Emet

Well, where to begin? Coming from a Christian perspective we all know that Catholics have a prayer or a blessing for everything. I can tell you that they were not the originators of this concept. This fact is one thing that makes this study so daunting. Let’s peruse a short list of common Jewish blessings (from the Hebrew for Christians website):

Upon Arising
When Bathing
Offering Praise
Getting your Focus
Setting your Attitude
Fighting against Evil
When wearing Tallit Katan
Morning Blessing
Weekday Morning Blessings
When Eating Bread
When Drinking Wine
General Blessing over Food
When Smelling Spices
When Smelling Fruit
When Eating Fruit
When Eating Vegetables
When Eating Grain products
Grace after Meals
Before Torah Study
After Torah Study
Upon Hearing Good News
For Bearing our Burdens
For Meeting our Needs
Affirming God’s Sovereignty
Evening Blessing
Bedtime Blessings

Now, what I didn’t say before going over this list: these are some (not all) of the daily blessings. There are literally hundreds more blessings. There are special blessings for Shabbat, for the Feasts, for the Holidays, blessings for when you see a rainbow, for when you wash your hands, when you fulfill a commandment, for special occasions and more. I have read that there is a Talmudic teaching which states, “If you enjoy something in this world without saying a blessing, it is as if you stole it.” It is an interesting perspective. I like what the guy from the Hebrew for Christians website says at the top of his page on blessings:

Jewish tradition requires that we personally bless the LORD for each detail of our daily experience. Such a requirement — if not practiced legalistically — surely points to a deep inward appreciation for the good things God personally provides for us throughout each day.

Indeed. There is much use in many of the Hebrew prayers and there is much we can learn from them. I encourage you to visit Hebrew for Christians and look more at any blessings which interest you. But what is the motivation behind all these blessings? Why is it that there are so many blessings? Why is it the scribes compared it to stealing if we don’t say a blessing for something G-d has provided? You will learn quickly that the Shema is the core blessing of Judaism. It is the core of the Hebrew roots too, actually. It is even at the very heart of Christianity. It is the motivation for everything they (Jews) do and everything we do. It is why we literally put our whole hearts into everything we pursue for G-d. It is why we get so focused on doing things that what we are doing can quickly become legalistic if we focus too much on the action and lose sight of the reason behind the action. So what is this driving blessing; this core blessing of Judaism and Christianity? What is the reason behind all our actions? Yeshua quoted it as the greatest commandment. It is Deuteronomy 6:4-9 which states:

“Hear, O Israel: The L-RD our G-d, the L-RD is one! You shall love the L-RD your G-d with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”

G-d is One and we are to love Him with everything that we are. That is our motivation. To love Him and remember everything He has done for and given us. The Hebrew word Shema is translated “Hear” as in “Hear, O Israel.” Shema literally means, hear, listen and obey all together. There is a whole teaching in that word alone, but the core here is: remember G-d and obey Him.

As we study the Hebrew blessings (and as you study more on your own) you will quickly notice that many of them begin, “Blessed are You, L-RD our G-d, King of the universe…” Some of you may think it odd that the prayers seem to be bestowing blessing on G-d. How can we bestow a blessing on Him since generally it is the greater party which bestows the blessing on the lesser party? Notice the prayer begins, “Blessed are You.” This is more a statement declaring that G-d is already blessed more than one placing blessing upon Him. In reciting the blessings we are remembering that He is blessed and that it is He Who blesses us.

James 1:17 (NASB) reminds us “Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.” If we recognize already that every good thing is from G-d and that we’re supposed to be thinking about Him all the time anyway why not thank Him for giving us these great gifts? That is one of the reasons there are so many blessings.

