Birkat HaShanim - July 7, 2025

This beracha does not seem to have a clear source from Tanakh. Some Rishonim point to a possible source:

We don't know much about the Navi Yoel - son of Petuel. There is not consensus on when he lived (either before churban habayit or during the exile in the early 2nd temple period). The first relates a devastating plague of locusts, so the Navi calls the priests and people to fast and repent. After the teshuva and once the natural order is restored, HaShem promises to make up for the lost years of harvests.

1. Blessing of Years

So only a single word - Shanim - from Yoel 2:25 appears in beracha, but there is still a connection. The word years is the most striking in our beracha, and it appears several times - in the opening, in the me'ein chatimah and in the chatimah.

The word "year/years" is hard to comprehend here. The theme of this beracha is pretty clearly about prosperity and success; primarily for food.

We would not normally have chosen a unit of time as the object of the blessing of this prayer. We are asking here for prosperity, for food, and the obvious object could have been the earth (if we are thinking primarily in an agricultural framework -(hamotzi lechem min haaretz), or ourselves. This berakha, though, like the verse, chose to associate the berakha with "our year," with time, rather than with a material object. This is reflected by the standard rabbinic name for this berakha - birkat ha-shanim, the blessing of the years. Why refer to a unit of time?

Another difficulty centers on the verb of this berakha. One action is repeated three times - blessing. There is nothing inappropriate about this, until we realize that ALL blessings are about blessing. We could just as easily have asked HaShem to bless us with knowledge, with forgiveness, and with health. For some reason, this berakha is about blessing per se, in a specially unique manner. This is all the more striking since there is, in fact, no clear indication just what sort of blessing we are asking for. Were it not for the reference to rain on "the earth" later, the berakha would sound like a general request for anything good. Since it is clear that it is material prosperity that is the object of this request, we have to ask ourselves why this sort of good is described simply and generically as "blessing." These two questions come together when we examine the "chatima" - the God to whom we address this request is He who "blesses the years."

An answer to the question why the object of blessing is the unit of time of one year is that the berakha is referring primarily to agricultural prosperity. Agriculture moves in a yearly cycle - one has either a good year or a bad one. (This is particularly true in Eretz Yisrael, which is so dependent on rain - compare to a river-based civilization, such as Egypt or Mesopotamia.) This, however, merely raises the related question - why did the Sages choose to particularize the request to agriculture, which, despite its clear centrality for the welfare of man, is not the only sphere in which we are likely to request material success?

2. HaShem's role/restoration of years

Let's go back to Sefer Yoel.

We read about horrible destruction, and then the Navi calls for repentance and prayer:

Then he describes what happens

It is clear from these verses that the agricultural failure of the Land of Israel constitutes a desecration of the name of HaShem. The immediate result is that the nations will exclaim: "Where is their God!"

And then we read about HaShem's response

The conclusion of this prophecy explicitly describes the connection between the blessing of the land and the blessing of the Jewish people.

Clearly, the agricultural success in Israel is an expression of HaShem's presence within Am Yisrael.

3. Blessing

To understand this better, we must remember that berakha, blessing, means the power of growth and reproduction. The first berakha in the Torah was "pru u-revu," be fruitful and multiply. HaShem gave this AFTER creation. Everything created is created according to a plan, bound by its limits. Every created object is equal to itself and can contain no more than what was accorded it by creation. HaShem blessed the animal world with the blessing of pru u-revu, meaning he gave it the power to create more, to be more than the given, more than what is there from the start. The power of HaShem, expressed in creation ex nihilo, is carried over and granted to created things, to continue the true living growth and development.

Within the natural world, the place where we see this power of growth and reproduction is first and foremost in the land, which for us represents the bedrock of growth. Land, earth, and soil are metaphors for the source of growth. When we ask for prosperity and sustenance, we are not merely asking for the objects we need to live. We are not asking for HaShem to give us food, or money, or other objects that He can create and hand us. We are asking for BLESSING, the blessing of HaShem; that is, the power to produce more, to be productive and creative. This power is the power of God Himself, and if we are blessed with it, it is only because God is present within us. Hence the conclusion of the prophet, that when the land will give forth its produce, "You shall know that I am present in the midst of Israel." (v.27)

This is also the key to the choice of the YEAR, a unit of time, as the object that receives the blessing. Because the blessing is not the material object itself, but the growth and development of which the objects are the products, the blessing is applied to TIME. Without time there can be no growth. A stationary, non-living thing can exist outside of time, or without relating to time. If I were only asking for a piece of bread, the response would not relate specifically to time, but if I am asking for the presence of God within to be expressed in growth and development, then I am asking for the blessing OF time. I am asking to be part of a PROCESS, to become part of that value which can exist only within time - the value of growth. This then is "mevarekh ha-shanim," I appeal to God who blesses the years, for that is the source and the substance of prosperity. God's presence within time is what Man needs and yearns for, and this blessing will express itself in the land.

4. Goodness

There are two versions of the fourth line of this berakha: "and satisfy us with YOUR goodness (ve-sab'einu mi-tuvekha)" and "satisfy us with ITS (the land's) goodness (mi-tuva)." The first one is clearly in line with what we have been discussing. Beyond the actual goods we would like to have, we are praying for God's blessing to become part of our lives; in other words, we are praying for the presence of God in our lives. However the second version should also be understood the same way. This will be clear if we pay attention to the request in this line - to be satisfied, "ve-sab'einu."

"Sova" means satiety. We find the connection between "sova" and berakha in the well-known verse which mandates the recitation of grace after meals:

In our berakha, we should not understand this line to be indicating the AMOUNT of prosperity we would like - give us enough food until we are satisfied. It would be strange indeed if we would tell God how much food we want. Rather, satiety indicates our subjective feeling about the gift we are receiving. The blessing here is for the feeling of fullness, the feeling that we are productive enough to support ourselves. This is not merely a physical feeling, but the sense of creativity and fullness of a overflowing productive life. It is the sense of a day well-spent, a task fulfilled, which grants a person a feeling of satisfaction. Hence, "let us be satisfied with the good of the land" is a prayer for a spiritual connection to the physical goodness of this world, which is itself based on the spiritual nature of blessing, productivity, and creativity.

5. Eretz Yisrael

The berakha does not explicitly mention the Land of Israel. Although the focus is on land, it does not say precisely which land. (Like refuah, it woudl seem that this berakha is applicable to all people; in whatever land thye may be residing.) According to Rav Bick, there is here a hint in the direction of THE Land - the land of Israel, as is quite clear in the chapter in the prophet Joel on which the berakha is (loosely) based. (This will be especially significant once we study the next berakha, where Rav Bick contends that there is NO explicit berakha about the land of Israel in the Shemoneh Esrei). This should not be surprising - if the berakha is about the blessing of HaShem's presence as manifested in the material world, and especially in the fruitfulness of the land, we know that properly speaking this is the relationship of HaShemto the land that is specifically the place of His Presence, the land of Israel. Of course, this would support the version "satisfy us with ITS goodness."