[Avodah] Some Insights Brochos

[Prof. Levine]

We are accustomed to making brochos many times 
each day.  The following are some insights into 
what making brochos is all about.  They are from 
RSRH's essay Cheshvan VI that appears in Volume 
II of the Collected Writings of RSRH.

The non-Jewish person is surrounded by the same life and the
same nature as is the Jew. Jews and non-Jews alike experience the
same delights and pains, joys and sorrows. But only the Jew pauses
when he hears a thunderclap or beholds a blossom, when he feels
sorrow or joy, when he looks beyond each moment of bliss or grief to
the Invisible One, because he sees all these happenings as heralds and
messengers of God. And so the Jew is to be mindful of his own status
and of his purpose in the Divine world of life and creation.

To be sure, our Sages have formulated these Berachoth in a simple
style. They are brief and concise, just as are the events, the experiences
or the resolves which they accompany, and which they serve to convey.

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Man addresses himself to God with a term that connotes the closeness
but at the same time the profoundly solemn nature of man's
relationship to God. The word Atah ennobles him who pronounces it.
But in order not to turn it into blasphemy it can only be pronounced
by the one who perceives Him in every manifestation of nature, in
every event of history, and who is ready to serve Him and Him alone.
The word which expresses this thought is baruch. This is the word
from which the institution of brachos ordained by our Sages has taken its
name. It is that word which they have placed on our lips as the eternal
motto of our existence and of our life. It encompasses the entire life's
task of the Jew.

The ordinary human being turns to the object of his prayers and
begs, "Bless me." From the primitive to the scholar they are all
motivated by a "feeling of dependence" which in turn produces what
men call ·"religion." The feeling of dependence, the realization of our
own impotence and need for help, the idea that there must be something
or someone higher than ourselves on whom (plural and singular)
we are dependent, .these are the sentiments that impel the primitive and
scholar alike to utter the humble prayer: "Bless me!"

Not so the Jew. The word that leads him to his God is not "Bless
me!" For he understands that he already has been blessed through all
the delights and all the moments of life in nature and history that have
been granted him. He accepts both joys and sorrows as blessings. The
wish that motivates his energies and his aspirations is not that he
should receive blessings but that he should be able to bestow blessings
upon others. This is the desire that should guide him at every unfolding
moment of his life. The word of consecration with which the Jew
should address his God with his every breath is 
not baruch, "Bless," but baruch Atah "be You blessed."
Be You blessed! May Your will be done through me! May Your
wishes be fulfilled through me! May Your dominion be promoted by
me! May I carry out Your purposes!

You, 0 God, have entrusted the realization of Your will, the fulfillment
of Your wishes, the advancement of Your dominion and the
accomplishment of Your work to free-willed human action. This, 0
God, is my purpose; this is the purpose for which You have made me a
man and a Jew. Because I am a human, You have bestowed upon me
the energy to take action of my own free will, and because I am a Jew
You have revealed to me Your will and the purposes which You would
want accomplished on earth. Everything that You have caused me to...
see and to experience in nature and in history, everything You have
given me-or denied me-in nature and in history, reminds me of my
mission, constantly renewing my strength and placing new demands
upon me to accomplish that mission. Be blessed with and through
everything You give me-everything You take from me!

May God be blessed through me!-then what we are striving to
accomplish is no longer our own purpose, the wishes we are laboring
to fulfill are no longer our own desires. Indeed, we might feel insignificant,
we might consider our efforts unimportant, but since it is our
own God Who placed us here, He expects us to accomplish His work
in the very position in which we find ourselves. And therefore He is at
our side, waging the struggle against nature and society on our behalf;
He is our shelter and shield, our strength and our victory. It is before
Him, not before us, that the forces to be overcome will retreat. We are
workmen in His employ. We have made His will our own, and therefore
He makes our will His; because we have abdicated our will in His
favor, He will thwart the will of others in our 
favor (Pirkei Avos Perek Bais, Mishna Daled)

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