Monday, February 6, 2012

Sheol

In לשון הקודש there is an interesting word for grave [amongst others] - "SHEOL" as in השם העלית מן שאול נפשי Hashem you raised me from falling into the grave. Doesn't that word remind you of the word "request" as in שאלה? What is the connection between "requesting" and the grave that gives them the same word. The question is a "bomba" ["bomb" in the vernacular].

Explains Rav Kook in his siddur Olas Ri'iyah - when somebody is in the grave there are many things he "wants" [he is שואל] but can't get.

Some people are in "sheol" while still alive. Their soul yearns for so much more but their involvement with matters of the flesh prevents them from carrying out the desires of their souls. Maybe Dovid was thanking Hashem in the aforementioned pasuk in tehillim - You took my soul out of its grave and allowed it to fulfill its desires.