Uncle Moishe popularized a Jewish children's song, "Hashem is here, Hashem is there, Hashem is truly everywhere... Up up down down right left and all around is where He can be found." The concept is not just a children’s song but a mindset that permeates mitzvah performance in many cases. Many mitzvos are fulfilled by moving the chevtza, the object of the mitzva, in the six directions around the person as projected from the vantage point of the person standing in the center of cube and moving outward toward its facets.
The most well-known such ceremony is the shaking a lulav with an esrog on Sukkos as discussed in Masechta Sukkah 37b. The two main reasons given in the gemara for the waving in all directions are to demonstrate the belief that the entire world belongs to HaShem and to ward off harmful winds and damaging dews. The commentary Aruch L'ner says the former reason is why we shake the Lulav in Hallel by "Hodu L'HaShem ki tov", to show that all good comes from HaShem; the latter reason is why we shake at "Ana HaShem hoshea na", to request that He should save us from the bad.
The actual motions are to bring out and back (מוליך ומביא) the lulav set three times in each of the six directions. These motions (נענעוים)are expounded upon in chassidus as the expressions of ratzo v'shov, ( רצוא ושוב), literally translated as running and returning to and from HaShem. Ratso is drawing toward Divinity; Shov is return of the soul to the body in the world. The latter is also explained as a drawing down (המשכה) into the world the recognition that everything is from HaShem . The Meor Einayim and the Munkatcher Rebbe/Bnei Yissascha and Aruch L’Ner all enunciate the same Chassidic idea: Ratso, the running to Hsasem is to to thank him for all the good(chesed); Shov, the return to the world is sweeten the strictness/gevurah and to internalize the energy of the Ratso so it can be used. The Menachem Tziyon says that with naanuim we express our confidence that HaShem is present in this cube, the space in which we stand and shake the lulav, where an Accuser might arise... but we show that HaShem is there. This year when the first day of Sukkos falls out on Shabbas, we have no need to shake the lulav because Shabbas accomplishes all these things in and of itself, just as it does the avodah of the Shofar according to Chassidus.
The back and forth and sideways motions are also seen in ceremonies associated with the other two of the shalosh regalim. The Omer was waved in this fashion on Pesach at the the time of the Temple. The Imrei Emes says these Omer motions assist in removing bad thoughts from man's mind. So too the shtei lechem were taken together with lambs in an ceremonial act called tenufah, the waving, on Shavuous; similarly bikkurim which are brought starting from Shavuous also undergo the process of “waving”. Even though we no longer physically perform these mitzvos in these times of exile, it is still recommended to study about them during these times for they are still spiritually relevant. Nite Gavriel Hilchos Chag HaSukkos p.431 brings many sources that Chassidishe Rebbes move the Sefer Torah in the same manner as naanuim during their hakafos on Simchas Torah.
The terminology of "Ratzo V'Shov" comes from prophet Yechezkel's vision of the Divine Chariot, Merkava, recounted in the first chapter of his book. This is the chapter that is read for haftorah on Shavuos. The Avodas HaLevi (Staroselye) explains in a Shavuous drush how the back and forth mitzvos help a person become a chariot/merkava to his life source's energy from HaShem.
Offerings diverse as the Todah, the thanksgiving offering, and that of the Sotah are also "shaked" in such a manner. The torches that were used as signals from mountain tops on Rosh Chodesh were also waved in the manner. The Levites themselves were lifted by Moshe in these motions by their inauguration. Rav Yosef Engel in Otzros Yosef groups them all together and points20out all that we just explained his drush according to the above theme. The Imrei Emes says the lifting of the Leviim was to purify after the Chet HaEgel. The Tzemach Tzedek sees the ceremony the lifting of the Leviim as bringing them back to their source (center of the cube).The nazir also waves his offerings at the end of his service in the same manner and one can easily extend these ideas to other instances.
There is another, even deeper way to explain the naanuim. Siddur Arizal, the correspondence between recognizing Hashem in terms of His four-lettered name that is above space and time is expounded upon mathematically. The three different letters of that name YUD HEY and VAV (י & ה & ו) can be permutated into six arrangements (צירופים): YHV, YVH, VHY, VYH, HVY, HYV ( יהו יוה והי והי הוי היו ) Each arrangement represents one of the six sides of the cube. Although full delineation of this concept is quite elaborate: the general point is that these ceremonies cause us to recognize that through mitzvos, we can connect to a transcendental level of G-dliness. The explanation of the Arizal is based on Tikunei Zohar 29b where this relationship is introduced. Tikkunei Zohar is an exposition in part of the word Bereshis (בראשית) which when split in half can mean in Aramaic "creates six" (directions) (ברא שית). The underlying idea is that we acknowledge that the level of HaShem beyond the space-time continuum is responsible both for the good and seemingly bad in the world through the correlation of various arrangements of the Divine name with the directions in space. On Shabbas, we are at a level that is more elevated; on weekdays, including Yamim Tovim, we need to raise up to this level of acknowledgment by performing these motions.
