Rabbi Daniel Siegel

Being a Blessing

Our Jewish tradition abounds in ברכות/blessings (the root letters for the word blessing is ברכ).

Upon waking up in the morning a Jew is to say /ברכות השחרthe morning blessings. The official call for communal prayer is ברכו/Barkhu.

From birth to death, our life cycle events and our holidays, with their attendant rituals and practices, incorporate and are highlighted by diverse celebratory ברכות/blessings. Indeed, everyday, our Rabbinic tradition tells us, we are to recite 100 blessings. In the middle of every school day, we gather for ברכת המזון/Birkat HaMazon, in fulfillment of the biblical command ואכלת ושׂבעת וברכת/ “You shall eat, and, upon being satisfied, you shall bless”.

ברכות/Blessings direct and empower us to engage in the celebration and appreciation of life, through mindfulness, intent and sanctification.

The very first parashah of the Torah, Bereishit, which we recently read, is replete with ברכות/blessings; all the animals, including humans, are blessed and the seventh day, Shabbat, is blessed.

Our Torah concludes with the parashah of וזאת הברכה/“This is the blessing”, in which all of Israel is blessed in a fashion similar to Jacob’s blessings for each of his twelve sons at the end of Bereishit: ויברך אותם איש אשר כברכתו ברך אותם /“And he blessed them, each according to his particular blessing, did he bless them”.

Only in our parashah, lekh lekha (literally – Go to Yourself), however, do we find, in God’s words to Avraham, the unique exhortation: והיה ברכה/“Be a Blessing”.

When I asked our students how they might understand “Be a Blessing”, I received a variety of responses: Giving of myself, helping others be better people, living better lives or making for a better world. The Book of Proverbs offers a similar understanding נפש ברכה תדשן ומרווה גם הוא יורא 

“The benefacting soul (literally, a person serving as a blessing) shall flourish, and he that waters shall himself be watered”. The image here links the word ברכה to בריכה (an overflowing pool of water) to be a ברכה/is to extend one’s goodness unto others.

As parents and teachers, however, there is another understanding of how we should hope and encourage our children and students to “become blessings”. When blessing his children, Jacob, who stole his brother’s blessing, now himself understood that he should bless his children “each according to his particular blessing”. Like God’s blessing to Avraham, the first Jew, and in blessing our children and students we should ask that they become a blessing through developing their unique selves and strengths.

God says to Avraham ואברכך והיה ברכה/“And I shall bless you…and you be that blessing”. We each are uniquely blessed and we each are to be a blessing in realising our blessing in service to others. ונברכו בך כל משפחות האדמה-“And through you”, God tells Abraham and us, “all peoples of the earth shall be blessed”.