While there is no official “Hump Day” in the weekly Shabbat cycle, Wednesday is—according to Hasidic tradition at least—a bit of a turning point. In Hasidic tradition, Tuesday night is the last possible time to make havdalah, officially ending Shabbat; the same tradition suggests you can begin saying Shabbat Shalom on Wednesdays.
Reading the Psalm of the Day for Wednesday, though, you certainly feel like the Psalmist is going through something. While the Psalms of Kabbalat Shabbat, with their celebrations of creation and new possibilities, begin with Psalm 95, today’s Psalm 94—which immediately precedes those—is painful. The verses of the psalm begin with a violent plea:
אֵל־נְקָמ֥וֹת יְהֹוָ֑ה אֵ֖ל נְקָמ֣וֹת הוֹפִֽיעַ׃
God of retribution, LORD,
God of retribution, appear!
Nekamah, the word here for retribution, is the word we see often in Israel today; when a soldier falls in battle, or an Israeli is killed in a terrorist attack, we will see HY”D—an abbreviation meaning May God Avenge Their Blood, instead of Z”L—May Their Memory Be a Blessing. It is a particular anger, one tinged with sadness and abandonment—much like the rest of this Psalm. This is a Psalm of someone who feels betrayed, someone who has experienced promises broken and a profound sense of injustice. This is not the Psalmist of Shabbat or of new beginnings, but rather of someone trying to claw their way through their pain.
It is, in the end though, a Psalm of faith. In their anger and trauma, the Psalmist seems to return to their faith as almost a mantra. We hear them say, in different ways:
כִּ֤י ׀ לֹא־יִטֹּ֣שׁ יְהֹוָ֣ה עַמּ֑וֹ וְ֝נַחֲלָת֗וֹ לֹ֣א יַעֲזֹֽב׃
For the LORD will not forsake God’s people;
God will not abandon God’s very own.
אִם־אָ֭מַרְתִּי מָ֣טָה רַגְלִ֑י חַסְדְּךָ֥ יְ֝הֹוָ֗ה יִסְעָדֵֽנִי׃
When I think my foot has given way,
Your faithfulness, O LORD, supports me.
Perhaps, the Psalmist’s faith can bolster our own—midweek, midyear, or whenever we need it.
—Rabbi Sari Laufer