אמר רב יהודה אמר שמואלכל הנהנה מן העוה"ז בלא ברכה כאילו נהנה מקדשי שמים שנא'(תהלים כד, א) ליקוק הארץ ומלואהר' לוי רמיכתיב ליקוק הארץ ומלואה וכתיב (תהלים קטו, טז) השמים שמים ליקוק והארץ נתן לבני אדםלא קשיא כאן קודם ברכהעברית
Our rabbis have taught: It is forbidden for a person to enjoy anything of this world without a berakhah…. Rabbi Levi contrasted two texts. It is written, ‘The earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof” (Psalm 24:1), and it is also written, ‘The heavens are the heavens of God, but the earth God has given to human beings!” (Psalm 115:16). There is no contradiction: In the one case it is before a blessing has been said, in the other case after” (Babylonian Talmud, Berakhot 35a).
Rav Kook, Commentary on Tractate Berakhot
One must understand that all of the enjoyments in the world have not actualized their identities unless they are used for the type of enjoyment that leads to ethical happiness, which is the knowledge of God. Therefore, one who benefits from the world without making a blessing and uses these things solely for the purpose of physical enjoyment is changing the identity of these things. It is actually parallel to using that which is consecrated to God, because those are things which are poised to help a person achieve spiritual completion, and instead one is minimizing their value and using them for physical pleasure, by misappropriating them and changing their identity. The sin of me’ilah is fundamentally that of making a change...
Rabbinic sources on blessing
[Of a man condemned to die, it is said], “By two or three witnesses shall the dead man [meaning condemned man] be put to death” (Deuteronomy 17:6), for a wicked man is called dead even while alive, because when he sees the sun shining, he is not stirred to utter in blessing, “Who creates light,” . When he sees it set, he is not stirred to say in blessing, “Who brings on evenings” when he eats and drinks, he is not stirred to speak a blessing. But the righteous are stirred to bless God for each and every thing they eat or drink, or see or hear.
Midrash Tanhuma, 7.
R. Meir said: Even if one merely sees a loaf of bread and says, “Blessed be He who created this bread: how beautiful is this bread!” – that is the same as a blessing over it. Even if he sees figs and says, “Blessed be He who created these figs;’ how beautiful they are!” – that is the same as blessing over them. But R. Yose said: He who changes the formulae the sages have fixed for blessings has not discharged his duty” Tosefta Brachot 4:4-5
כי שמע קול תרנגולא לימא ברוך אשר נתן לשכוי בינה להבחין בין יום ובין לילה כי פתח עיניה לימא ברוך פוקח עורים כי תריץ ויתיב לימא ברוך מתיר אסורים כי לביש לימא ברוך מלביש ערומים כי זקיף לימא ברוך זוקף כפופים כי נחית לארעא לימא ברוך רוקע הארץ על המים כי מסגי לימא ברוך המכין מצעדי גבר כי סיים מסאניה לימא ברוך שעשה לי כל צרכי כי אסר המייניה לימא ברוך אוזר ישראל בגבורה כי פריס סודרא על רישיה לימא ברוך עוטר ישראל בתפארה
Upon hearing the sound of the rooster, one should recite: Blessed…Who gave the heart [sekhvi] understanding to distinguish between day and night.Upon opening his eyes, one should recite: Blessed…Who gives sight to the blind.Upon sitting up straight, one should recite: Blessed…Who sets captives free.Upon dressing, one should recite: Blessed…Who clothes the naked. Upon standing up straight, one should recite: Blessed…Who raises those bowed down.Upon descending to the ground, one should recite: Blessed…Who spreads the earth above the waters. Upon walking, one should recite: Blessed…Who makes firm the steps of man.Upon putting on his shoes, one should recite: Blessed…Who has provided me with all I need. Upon putting on his belt, one should recite: Blessed…Who girds Israel with strength.Upon spreading a shawl upon his head, one should recite: Blessed…Who crowns Israel with glory.
Abraham Joshua Heschel, God In Search of Man, p.49
The sense for the “miracles which are daily with us,” the sense for the “continual marvels,” is the source of prayer. There is no worship, no music, no love, if we take for granted the blessings or defeats of living. No routine of the social, physical, or physiological order must dull our sense of surprise at the fact that there is a social, a physical, or a physiological order. We are trained in maintaining our sense of wonder by uttering a prayer before the enjoyment of food. Each time we are about to drink a glass of water, we remind ourselves of the eternal mystery of creation, “Blessed be Thou…by Whose word all things come into being.” A trivial act and a reference to the supreme miracle. Wishing to eat bread or fruit, to enjoy a pleasant fragrance or a cup of wine; on tasting fruit in season for the first time; on seeing a rainbow, or the ocean; or noticing trees when they blossom; on meeting a sage in Torah or in secular learning; on hearing good or bad tidings – we are taught to invoke His great name and our awareness of Him. Even on performing a physiological function we say “Blessed be Thou…who healest all flesh and doest wonders.”
This is one of the goals of the Jewish way of living: to experience commonplace deeds as spiritual adventures, to feel the hidden love and wisdom in all things.
