Naso 2009

What is a blessing? The root ב.ר.כ appears in the Tanakh over 300 times. Many of us bless our children on Shabbat. Our prayers are largely made up of ברכות, blessings, and at the very least we say ‘Bless you” after someone sneezes. If I asked people here to define the word ‘blessing,’ would we be able to say something more specific than ‘something good?’

The dictionary defines the word as ‘to make holy,’ or ‘to bestow good upon.’ Do we have the ability to do this? When a person sneezes and we say “Bless you,” of course it is short for “Gd bless you,” or “May Gd bless you.” If a person may be getting sick, we ask for Gd’s blessing to keep her healthy. The blessing of the children, traditionally done right before Shabbat dinner, is also a request to the Holy One, to bless our children. May Gd make you like Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and Leah. May Gd make you like Ephraim and Menashe.

When we pray, we often begin “ברך אתה יי,” “Blessed are You, Eternal One...” Are we blessing Gd, or are we merely stating that Gd is blessed? There is no need for us to make Gd holy, even if it were possible. And what kind of goodness could we bring to Gd? 

In fact, there is a story of a person blessing Gd. The Babylonian Talmud, tractate Brachot, page 7a.

 Rabbi Yishmael ben Elisha said:

Once I entered to make the incense offering in the Holy of Holies

And I saw the Eternal Gd, Lord of Hosts sitting on a great and lofty throne.

He said to me: Yishmael my son, bless Me.

I said to him: Master of the Universe

May it be Your will that Your attribute of mercy outweighs Your anger,

That Your mercy overcomes Your other attributes,

That You behave toward Your children with the attribute of mercy, and that for their sake, 

You stop short of the strict limits of justice. 

He nodded His head to me.

What does this story tell you about Judaism?

The blessing of the children that I mentioned above does not end where I stopped. After May Gd make you like Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel and Leah, or may Gd make you like Ephraim and Menashe, we continue with the priestly blessing. This blessing comes from this week’s Torah portion, Naso. It is introduced thus: וַיְדַבֵּר יי אֶל־מֹשֶׁה לֵּאמֹר:  דַּבֵּר אֶל־אַהֲרֹן וְאֶל־בָּנָיו לֵאמֹר כֹּה תְבָרֲכוּ אֶת־בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אָמוֹר לָהֶם: Gd spoke to Moses, and said “Speak to Aaron and his sons, and tell them: Thus shall you bless the Children of Israel: Say unto them:...” This is followed by the blessing that we know so well:יְבָרֶכְךָ יי וְיִשְׁמְרֶךָ:  יָאֵר יי | פָּנָיו אֵלֶיךָ וִיחֻנֶּךָּ: יִשָּׂא יי | פָּנָיו אֵלֶיךָ וְיָשֵׂם לְךָ שָׁלוֹם: May Gd bless you and keep you. May Gd shine the light of His countenance upon you and be gracious to you. May Gd lift up His face upon you and grant you peace. 

Three lines, three, five, and seven words in length. 15, 20, and 25 letters in the lines. Two verbs in each line separated by the awesome Name of Gd. In Sephardic Judaism, when the priests bless the people, they add also the next verse: וְשָׂמוּ אֶת־שְׁמִי עַל־בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל וַאֲנִי אֲבָרֲכֵם:

Gd continues, saying “And I will place My Name upon the Children of Israel, and I shall bless them.” I shall bless them. 

I don’t know how I feel about this blessing being reserved for the descendants of priests, and I don’t know if we are able to bring blessings into this world on our own. But I do know that if we bless our fellow human beings, Gd promises to bless us as well.

To return to the story from the Talmud, the story of Yishmael ben Elisha. How he had the nerve to Bless the Holy One I don’t know, and perhaps he didn’t either. But the Eternal asked for a blessing from a human being, and He received it, and seemed to be happy with it. 

And the blessing was not may Gd, You, bring Yourself holiness or good things. It was may You, Gd, be merciful to us, we poor human beings, your children. We need it. Life is hard. And Gd agreed.

So the story in the parasha tells us that when we bless each other, Gd blesses us. And the story in the Talmud teaches us that when we bless each other, we bless Gd. The story in the Talmud goes on as well. It says וקמ”ל, And this comes to teach us:

That a blessing given by an ordinary person should never be taken lightly. 

This is a strange conclusion, since the word they use for ordinary person, הדיוט, usually means as opposed to a priest. Rabbi Yishmael ben Elisha would not have been bringing the incense offering to the Holy of Holies unless he was the high priest. But somehow it makes sense. If a human being, high priest or no, can bless the Source of all life and blessing, surely we can bless each other, no matter who we are. And Gd promises that He will place His holy name upon us and bless us.

And so, although I am not a priest, I will conclude with that same blessing. Please help me, bless yourselves and Gd by repeating כן יהי רצן, may it be Gd’s will, after each blessing. יְבָרֶכְךָ יי וְיִשְׁמְרֶךָ:  יָאֵר יי | פָּנָיו אֵלֶיךָ וִיחֻנֶּךָּ: יִשָּׂא יי | פָּנָיו אֵלֶיךָ וְיָשֵׂם לְךָ שָׁלוֹם