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Ever wonder...what's the true meaning of bracha?
What lies behind a bracha? What are we really doing when we recite a blessing? What are we really accomplishing? Believe it or not, the answers to these questions are surprisingly deep and philosophical. Let’s take a closer look at the deceptively simple language of this ancient formula which we recite many times each day.
The phrase “Baruch Atah Adoshem” with which we begin most of the brachot we say is usually translated as, “Blessed are You, Hashem”. Most halachic authorities agree that this translation, although technically correct, is a mistaken one. According to Webster’s dictionary the word “to bless” or “blessed” means “to consecrate” or “to make holy” as well as “to endow, as with a gift”. Now God, certainly, doesn’t need us to “consecrate” Him neither can we “endow” Him with anything. Clearly, the Rabbis who composed this formula and chose this specific word “Baruch” had something else in mind.
In actual fact, the Rabbis inform us that the word baruch in this context comes from the word breicha which means “wellspring” and has a connotation of “proliferation” and “outpouring”, as in abundant water flowing freely and continuously from a spring. To support this interpretation, many authorities point to a gemara in Masechta Brachot. In the gemara, it describes how Rabbi Yishmael, the Kohen Gadol, once entered the Kodesh HaKedoshim on Yom Kippur and was asked to bless God. Rabbi Yishmael understood that God was asking for him to recognize His relationship with the Jewish people, to understand that everything that happened to them was Divinely ordained. Rabbi Yishmael therefore prayed that God should allow His mercy to flow onto His Children. It was a prayer that recognized and acknowledged that everything comes from God; that without Him there was nothing and that God’s mercy should flow in abundance like a wellspring.
In this light, the formula of our bracha takes on a whole new meaning. By saying “Baruch Atah Adoshem” we are not just making a simple statement about God which says, “Holy are You, O God” or “Supremely Endowed are You, O God” but rather, we are making a deep and fundamental acknowledgement which says, in essence, “You, O God, Eternally Deep, Ever-Gushing Spring from which all good flows” are the Source of all that we have in this world.
What this understanding of the bracha does is to transform a simple, relatively, mundane phrase into a powerful, threefold affirmation. First, it affirms that the food or mitzvah in front of us has come from the Eternal Source of all good and, as such, is totally good for us and bespeaks Hashem’s great love and compassion for us. Secondly, it affirms and acknowledges that we recognize the food or mitzvah before us is a gift from Hashem for which we are thanking Him. Finally, it affirms that it is to this Eternal Source of overflowing goodness alone that it is fitting for us to offer our prayers that this outpouring of good should continue.
The Rabbis prescribed that every Jew should strive to recite at least one hundred brachot every day. In light of our discussion, it would seem that the Rabbis, in their great wisdom, chose the medium of the “simple” bracha to impart to the Jewish people some of the most important concepts of our heritage. May this new understanding of brachot enable us to more fully appreciate the continuous outpouring of good from Above.
Rabbi Eliezer Kessler
Houston, TX
Houston, TX
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