So out of all the blessings there are I have selected a few that stand out to me to focus on. The first one we’ll look at is a blessing some of you may remember from Passover. We said it as the grace after the meal. Jews traditionally say the blessing after they eat because Deuteronomy 8:10 says, “When you have eaten and are full, then you shall bless the LORD your God for the good land which He has given you.” On Passover the grace after the meal is different than the daily blessing after a meal. The Passover version goes like this:

Leader: According to Deuteronomy 8:10, it is customary to say grace after the meal, so all who are thankful let us say grace.
All: May the name of the L-rd be blessed forever.
Leader: Let us bless Him, O L-rd, Whose food we have eaten.
All: Blessed be He, O G-d, Whose food we have eaten and in Whose goodness we live.
Leader: Blessed be He, O G-d, Whose food we have eaten and in Whose goodness we live. Blessed be He, and blessed be His name. Amen.

I love this prayer because it really puts things in perspective. It is G-d’s food. If we have any to eat it is there because He provided it. And because of that fact it really is in His goodness that we live. Similar to this prayer in attitude is the one which is said upon arising. It is called Modeh Ani or “I give thanks” and is said before a Jewish person gets out of bed in the morning. It goes like this:

I give thanks before You, Living and Eternal King, that You have returned within me my soul with compassion; [how] abundant is Your faithfulness!

In an article on FFOZ they talk about this prayer and its resurrection allusion; G-d being faithful to restore our soul to us. I also love the picture that Jews begin their day from the very beginning recognizing and praising G-d. “Love the L-RD your G-d with all your heart… talk of [His commands]… when you lie down and when you rise up.” There is also a blessing for when someone survives illness, childbirth or danger. It is a community blessing of G-d and goes like this:

Blessing: “Blessed are You, LORD, our God, King of the Universe, who bestows good things on the unworthy, and has bestowed on me every goodness.”
Congregational Response: “Amen. He Who has bestowed on you every goodness, may He continue to bestow on you every goodness. Selah.”

This blessing is the lead in to the blessings I really want to focus on with this study. There are hundreds of other blessings and I hope you will take me up on studying more of them. There are so many blessings that I love that I’m not even mentioning here and there are many more that I haven’t even heard. Some are bad or come from a wrong mentality such as the “let’s build a fence around the law so as not to offend G-d” motivation. Some are pointless. Some are or could be wrote repetition, but that depends more on the attitude of the one praying than on the words of the prayer I think. Still others are sweet and beautiful and full of truth which is good for teaching. Check out the references section of the website. I have dozens of links to prayers we don’t have time to get into and links from which you can find more prayers I don’t have links to.

Anyway, enough of the bunny trail. The congregation responded, “He Who has bestowed on you every goodness, may He continue to bestow on you every goodness.” This is what I want to focus on tonight. Verbal blessing of others. How different would our world be if we blessed each other like this? James 3:1-10 speaks of the tongue being a restless evil full of deadly poison. He compares the tongue to the rudder of a ship saying, “Look at the ships also, though they are so great and are driven by strong winds, are still directed by a very small rudder wherever the inclination of the pilot desires. So also the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things.” (James 3:4-5 NASB) He goes on to say, “With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God; from the same mouth come both blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be this way.” (James 3:9-10 NASB)

The blessings I want to focus on are the blessings over our children and our families. The first blessing I want to look at is the blessing of the first Father on His first children. If you’ll turn to Genesis 1:28 we see that as G-d finished creating He looked at man and woman and He blessed them. Men, as G-d blessed us we are the ones who place these blessings on our families. We are the spiritual leaders in our homes. Women, if the man can’t or won’t say the blessing, while it’s unfortunate, you can bless your family in his stead. And of course if he does bless the family I hope you will encourage and support him in the blessings.

For our examples we look ahead from the creation to the patriarchs in Genesis. We see Abraham bless Isaac by giving him all that he had and G-d blessed Isaac after Abraham was gone (Gen. 25). We see Isaac bless Jacob (Gen. 27) and we all know that story; how Esau squandered his birthright and Jacob took the blessing from Esau. Finally we see Jacob bless his sons (Gen. 49) and his grandsons (Gen. 48). The blessings are amazing and become very true as you see the history of the tribes of Israel.

