Page 61 - HaMizrachi #26 Tu Bishvat USA 2021

GENERAL INTEREST

Rabbi Ezra Bick

The Blessing of Growth

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

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