Yesterday, we started taking about the beracha of Shehakol Ni’hiyah Bidvaro.
Today, we will go a step further in understanding this beracha. The literal explanation is
Shehakol Everything
Ni’hiyah became
Bidvaro with His words
There is a term in Mishnah, in Pirkei Avot that says G-d created the world B’Eser Ma’Amarot -With the Ten Enunciations of Creation. He said the word ויאמר VaYomer (And He said) ten times… for example
ויאמר ה׳ יהי אור
G-d said, “Let there be light,” and so on.
So if that’s the case, why do we use the term
Shehakol Ni’hiyah “Bidvaro” everything was created “בדבור-with His words” why don’t we say
Shehakol Ni’hiyah B’MaAmaroh everything was created with His VaYomer ויאמר
The term דבור/Dibur shows up in the phrase
עשרת הדברות Aseret HaDibrot - what we call the Ten Commandments but which literally means The Ten Statements.
Dibur and Ma’Amar both basically mean to speak, but Ma’Amar, indicates a softer way of speaking.
Why the nuance, and why the change when it comes to Shehakol Ni’hiyah Bidvaro?
I once saw an explanation of the difference between ויאמר VaYomer and וידבר VayDaber-which says that the Ma’Amarot
(the ויאמר Vayomers) refer to the original creation, when G-d made something from nothing.
After that, G-d keeps creation going, and that is the דבור/Dibur - that is G-d constantly pumping energy into creation. It’s like the bouncy house or moonwalk, a mashal I’ve used in the past- that large, plastic edifice is only standing because hot air is constantly being pumped into it. When the hot air stops, the whole thing collapses. That’s our whole world. It’s not here on its own - it needs G-d to constantly pump energy into it. That is דבור Dibur. And that’s why we have the Aseret HaDibrot- because what keeps pumping energy into creation is the fact that we are constantly learning Torah. It’s well known that if the Jewish people would stop learning Torah, the world would cease to exist. The דבור/Dibur of Torah is what keeps the world going.
On the high holidays, we have a custom to say
לעולם ה׳ דברך נצב בשמים
Forever, Hashem, your “Dibur” is standing in the heavens.
There’s another pasuk that we say;
בדבר ה׳ שמים נעשו
With the Dibur/words of Hashem, the heavens were created.
What Dibur ( words) are these pesukim referring to?
The rabbis explain that if we were to have the proper spiritual “glasses,” we could go up to the sky and see the words “שמים/ Heaven” or יהי רקיע – “Let there be a firmament” constantly flashing like a neon light, saying,
“Let there be heavens….”
So originally, G-d said, “Let there be heavens,” and that was the original Amar.
What keeps it going is the Dibur, which is constantly keeping creation alive. As we say every day in our prayers, המחדש
בטובו מעשה
בראשית
Every day, G-d renews and rejuvenates creation
Now we can understand the Beracha.
We don’t say
Shehakol Ni’hiyah B’Ma’amaroh
G-d created everything 5,700+ years ago
No- we say Shehakol Ni’hiyah Bidvaro
G-d is creating everything right now. Everything I have right now, for example, the glass of water that I am holding, is not here because it was created 5,700+ years ago. The glass of water is here because right now G-d said, “Let there be a glass of water.”
This is an important principle of Shehakol Ni’hiyah Bidvaro.
G-d made everything Yesh M’Ayin- something from nothing- We can never stress this enough, because it’s a very important principle of our religion. Something from nothing is not the same as a man who makes a table (something from something). If he makes a table and walks away, the table is still standing. But when you create something, from which the material itself needed the creator to make, there is no such thing as walking away. And because of that, there is nothing that G-d doesn’t know about. There is nothing that happens without God watching. G-d can’t walk away. G-d is there, every second, pumping energy into all of existence.
Therefore, it’s His present Will that makes everything be. He can un-will it just as easily as He wills it. That’s how easy it is. It’s not hard for G-d to change something. Has Veshalom, if there was a tumor in someone’s body, or any disease or sickness, it’s not hard for G-d to get rid of it. It’s only there because G-d said “be there…” He could just as well say “Don’t be there...” Everything in existence isn’t there simply because it was there previously. No.
There is no status-quo in creation. There is the constant Will of G-d- the Shehakol Ni’hiyah Bidvaro.
This is an added understanding that we should have in mind, when we make the beracha of Shehakol.
It’s not an old glass water that you’re holding. It’s a very fresh glass of water that G-d willed, for you to drink.
That’s also one if the lessons of Yetziat Mitzrayim. The water turned into blood when the Egyptian put his straw in, while the Jew’s straw brought up water, only because G-d willed blood for one and water for the other.
Everything is exactly as G-d decides it is going to be. When you have your cup of coffee, and you burn your tongue because it’s a little too hot, that is also decided by G-d. That is the power of Shehakol Ni’hiyah Bidvaro. What a powerful kavana to have in mind. We have to appreciate the lesson that there is no such thing as a simple Beracha. Every beracha was made by the Anshei Knesset Hagedolah/ Men of the Great Assembly.
There is not a day that our prayers are the same as the day before. There is a newness to our prayers, a freshness. There are never-ending understandings.
And now we have new understandings, of the seemingly simple beracha of Shehakol Ni’hiyah Bidvaro.