what-does-it-mean-to-bless-god2

A major feature of Jewish liturgy, both inside as well as outside the prayer setting, is our invoking blessings that exalt God. But why should God Require our blessings, or for that matter, even our prayers? Does His Status as Creator have to be constantly Reinforced by the utterings of His Creations? The standard answer is that the blessings and prayers are not for God, but for ourselves. We are the ones who constantly need reminders that God Is Solely Responsible for the many aspects of our lives that we tend to take for granted due to their ubiquitous-ness and regularity.[1]

RaDaK on Beraishit 19:27 discusses such a fundamental stance on the part of a founder of Judaism vis-à-vis prayer:

“Next morning, Avraham hurried to the place where he had stood before the LORD.”

This is similar to 18:22, where we were told that Avraham was still standing in the Presence of the Lord. This was the place where the angels had parted from him in his vision. Our sages (Berachot 26b) state that Avraham initiated the morning prayer, Shacharit, as whenever the word “Omeid” is used, it refers to the Amida, the principal prayer. David makes reference to this in Psalms 106:30, where he said that Pinchas stood and prayed, meaning that it behooves man to recite prayers in the morning, in which he gratefully acknowledges the daylight in the universe which was provided for him before he set out to go to work …

It seems to me that a similar principle is at work with respect to all blessings, particularly the ones that are known as “Birchot HaNehenim, HaReiya, VeHaShmiya” (blessings on the occasion of “sensing” certain phenomena): e.g.,

Mishna Berachot 6:1, 3, 8

How does one recite a blessing over fruits?

1)  Over different fruits that grow on a tree one recites: Who Creates fruit of the tree, with the exception of wine. Over wine one recites: Who Creates fruit of the vine.

2)  Over fruits that grow from the earth, one recites: Who Creates fruit of the ground, with the exception of bread, as over bread one recites: Who Brings Forth bread from the earth.

3)  Over herbs and leafy vegetables one recites: Who Creates fruit of the ground. Rabbi Yehuda says: Who Creates various kinds of herbs.

4)  And over a food item whose growth is not from the ground, one recites: By Whose Word all things came to be. And over vinegar… and over locusts, one recites: By Whose Word all things came to be. So too, over milk, and over cheese, and over eggs, one recites: By Whose Word all things came to be. Rabbi Yehuda says: Any food item that is a type resulting from a curse, one does not recite a blessing over it.

5)  One who ate from the fruit for which Eretz Yisrael was praised, grapes and figs and pomegranates, recites the three blessings of Grace after Meals, as he would after eating bread– the statement of Rabban Gamliel. And the Rabbis say: One need only recite one blessing abridged from the three blessings of Grace after Meals.

6)  Rabbi Akiva says: The three blessings of Grace after Meals are not restricted to bread; rather, even if one ate boiled vegetables, but it is his primary sustenance, he recites the three blessings.

7)  Additionally: One who drinks water to quench his thirst recites: By Whose Word all things came to be. Rabbi Tarfon says: He recites: Who Creates the many forms of life and their needs.

Ibid. 9: 2

8)  One who sees conspicuous natural occurrences recites a blessing.

For… lightning, thunder, and gale force winds… one recites: Blessed…Whose strength and Power fill the world.

9)  For extraordinary mountains, hills, seas, rivers, and deserts, one recites: Blessed…Author of Creation…

10) Rabbi Yehuda says: One who sees the great sea recites a special blessing: Blessed…Who Made the great sea…

11)  For rain and other good tidings, one recites the special blessing: Blessed…Who Is Good and Who Does good.

11a) Even for bad tidings, one recites a special blessing: Blessed…the True Judge.

It could be said that all blessings and prayers are intended to cause us to be more “mindful” of our surroundings, and the role that HaShem has Played in Creating and Maintaining them.

While depending upon where one lives, the above blessings can potentially be recited more, or less, frequently, I find one blessing that is only recited once annually,

to be particularly moving in this regard:

Shulchan Aruch, Orech Chayim 226:1

One who goes out in the month of Nissan, and sees trees that have put forth flowers, says: “Blessed Are you….Who has not left anything lacking in the world and Who has Created Good Creations and Good Trees from which people can benefit.” …

While this blessing is unique to the situation that is introduced in the Shulchan Aruch, i.e., seeing first blooms of fruit trees in Nissan, it seems to me that it contains within it the sine qua none of blessings and prayers—the acknowledgement that God has Created for us and placed us within, as the philosopher Leibnitz put it, “le meilleur des mondes possible” (the best of all possible worlds.)  Granted that each of us is mortal, and subject to all sorts of trials and tribulations, both for ourselves and our families; nevertheless, rather than constantly critiquing how the world around us can be improved, prayers and blessings strive to make us appreciative of the “good fortune” that each of us enjoys while we are able to roam the earth.

[1] Of course, blessings can become rote as well. Perhaps this is why, aside from Kabbalistic considerations, a paragraph was added before Pesukei D’Zimra and Birchat HaMazon:

I now prepare my mouth to thank, laud, and praise my Creator, for the sake of the unification of the Holy One, Blessed Be He, and His Presence, through Him Who is Hidden and Inscrutable.—I pray in the name of all Israel. (The Complete ArtScroll Siddur, p. 59.)

Behold I am ready and prepared to fulfill the positive commandment of the Tora: (Devarim 8:10) “And thou shalt eat and be satisfied, and bless the LORD thy God for the good land which He hath given thee.” (Custom practiced since the days of Yeshiva University Seminar in the 1970’s.)

It’s all well and good the first few times that one recites these paragraphs; but human nature is such that after a while they too become routine. Will one have to continually compose new “Hinneni Mucham U’Mezuman’s”?