Wayne Dosick    By Wayne Dosick       List of honorees         Louis Rose Society         Jewishsightseeing home  San Diego Jewish Times  home

Rabbinic Insights: Blessed Are You

San Diego Jewish Times, May 19, 2006

By Rabbi Wayne Dosick

The basic form of Jewish prayer is a b'racha, a blessing, for it is by means of blessing that Jews acknowledge, praise, thank, and petition God.

B'rachot (plural of b'racha) are the basic rubric of the Jewish communal worship service. Jut as often, they are recited by families and individuals as a means of personal expression of gratitude or desire.

In English, "to bless" means to "bestow favor on." That means that the one who has the "goodies" — the greatest strength, power or influence, or the best or most desirable qualities or possession — can offer those "goodies" (or a portion of them) to another.

Since God is the ultimate holder of life’s "goodies," it is easy to understand why human beings would seek God's blessings — asking God to bestow favor on us by giving a measure of Godly strength, wisdom, compassion, and love, and by granting health, prosperity, and happiness. Thus, it makes sense for the formula for Jewish blessing to be, "O, God, please bless me (us) with ..." That is, of course the form that the kohanim use. "May God bless you..."

But the formula for Jewish blessing is very different. Jewish blessings begin with the words, "Baruch Atah ..." "Blessed are You, O God..."

It is a curious formulation. For who are we human beings — those seeking the "goodies," God's favor — to say to God, "We bless You"? What do we have that God is lacking, that God wants?

B'shem ormo, I learned the kernel of this teaching from Rabbi Ben Zion Bergman, long-time faculty member at the University of Judaism in Los Angeles, and the Av Beit Din of the Rabbinical Assembly in LA.

The first, simple answer is in the Midrash (Ps, 88, 4) '''In the morning my prayer comes before You.' (Ps. 88:13) R. Pinchas said, 'The angel who is in charge of prayer waits until the children of Israel in the last synagogue have finished their prayers, and then he takes all the prayers and makes them into a crown, and places it upon God's head…'"

To affirm God's Godness, God wants and needs us and our prayers.

But, the deeper meaning is in the word itself. The Hebrew root b-r-k has the meaning to kneel. It would, thus, make sense that the word for blessing God takes its meaning from bowing down and kneeling before God, thus acknowledging God's sovereignty and greatness.

But, we need to go one step further. The usual biblical word for camel is g-m-l. There is another word that is translated as young camel — b-k-r. It is a hapax legomenon (a word used only once in a manuscript) in masculine form in Is. 60:6, and in feminine form in Jer. 2:23.) It is very possible that the original intent of word was b-r-k, since a unique characteristic of a camel is to kneel (b-r-k) in a unique way. Since the word is used only once, it is easy to imagine that the transcriber inverted the letters — b-r-k became b-k-r.

What is most unique about a camel, besides its kneeling? Its great capacity to go for a long time without water. That is a unique, inherent power that amazed the ancients. (Similar to the unique, inherent power of the legendary, mythical rock to hold the sword until the right words are spoken to give it up.)

So, a camel (b-k-r, which very well was b-r-k) has an inherent power. Thus, using the same word (b r k) to speak to God really means, "We acknowledge within You, O God, the unique, inherent power to ... bring forth bread from the Earth ... create the fruit of the vine ... keep us in life and sustain us ... command us to ... "

Since that lengthy English phrase is rather cumbersome, it has been shortened to the phrase "Blessed Are you ..." The shortened formula wou1d be better put, "Acknowledged (or praised) are You, O God ..."

So, by saying baruch, we are acknowledging (and, implied, praising and thanking) God's unique and inherent power — a power that belongs to no one and no thing except God.

Judaism gives us three categories of blessings to recite:

1. Blessings that thank God for the enjoyment of the five senses — for example, blessings for food, and the awesome sights and sounds of nature.

2. Blessings for performing a mitzvah — a command or injunction of God, acknowledging that the command is Divinely given (or, extended as Divinely given by the sages) and thanking God for the opportunity to fulfill a religious precept. Blessings of this kind are, for example, over Shabbat candles, eating matzoh, hearing the sound of the shofar.

3. Blessings of thanks, praise, or petition — gratitude for keeping us in life and sustaining us. Many blessing so this type are recited during the worship service as a reflection of the full spectrum of the needs and desires of human beings, coming before God, and hoping for God's favor.

These three types of blessings embody the whole of the human condition: the desire and need to praise and thank God for all God's many gifts, and to ask for God's continuing favor and benediction.

 An observant Jew recites at least 100 blessings each and every day. Spending so much time and spiritual energy acknowledging, praising, and thanking God is recognition and affirmation that God is at the center of each of our lives; that the spiritual quest for a personal, intimate relationship with God is a primary purpose of human existence.

The recitation of blessings is a constant reminder to each and every Jew — and each and every human being — of who we are, from where we have come, what we have witnessed, and what we have achieved, and — with God's continued favor — we can hope to become.

Through blessing, over and over again, we acknowledge and rejoice in God's awesome power and love.

And, so, together and individually, through the ancient formula of blessing reaffirmed and renewed — in our day, we say: We praise You and we thank You, O God, for the beauty of creation; for the breath of life; for choosing us to be Your partners; for endowing us with the capacity to think and reason and remember, the potential to create and grow and choose; for teaching us the difference between right and wrong; for granting us the discernment to temper justice with compassion; for making us able to feel pain and failure, and bring hope and healing; for the extraordinary power to care and share and love; for the unique ability to make the life of another as precious as our own; for calling and challenging us to be human and human; to do well and be good.

I praise You and I thank You, O God, that I and the ones I love are healthy and well; that I have food to eat, a place to live, clothes to wear; that today I was saved from accident and harm — that no errant car crashed into me; that no hurtful person attacked me; that no stray bullet found its way to me; that today I was spared from disaster and calamity — that an earthquake did not thrust up the ground under my feet, that flood did not submerge my land, that fire did not consume my house, that no evil befell me, that no pain has engulfed me.

I praise You and I thank You, O God, in the words of the poet Ruth Brin, "for the blessings You bestow openly and for those You give in secret ... For the blessings I recognize and those I fail to recognize ... For the blessings that surround me on every side."

Your prayer of praise and gratitude are for God who delights in them. As much — and more — they are for you. For, in your prayer is your greatness and your humility.

It takes a great person to be able to say. "Thank you; I appreciate you." And it takes a humble person to know that he or she must.

Rabbi Wayne Dosick, Ph.D., the spiritual guide of the Elijah Minyan, an adjunct professor at the University of San Diego and the Director of the 17: Spiritually Healing Children's Emotional Wounds. He is the award-winning author of six critically acclaimed books, including Golden Rules; Living Judaism; and Soul Judaism: Dancing with God into a New Era.