We continue with lessons in berachot from Rabbenu Avraham Ben Rambam’s Sefer Maspik L’Ovdei Hashem, in which he shared many hiddushim.
The first is that although other berachot (beside Birkat Hamazon) are not from the Torah (they are Rabbinical Laws), the goal of those Berachot is,
“Uplifting of God’s great name, saying Thank You for His constant goodness, and requesting/begging for His mercy”
These three concepts of a beracha fall under the branch of prayer. So a beracha is like a prayer, and prayer is from the Torah. The Torah doesn’t say exactly what we have to pray, just that we have to. So therefore, when we make a beracha, it is like a prayer. He calls it a branch of Tefila, and as such, it’s borderline from the Torah.
His second hiddush is-why do we make a beracha before we do a mitzvah?
He explains that it’s so that we will have kavana before we do the mitzvah. The beracha before putting on tefilin reminds us that we putting on tefilin because God said so.
There is a concept that Mitzvot need intention, and he says that the beracha you make before a mitzvah will arouse your intention for that mitzvah. You’ll realize you’re doing it for a purpose.
And his beautiful hiddush is:
The question is asked by the Rishonim, why don’t we make berachot on Mitzvot of thought?
For example, anytime we think Hashem Echad, that is a mitzvah from the Torah. It’s a command to recognize the Oneness of God.
Rabbenu Avraham Ben Rambam quotes a pasuk for that, (Devarim 4,39)
וְיָדַעְתָּ֣ הַיּ֗וֹם וַהֲשֵׁבֹתָ֮ אֶל־לְבָבֶ֒ךָ֒ כִּ֤י ה׳ ה֣וּא הָֽאֱלֹהִ֔ים בַּשָּׁמַ֣יִם מִמַּ֔עַל וְעַל־הָאָ֖רֶץ מִתָּ֑חַת אֵ֖ין עֽוֹד
Know today and place in your heart that God is the One in charge, in the heavens above and the earth below. There is no other.
That is a positive command. So why don’t I first make a beracha, before I think about His Oneness, such as as “Baruch Atah Hashem… Lyada Oto/To know Him?
It’s a mitzvah to know Him and recognize Him, and yet we don’t make a beracha before thinking this. Why not?
His answer is that while you’re involved with the thought of knowing God, you don’t need to make beracha to have intention. You’re already involved in the thought.
The whole reason to make a beracha is that you might be just doing it by rote. When putting on your tefilin or sisit, it might be from rote; when you light your candles, it might be from rote, so you need a beracha. But there is no such thing as thinking from rote. When you’re thinking and contemplating God’s greatness, you are involved in thought, so you don’t need a beracha to arouse your thought. You are in the thought itself.
What a beautiful concept!
But if we mumble or run through our berachot, or if our berachot come from rote, then we have defeated the purpose.
Our berachot are there in order to prevent us from doing our Mitzvot by rote, so if we say the berachot by rote, we are back to square one. That is why it is important to take time to focus on what we are saying when we make our Berachot.
Asher Kiddishanu B’Mitzvotav V’Sivanu …
Elokenu Melech HaOlam…
Shehakol…
Whatever the beracha, we have to realize that the goal is the thought that the beracha will bring us. Maybe Rabbenu Avraham Ben Rambam couldn’t contemplate that one could say a beracha and still not be in touch with what he is saying.
You can do something by rote, but it’s assumed that when you are speaking, you are paying attention to what you were saying.
Unfortunately, that is not necessarily so. We get involved other things.
There are even Halachot that tell us that we are not supposed to be doing other things while making berachot, such as drying hands, or walking. The rabbis made these laws to help us focus on our berachot, and that is what we are going to try and do, over the next few classes.
Recap-We don’t make berachot on thought Mitzvot because we are in the thought itself.
Have a wonderful day.