Abraham Joshua Heschel
Our goal should be to live life in radical amazement… get up in the morning and look at the world in a way that takes nothing for granted. Everything is phenomenal; everything is incredible; never treat life casually. To be spiritual is to be amazed.
תפילה לאם בטרם שחרית / חוה פנחס כהן
בְּשָׁעָה שֶׁאֲנִי עוֹמֶדֶת לְבַשֵּׁל דַּיְסַת סֹלֶת
הָסֵר מִמֶּנִּי כָּל מִינֵי מַחֲשָׁבוֹת זָרוֹת
וּכְשֶׁאֲנִי נוֹגַעַת בְּגֵו הַתִּינוֹק וּמַדָּה חֻמּוֹ
שֶׁיֵּלְכוּ מִמֶּנִּי כָּל מִינֵי טְרָדוֹת
שֶׁלֹּא יְבַלְבְּלוּ מַחְשְׁבוֹתַי.
וְתֵן לִי אֹמֶץ לְזַכֵּךְ פָּנַי
שֶׁיּוּכַל כָּל אֶחָד מִילָדַי
לִרְאוֹת פָּנָיו בְּתוֹךְ פָּנַי
כְּמוֹ בְּמַרְאָה רְחוּצָה לִקְרַאת חַג
וְאֶת הַחֹשֶׁךְ הַמְשֻׁקָּע מִפְּנִים
פָּנַי - כַּסֵּה בְּאוֹר.
שֶׁלֹּא תִּפְקַע סַבְלָנוּתִי וְלֹא יֵחַר גְּרוֹנִי
מִצְּעָקָה מִתְחַבֶּטֶת וּמִתְעַבָּה
שֶׁלֹּא יִהְיֶה לִי רִפְיוֹן יָדַיִם
מוּל הַבִּלְתִּי נוֹדָע
וְשֶׁלֹּא יִפָּסֵק אַף לֹא לְרֶגַע
מַגָּע בָּשָׂר בְּבָשָׂר בֵּינִי לְבֵין יְלָדַי
תֵּן בִּי אַהֲבָתְךָ שֶׁיְּהֵא בִּי דַּי לַעֲמֹד בְּפֶתַח הַבַּיִת וּלְחַלְּקָהּ
בְּפַשְׁטוּת בָּהּ פּוֹרְסִים לֶחֶם וּמוֹרְחִים חֶמְאָה כָּל בֹּקֶר
מֵחָדָשׁ נִיחוֹחַ חָלָב רוֹתֵחַ וְגוֹלֵשׁ וְרֵיחַ הַקָּפֶה מְכַסִּים
עַל קָרְבַּן תּוֹדָה וְקָרְבַּן תָּמִיד
שֶׁאֵינִי יוֹדַעַת אֵיךְ נוֹתְנִים.
A Mother’s Prayer Before Dawn
Chava Pinchas-Cohen
At this time as I stand cooking oatmeal,
Remove all sorts of alien thoughts from me
And when I touch the baby’s back and take his temperature
May all sorts of problems disappear,
May they not confuse my thoughts.
And give me the strength to scrub my face
So that each one of my children
Can see his face in mine
As in a mirror washed for a festival.
And the darkness sunk within
My face-cover it with light
So that I don’t lose my patience, and I won’t be hoarse
From coarse, insistent screaming.
May I not experience weakness
Before the unknowable
And may it never end, even for a moment,
The touch of flesh upon flesh, my children’s and mine.
Give me so much of Your love
That I can stand at the door and hand it out
With the simplicity of someone slicing bread
And smearing butter every morning.
Renew the sweet offering of boiling milk bubbling over
And the smell of coffee hovering above
The thanksgiving sacrifice and the daily sacrifice
That I don’t know how they are given.
Chava Pinchas-Cohen, a well known poet living in Jerusalem, has been the editor of “Dimui” a religious arts magazine since 1989.
A Blessing
BY JAMES WRIGHT
Just off the highway to Rochester, Minnesota,
Twilight bounds softly forth on the grass.
And the eyes of those two Indian ponies
Darken with kindness.
They have come gladly out of the willows
To welcome my friend and me.
We step over the barbed wire into the pasture
Where they have been grazing all day, alone.
They ripple tensely, they can hardly contain their happiness
That we have come.
They bow shyly as wet swans. They love each other.
There is no loneliness like theirs.
At home once more,
They begin munching the young tufts of spring in the darkness.
I would like to hold the slenderer one in my arms,
For she has walked over to me
And nuzzled my left hand.
She is black and white,
Her mane falls wild on her forehead,
And the light breeze moves me to caress her long ear
That is delicate as the skin over a girl’s wrist.
Suddenly I realize
That if I stepped out of my body I would break
Into blossom.
James Wright, “A Blessing” from Above the River: The Complete Poems and Selected Prose.Copyright 1990 by James Wright. Reprinted by permission of Wesleyan University Press.
Source: Above the River: The Complete Poems and Selected Prose (1990)