929/Gen. 11-15: Shield of Abraham

(17) When he returned from defeating Chedorlaomer and the kings with him, the king of Sodom came out to meet him in the Valley of Shaveh, which is the Valley of the King. (18) And King Melchizedek of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was a priest of God Most High.^* (19) He blessed him, saying, “Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth. (20) And blessed be God Most High, Who has delivered your foes into your hand.”And [Abram] gave him a tenth of everything. (21) Then the king of Sodom said to Abram, “Give me the persons, and take the possessions for yourself.” (22) But Abram said to the king of Sodom, “I swear^* to יהוה, God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth: (23) I will not take so much as a thread or a sandal strap of what is yours; you shall not say, ‘It is I who made Abram rich.’ (24) For me, nothing but what my servants have used up; as for the share of the parties who went with me—Aner, Eshkol, and Mamre—let them take their share.” (1) Some time later, the word of יהוה came to Abram in a vision: “Fear not, Abram, I am a shield to you; Your reward shall be very great.” (2) But Abram said, “O lord יהוה,^° what can You give me, seeing that I shall die childless, and the one in charge of my household is Dammesek Eliezer!”^*

(3) Blessed are You, Adonoy, our God, and God of our fathers, God of Abraham, God of Isaac, and God of Jacob, the Almighty, the Great, the Powerful, the Awesome, most high Almighty, Who bestows beneficent kindness, Who possesses everything, Who remembers the piety of the Patriarchs, and Who brings a redeemer to their children’s children, for the sake of His Name, with love. King, Helper, and Deliverer and Shield. Blessed are You, Adonoy, Shield of Abraham.

It was stated: Rabbi Yosei, son of Rabbi Ḥanina, said: prayers were instituted by the Patriarchs. However, Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said that the prayers were instituted based on the daily offerings.

Rabbi Shimon ben Lakish said “And I will make of you a great nation” (Genesis 12:2); this is fulfilled in the opening of the first blessing as Jews say: God of Abraham. “And I will bless you”; this is when they say: God of Isaac. “And I will make your name great”; this is fulfilled when they say: God of Jacob. One might have thought to conclude with the names of all them, but the verse states: “And you will be a blessing,” i.e., with you, Avraham, they will conclude the blessing, and they will not conclude with all of them.

an individual lead the prayer in the presence of Rabbi Ḥanina and said: God, the great, the mighty, and the awesome, the powerful, and the strong, and the fearless. Rabbi Ḥanina said to him: Have you concluded all of the praises of your Master? Even these three praises, had Moses our teacher not written them in the Torah (Deut. 10:17), and had the members of the Great Assembly not come and incorporated them (see Neh. 9:32), we would not have dared to recite them. And you recited these others. It is like someone with thousands of gold dinars, who is praised for owning a thousand silver ones. Isn’t that an insult?

“Who forms light and creates darkness” (Isaiah 45:7). Let him say instead: Who forms light and creates brightness?: We say it as it is written. But if so, we should say: “Who makes peace and creates evil”? Rather, it is written evil and we euphemistically recite the blessing all things. Here, too, let us euphemistically say brightness. Rather, Rava said: in order to mention the attribute of day at night and of night during the day. Granted, the attribute of night is mentioned during the day, as we say: Who forms light and creates darkness, but where do you find the attribute of day mentioned at night?

Reish Lakish said: Stand and say a statement with regard to those who comfort the mourners. He began and said: Our brothers, bestowers of loving-kindness, sons of bestowers of loving-kindness, who embrace the covenant of Abraham our Patriarch, as it is stated: “For I know him, that he will command his children…to do righteousness and justice” (Genesis 18:19). Our brothers, may the Master of reward pay you your just deserts. Blessed are You, Lord, Who pays the just deserts.

(1) Blessed are you, O LORD our god and the god of our fathers, god of Abraham, god of Isaac, and god of Jacob, the great, mighty, and wondrous god, the god Most High, creator of the heavens and the earth.

(2) Shield of the patriarchs with his Word, revivifier of the dead by his Speech, the holy god...

What is the blessing of the song (said at the seder)? Rav Yehuda said: They shall praise You, Lord, our God. And Rabbi Yoḥanan said: The breath of all living. The Sages taught: one completes hallel over the 4th cup and recites the great hallel; this is the statement of Rabbi Tarfon. And some say: “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want” (Psalms 23:1).