We all think of Judah as being the greatest tribe. After all, the Jews are called “Jews” because they were dispersed from the land of Judah which was named for the tribe of Judah which was named for the son of Jacob. Most of the Jews we know of today truly are from the tribes of Judah, Benjamin and Levi. This is the case because, though Judah was actually the fourth born son of Jacob, he received the blessing of the first born. Reuben, Simeon and Levi had done things that so displeased their father that he removed their full blessings from them. So we can see that these blessings contain great weight. The tongue does hold great power if we pray believing what we are asking. The prayer over our sons is, “May God make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh!” This prayer comes from Genesis 48:20 where Jacob is blessing his grandchildren. It reads:

So he blessed them that day, saying, “By you Israel will bless, saying, ‘May God make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh!’” And thus he set Ephraim before Manasseh.

So when we pray this blessing we are blessing our sons as we were instructed by Jacob (Israel). I have read that Ephraim and Manasseh are the first brothers in Scripture not to quarrel and that is why we bless our sons by invoking their names. I have also read that the meanings of their names are significant in the prayer because you are basically praying, “may you be fruitful in your future (Ephraim=I shall be doubly fruitful) and forget the pain of your past (Manasseh=causing to forget).” Pretty powerful stuff to say over our sons.

Here is a quote from an unsaved Jew talking about the strength of this blessing in his family (the three quotes that follow come from an article on Aish.com about blessing our children - Aish is a secular Jewish website):

My father has been giving a blessing to my wife and to myself every Friday night for a long time now, and yet when my own son was born, I didn’t do it to him. I think I just felt uncomfortable doing it in front of everyone. A few months ago I started sneaking the blessing to him when everyone got up to wash. The first time I did it, it felt amazing. So gradually I started building up my strength, and at last I did it at the appropriate point, with everyone at the table. Now it’s an honor to do it, and my one-year-old son sits there as I place my hand on his head and give him his blessing. I can’t believe how good it makes me feel.

If conferring this blessing on his child is such a blessing to him imagine how it is for his son. Especially as that child grows older and receives a blessing from his father every week. How much more important is it for us as Christians to raise our children under the covering of our blessings rather than our curses?

The blessing over the daughters also originates from Scripture though it has changed a bit. The blessing as we say it is, “May G-d make you like Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, and Leah.” It comes from Ruth 4:9-11 which says:

And Boaz said to the elders and all the people, “You are witnesses this day that I have bought all that was Elimelech’s, and all that was Chilion’s and Mahlon’s, from the hand of Naomi. “Moreover, Ruth the Moabitess, the widow of Mahlon, I have acquired as my wife, to perpetuate the name of the dead through his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brethren and from his position at the gate. You are witnesses this day.” And all the people who were at the gate, and the elders, said, “We are witnesses. The LORD make the woman who is coming to your house like Rachel and Leah, the two who built the house of Israel; and may you prosper in Ephrathah and be famous in Bethlehem.

“Who built the house of Israel.” Rachel and Leah were the mothers of all the tribes of Israel. And Ruth was blessed. She became the great-grandmother of a certain king who was known to be a man after G-d’s own heart. She also was an ancestor of an even greater King Who reigns and will reign forever still — our Messiah, Yeshua. Verbal blessing is a powerful expression, both for the giver and for the receiver. This is a good story from an unsaved Jew about the power of this blessing on her daughters:

For several years, I was diligent to give each of my daughters a Shabbos bracha [a Sabbath blessing], imploring God to make them like the great Jewish matriarchs, Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, and Leah. After our daughters went away to school, I was faced with a dilemma. How will I give them a Shabbos bracha? Then it struck me — why not over the phone? That’s what I did and the practice has continued to this day. Friday morning we call our younger daughter (now studying in Jerusalem), and I give her a bracha. Later in the day, we do the same for our elder daughter in Manhattan. Regardless of where they are, I lovingly give each of them a Shabbos bracha. I honestly don’t know who enjoys it more, my giving it, or their receiving it. No matter. We wouldn’t miss it for the world. It’s truly the tie that binds us as a family, and our family to its Jewish heritage.

