Thursday, August 28, 2014

Judaism's Top 40 - Elul 2 # 39 Bracha

  
Judaism's Top 40!

TODAY, ELUL 2, NUMBER 39

B'racha - Blessing

Rabbi Lawrence Kushner translates "b'racha" as "awakening.'  He writes:

Blessings give reverent and routine voice to our conviction that life is good, even and especially when life is cold and dark. Indeed to offer blessings at such times may be our only deliverance.   We have specific and unique phrases by which we bless a sacred book before we read it, our children at the Sabbath table, hands while washing them,
the bread we eat, the mere fact that we are not slaves, and that the rooster can distinguish between night and day. We bless trees in first blossom, the hearing of good news in any kind of wine. We bless everything.   

Blessings keep our awareness of life's holy potential ever present.  They awaken us to our own lives. Every blessing says I'm grateful to be a creature and remind myself that life is good. With each blessing uttered, we extend the boundaries of the sacred and ritualize our love of life. 100 times a day. Everywhere we turn, everything we touch, everyone we see.  The blessing can be whispered. No one even needs to hear  -no one but the Holy One, whose presence fills me.


Click here for more on blessings.

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