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GENERAL INTEREST

R
Rabbi Ezra Bick
abbi Ezra Bick
The Blessing of Growth

irkat HaShanim, the ninth bless- two questions come together when we we are not merely asking for the objects
ing in the Shemoneh Esrei, reads examine the conclusion – the G-d to we need to live. We are not asking for
Bas follows: whom we address this request is He G-d to give us food, or money, or other
Bless for us, Hashem our G-d, the who “blesses the years.” objects that He can create and hand us.
coming year, We are asking for blessing, the blessing
What is Blessing? of G-d, i.e., the power to produce more,
And all kinds of its produce for to be productive and creative.
good. To understand this better, we must
remember that beracha, blessing, means This power is the power of G-d Himself,
And grant (dew and rain as) a the power of growth and reproduction.
blessing to the face of the earth, and if we are blessed with it, it is only
The first beracha in the Torah was p’ru because G-d is present within us.
and satisfy us with Your goodness, ur’vu, be fruitful and multiply. G-d gave This is also the key to the choice of the
and bless our year like the good this after Creation. Everything created year, a unit of time, as the ‘object’ that
years. is created according to a plan, bound by receives the blessing. Because the bless-
Blessed are You... who blesses the its limits. Every created object is equal ing is not the material object itself, but
years. to itself and can contain no more than the growth and development through
what was accorded it by creation. G-d
The word “year” in this beracha is strik- blessed the animal world with the bless- which the objects are the products, the
ing for the simple reason we would not ing of p’ru ur’vu, meaning He gave it blessing is applied to time.
normally have chosen a unit of time as the power to create more, to be more For without time, there can be no
the object of blessing. This is reflected than the given, more than what is there growth.
by the standard rabbinic name for from the start. A stationary, non-living thing can exist
this beracha – Birkat HaShanim, the
blessing of the years. This demands outside of time, or without relating to
time.
explanation. “” The power of G-d
A second difficulty centers on the verb Himself, expressed If I were only asking for a piece of bread,
of this beracha. One action is repeated in creation ex nihilo, the response would not relate specifi-
three times – blessing. There is nothing is carried over and cally to time, but if I am asking for the
inappropriate about this until we realize presence of G-d within to be expressed
that all blessings are about blessing. granted to created in growth and development, I am asking
We could just as easily have asked G-d things, to continue for the blessing of time.
to bless us with knowledge, with for- their living growth I am asking to be part of a process,
giveness and with health. and development to become part of that value which
For some reason, this beracha is about can exist only within time – the value
of growth. This then is mevarech
blessing per se. This is all the more haShanim, I appeal to G-d who blesses
striking since there is no clear indica- The power of G-d Himself, expressed
tion just what sort of blessing we are in creation ex nihilo, is carried over and the years, for that is the source and the
asking for. Were it not for the reference granted to created things, to continue substance of prosperity. G-d’s presence
to “the earth” in the third line, the bera- their living growth and development. within time is what humans need and
cha would sound like a general request Within the natural world, the place yearn for, and this blessing will express
for anything good. Since it is clear that where we see this power of growth and itself in the land.
material prosperity is the object of this reproduction is first and foremost in
request, we have to ask ourselves why the land. Land, earth and soil are met- Rabbi Ezra Bick has been a Ram at Yeshi-
this sort of good is described simply aphors for the source of growth. When vat Har Etzion since his aliyah from New
and generically as “blessing.” These we ask for prosperity and sustenance, York in 1977.

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