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Berakhos and Continuous Creation</title><link rel="stylesheet"
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item, '<a
href="http://www.aishdas.org/asp/berakhos-continuous-creation">Berakhos and
Continuous Creation</a>'<br />
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<p>You may have heard the Baal Shem Tov’s thought that the close of the
first <em>berakhah </em>before <em>Shema</em> in the morning,
“<em>Yotzeir haMe’oros</em> – Who Creates the [Celestial]
Lights.” He says that it is written in the present sense because the
Ribbono shel olam didn’t create the <em>me’oros</em> and then they
just continue to persist. Rather, He is creating and recreating everything
continually. As we say shortly before that closing, “<em>Hamchadeish
beTuvo bekhol yom tamid</em> — Who in His Goodness renews every day,
continually, the Act of Creation.”</p>
<p>Our persistence is as much an act of creation as the original moments when
things came to be.</p>
<p>In <a
href="https://www.sefaria.org/Arukh_HaShulchan%2C_Orach_Chaim.46.3">Arukh
haShulchan OC 46:3</a>, Rav Yechiel Mikhl Epstein notes that this is just one
example of a general rule. Every <em>berakhah</em> concludes in present tense:
“<em>Nosein haTorah</em> – Who gives the Torah”,
“<em>Borei peri ha’adamah</em> — Who creates the produce of
the ground.” And therefore the AhS says that our <em>nusach
</em>“<em>haNosein lasekhvi vinah</em> — Who gives the
rooster/hear the understanding to distinguish between day and night”
(the version found in the Rambam, Tur, and SA) is the essential law, even
though the extant edition of the <em>gemara</em> reads, “<em>asher nasan
lasekhvi vinah</em> — Who gave the rooster/heart
understanding….”</p>
<p>R YM Epstein then adds, “<em>Asher Yatzar</em>” starts out in
past tense — the title words mean “Who Created man with
wisdom” — because it’s about what just happened, but there
too the closing is “<em>Rofei khol basar</em> — Who heals all
flesh”, present tense..</p>
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<p>I want to combine this with something the Arukh haShulchanwrites in <a
href="https://www.sefaria.org/Arukh_HaShulchan%2C_Orach_Chaim.4.2">OC 4:2</a>.
There he talks about the shift from second to third “Person”
grammar in <em>berakhos</em>. “<em>Barukh Atah</em>” talks to a
You. However, “<em>asher qidihanu</em> — Who sanctifies us”
or “<em>hanosein </em>— Who gives” or whatever talks about a
He. We similarly find in a number of songs and litergical references to
“<em>Atah Hu</em> — You are He Who”.</p>
<p>His Essense is <em>ne’elam mikol ne’eman</em>, hidden from
every believer. Even the higher classes of angel, he <em>seraphim </em>and
<em>ophanim, </em>have no idea. They and we only know Hashem by His actions.
And therefore “<em>Barukh kevod H’ mimqomo”</em> —
His Kavod, which we can understand something about, because they are His
Actions, are blessed in its “Place”. But not Hashem’s
Essence. So, when we speak of something we receive from Him, we are talking
about Hashem’s action, and can use the word <em>Atah</em>.</p>
<p>But the Arukh haShulchan doesn’t explain why then we switch to the
third “Person” language for the <em>chasimah</em>, the closing of
a <em>berakhah</em>.</p>
<p>Perhaps this idea from 46:3 is why. We can relate to Hashem providing us
the bread before us. But can we relate to <em>Maaseh Bereishis</em> being
<em>lemaaleh min hazman</em>, beyond the concept of time, such that His
providing us that bread is the same Action as His creating the concept of
wheat, it properties, and the first wheat, to begin with? This present-tense
praise can only be at a remove, to a “He”.</p>
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