seek to improve his service of God with all of his money but if one trudges and complains and moans that he does not see his efforts being recognized and rewarded he is slowing down greatly the production of His divine service if we would gallop like the horses willingly with a lust to serve we would long ago have reached our destination and destiny you [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music]