Are the blessings not relationship builders? Are they not barrier breakers? There is one last story that talks about the blessings in general but neither specifically, but I treasure this one more than the other two:

I didn’t raise my children in a traditional home environment, so it was pretty surprising — to put it mildly — that they grew to become observant. My husband and I love to spend Friday nights in their homes, with the whole family gathered around, everyone dressed in their Shabbat best, the table glittering with silver and crystal…. But my favorite part is when my grandchildren go to each of their parents to receive their blessing. It’s so touching — and so healthy! No matter what conflicts occurred during the week, at that moment the child cannot help but feel very special and very loved. No doubt that they will grow with fond memories of those Friday night blessings, truly the building blocks of self-esteem.

The blessings over our families are so important. It is so vital for fathers to take the spiritual headship in the home and to begin to bless their families. How many families might stay together if there were blessings being spoken instead of curses? How many children might not grow up to rebel so violently against their parents? If the parents would just take a moment to bestow a blessing on their kids. There is also a blessing for the wife. It is longer and comes from Proverbs 31. It goes like this:

A woman of valor who can find? She is far more precious than jewels.
The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain.
She does him good, and not harm, all the days of her life.
She seeks wool and flax, and works with willing hands.
She is like the ships of the merchant; she brings her food from afar.
She rises while it is yet night and provides food for her household and portions for her maidens.
She considers a field and buys it; with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard.
She dresses herself with strength and makes her arms strong.
She perceives that her merchandise is profitable. Her lamp does not go out at night.
She puts her hands to the distaff, and her hands hold the spindle.
She opens her hand to the poor and reaches out her hands to the needy.
She is not afraid of snow for her household, for all her household are clothed in scarlet.
She makes bed coverings for herself; her clothing is fine linen and purple.
Her husband is known in the gates when he sits among the elders of the land.
She makes linen garments and sells them; she delivers sashes to the merchant.
Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come.
She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.
She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness.
Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her:
“Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all.”
Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.
Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates.

Maybe I’m just a romantic, but I think many fewer marriages would end in bitterness or divorce if the man would stand up once a week and bless his wife with these words.

Now the final blessing we’ll look at and one of my favorites: the priestly blessing. It comes from Numbers 6:23-27 where G-d instructs Aaron and his sons to bless the people of Israel:

“Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, Thus you shall bless the people of Israel: you shall say to them, ‘The L-RD bless you and keep you; the L-RD make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the L-RD lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace.’ So shall they put My Name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them.”

“So shall they put My Name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them.” I pray this one over my family every day. I love the idea that through it I am placing G-d’s Name on them and through that He will bless my family. He will do a far better job blessing them than I ever could. So this is your challenge, you fathers and husbands: bless your families. You wives or women whose husbands can’t or won’t, I challenge you: bless your families. If your husbands do stand up to bless your families don’t snicker or laugh. Encourage them; stand beside them and you bless your families together. We can’t change the whole world, but G-d has given us great power within our own households. And G-d has used these blessings to change people who then went on to change the world. What if Jacob, so long ago had not said that blessing over Judah?

G-d bless you!

Resources:

Bless - tr.v., blessed or blest (blĕst), bless·ing, bless·es.

1. To make holy by religious rite; sanctify.
2. To make the sign of the cross over so as to sanctify.
3. To invoke divine favor upon.
4. To honor as holy; glorify: Bless the Lord.
5. To confer well-being or prosperity on.
6. To endow, as with talent.