One way to pursue this concept is daily during davening, this is indeed can be accomplished by a person by focusing, meditating and directing one's motions according to this scheme. This is because, as in the case of Leviim, a person himself can be the chevtsa that he waves. While saying the first passuk of Shema, according to Masechtas Brachos 13b, a person accepts the kingship of HaShem "above and below, and to the four winds of heaven". Most recent commentaries bring that this intention should only be in thought, without discernible actual motion. Rabbi Betzalel Naor of Orot recently wrote an essay where he proposes that during the times of the Ge’onim and early Rishonim, there were actual physical head movements during Shema and brings the minhag from the Tur Shulchan Aruch 61 which quotes such a minhag from the Rosh. One can see an allusion to this in Mishnah Berurah (#22 to Shulchan Aruch 61) that one must be careful that this acceptance does not occur in a manner that would mark out the shape of a cross. Rav Ginsburgh of Gal Einai in an essay entitled "Shema Directions: The Six Idioms of the Shema" relates the six permutations of the three lettered root Shema in the same theme as discussed above for the meditation of the Arizal for lulav. The lulav is shaken three times in each of the three directions. There are not very many people who conduct themselves in this manner today during the Shema but it appears that there is no prohibition to do so. The intent would be the same as when one shakes a lulav - recognizing HaShem's sovereignty in all directions in one's own life. Artscroll Menachos (p.123) also proposes a connection between moving one's head during Shema and the waving lulav and omer.
After reciting Kriyas Shema, a person procedes to the the Amidah, the high point and the culmination of davening. Zohar Pinchas Raya Mehemna 229a in the Matuk Dvash edition explains that the motions of a person during the amidah are identical to that of shaking a lulav. A person bows several times (up and down) and at the beginning of davening and during the amidah he moves back and forth. When finishing the Amidah and saying "Oseh Shalom" a person moves his head to the right and left, thus completing acknowledgment of Hashem in all six directions. Zohar then relates the significance of three times in six directions for the lulav to the 18 parts of the spine, which is one of the sources for the 18 blessings of the Amida. One can wonder if Uncle Moishe is aware that the "stretching exercises" he requests children to do in his shows are based on an ancient custom explained by Kabbalah!
Reference list upon which this essay is based for more detailed explanation:
Sfas Emes -Shavuous 5645
Imrei Emes - Emor, Shavuous, Behalotecha
Shar Yissochar (Munkatch) -Sukkos
Likutei Torah (Alte Rebbe)- Naso and Emor
Otzros Yosef - R. Yosef Engel
Likutei Halachos -(Breslov) Tzitzis
Shaare Zohar - R. Reuven Margalios on Sukkah 37b
Toras Menachem (Chabad) 7, 32
Zohar Pinchas III, 229A
Avodas HaLevi (Staroselye) 2,13A
Tikkunei Zohar 29a, 70b
Meor Einayim - Haazinu
Ohr HaTorah -Tzemach Tzedek, Behalotecha p.365
Menachem Tziyon
Betzalel Naor http://www.orot.com/s2.html
Gal Einai www.inner.org/613-mitzvot/shema.php
Osrei Lgefen RH p.178
Avakesh comments:
The idea that many mitzvos portray the longing to transcend the physical boundaries of this wordly existence and the inevitable drawing back into its boundaries, hopefully with a new awareness and sense of the Divine, is inherent in the very concept of Creation. R. Hirsch in the very beginning of his commentary to Bareishis explains that Torah presents a G-d who transcends Nature. Unlike pagan dieties that existed within the world and were bound by its physical laws, G-d the Creator is outside time and space - in fact, He created time and space. This idea leads to several corollaries. First, G-d is one. Pagan dieties, on the other hand, must be many, for each one enjoys a dominion over one or several natural forces, and since there are many such forces, there must be many gods. Secondly, Torah makes morality possible for it teaches that G-d is not bound by the limitation of matter, and as beings created in His image, neither are we. Consequently, we have the freedom to rise above matter, which pagans do not accept. Thirdly, it locates the Good above the world. To a pagan, gods can at most organize the pre-existing matter. Since evil stems from matter, to them it is inviolate and a part of the very fabric of the world. Not so to us. The all-good G-d created matter and He endowed it with a measure of goodness - this is truly the best of all possible worlds according to the purpose of the Creator. To a pagan, there is no rising above the primacy of matter; to a Jew we can rise, and even if we have to draw back, we are not essentially and inescapably given over to matter's dominion. True, religious life is a struggle, but it is a struggle to reach outside our six dimensions and to bring the glimpse of the Divine back with us and into our daily lives. This is ultimately the acting out and the meaning of naanuim, in lulav and in other mitzva performances.
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