Zohar on Tehillim 34 – The Invitation to Zimun
Tehillim 34:2
- "Avarecha et Ad-nai bechol et, tamid tehilato befi" - (I will bless Ad-nai at all times; His praise is always in my mouth). (Tehillim 34:2)
Why are these words so important?
King David saw that the blessing itself (after a meal) requires an invitation (zimun).
He said: "I will bless, for when a person sits at the table, both the Shechinah and the impure side are present. If a person invites the Kadosh Baruch Hu to the blessing, the Shechinah is established and adorned in order to receive the blessing, while the impure side is subdued. If a person does not invite the Kadosh Baruch Hu to the blessing, the impure side hears and rejoices that it has a portion in this blessing."
One may ask: Why is there no invitation (zimun) in the other blessings as well? The answer: In the other blessings, the blessing pertains to the object over which it is recited (for example, an apple), and the object itself serves as the invitation to the blessing. For example, a person recites a blessing over a fruit (borei pri ha'etz); the fruit itself is the invitation, the blessing is recited over it, and the impure side has no portion in it. But earlier, when this fruit was under the control of the impure side, no blessing was recited over it, as it is written: “Orlah shall not be eaten” (Leviticus 18). The reason is that one may not recite a blessing over the fruit of a tree that is less than three years old (orlah), so that the impure side will not be blessed. Once the fruit is no longer under the control of the impure side (after three years), it may be eaten and blessed over, and the fruit itself serves as the invitation to the blessing. Thus, all the things in the world over which blessings are recited serve as invitations to blessing, and none of them contains a portion for the impure side. One might suppose that, in the blessing after a meal, the cup itself of the blessing (zimun) is considered the invitation. Why, then, recite the formula zimun (let us bless...)? The explanation is that during the meal, the wine already served as the invitation, and a blessing had already been recited over it (borei pri ha-gefen). Now, during the blessing after the meal (Birkat HaMazon), another, modified invitation is necessary, because this cup is intended for the Kadosh Baruch Hu, rather than for nourishment; therefore, this invitation (zimun) must be recited aloud. Can we suppose that the words: “Let us bless that we have eaten what belongs to Him” (Berakhot) constitute the invitation, while the words: “Blessed is He that we have eaten” (Berakhot) are the blessing? If so, why say “let us bless” at the beginning? The answer: Certainly, this is indeed the case. However, the words: “Let us bless that we have eaten what belongs to Him” constitute another invitation; they are an invitation to the blessing over the wine (borei pri ha-gefen). For at the beginning, when it was said, “Let us bless,” this was an invitation for the cup of blessing—simply, that is, for the level of Malchut. But in the word “baruch” (let us bless), after this cup has been taken, there is another invitation: an invitation to the higher world (Zeir Anpin)—an invitation to the level from which all sustenance and all blessings emerge. For this reason, one simply says: “Let us bless that we have eaten what belongs to Him”; it does not say whom we are blessing, because that higher world is concealed and there is no revealed invitation within it. Only at the level of the “cup of blessing” (Malchut) is there an explicit invitation. (Zohar on “Balak,” Sulam, Zvi Nisanzen)