Scripture

Genesis 1:28 “and G-d blessed them…”
Genesis 32:26 Jacob wrestles with G-d and makes Him bless him.
Genesis 48:20 G-d make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh
Deut. 8:10 Grace after meals
Deut. 6:4-9 greatest commandment
Ruth 4:9-16 blessing over girls to be “like Rachel and Leah…” - also shows effects of the blessing
Matt. 6:6-13 “Our Father” prayer - pray in secret
Mark 9:23-24 “help my unbelief” (with James 1:5-8)
Mark 11:24 believing prayer
Mark 12:28-34 greatest commandment
Luke 11:1-4 “Our Father” prayer
Eph. 1:3 blessing G-d
James 1:5-8 believing prayer
James 1:17 G-d is the provider - “every good thing given…”
James 1:22 be doers of the Word, not hearers only.
James 1:27 undefiled religion
James 2:14-18 faith without works
James 3:1-10 tongue is restless evil - out of the same mouth come blessings and cursings
James 1-3

Hebrew4Christians.com

http://www.hebrew4christians.com/Blessings/Intro…

Note: Some people find the idea of berachot confusing. How can a mere human “bless” God? Is not the one who confers a blessing greater than the recipient? Perhaps the confusion will dissipate once we understand that when we recite a bracha, we are not blessing God but are expressing how blessed God is: “Blessed are YOU, LORD Our God…” … Engaging the mind with the awareness that God is the Source of all that is good is a means, then, of increasing your joy in this life. And that’s what the Hebrew blessings are all about.

http://www.hebrew4christians.com/Blessings/blessings.html http://www.hebrew4christians.com/Blessings/…wife http://www.hebrew4christians.com/Blessings/…children

FFOZ:

http://ffoz.org/blogs/2007/08/content_of_the_grace_after_mea.html
http://ffoz.org/blogs/2007/06/first_century_grace_after_meal.html
http://ffoz.org/blogs/2007/07/yeshua_and_the_grace_after_mea.html
http://ffoz.org/blogs/2007/03/a_prayer_upon_arising.html

Passover Grace After Meal:

Leader: According to Deuteronomy 8:10, it is customary to say grace after the meal, so all who are thankful let us say grace. All: May the name of the L-rd be blessed forever. Leader: Let us bless Him, O L-rd, Whose food we have eaten. All: Blessed be He, O G-d, Whose food we have eaten and in Whose goodness we live. Leader: Blessed be He, O G-d, Whose food we have eaten and in Whose goodness we live. Blessed be He, and blessed be His name. Amen.

Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Jewish_prayers_and_blessings

Upon waking up

Main article: Modeh ani

Translation: “I give thanks before You, Living and Eternal King, that You have returned within me my soul with compassion; [how] abundant is Your faithfulness!”

After surviving illness, childbirth or danger:

Blessing: “Blessed are You, LORD, our God, King of the Universe, who bestows good things on the unworthy, and has bestowed on me every goodness.” Congregational Response: “Amen. He Who has bestowed on you every goodness, may He continue to bestow on you every goodness. Selah.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modeh_ani (I Give Thanks - Upon arising)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Birkat_Hamazon (Grace after meals)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ma_Tovu (Oh how good “…answer me with the truth of your salvation”)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaddish#Mourners.27_Kaddish (Mourners Kaddish)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shema_Yisrael (Shema - “Hear oh Israel”)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amidah (Standing Prayer)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brit_milah (Circumcision)

Other resources:

http://www.aish.com/shabbathowto/fridaynight/Blessing_the_Children.asp

I didn’t raise my children in a traditional home environment, so it was pretty surprising — to put it mildly — that they grew to become observant. My husband and I love to spend Friday nights in their homes, with the whole family gathered around, everyone dressed in their Shabbat best, the table glittering with silver and crystal…. But my favorite part is when my grandchildren go to each of their parents to receive their blessing. It’s so touching — and so healthy! No matter what conflicts occurred during the week, at that moment the child cannot help but feel very special and very loved. No doubt that they will grow with fond memories of those Friday night blessings, truly the building blocks of self-esteem.

http://www.shabat.co.il/howto/blessing_children.htm

(If the child is not present, the blessing is still recited, as one does not have to be there to be blessed…Or, as someone once said, blessings are like Superman, they go through walls)

Tags: blessings, blessings over children, spiritual leadership

This entry was posted on Friday, May 30th, 2008 at 8:00 pm and is filed under Customs, Hebrew, Judaism, Sabbath (Shabbat), Traditions. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.