Illustration Credit: Elad Lifshitz, Dov Abramson Studio
Commentary פַּרְשָׁנוּת
Here’s the first line of בִּרְכַּת כֹּהֲנִים (Birkat Kohanim, the Priestly Blessing):
(כד) יְבָרֶכְךָ֥ יהוה וְיִשְׁמְרֶֽךָ׃
May God bless you and protect you.
Our פַּרְשָׁנִים (parshanim, commentators) wonder: What berakhah (blessing) are we asking for? And what’s the request for protection? Is there a connection between the berakhah and the protection?
יְבָרֶכְךָ - בְּעֹשֶׁר וּנְכָסִים שֶׁאִם אֵין קֶמַח אֵין תּוֹרָה:
וְיִשְׁמְרֶךָ - מִן הַגַּזְלָנִים:
Bless you - with wealth and property, because without flour there is no Torah.
And protect you - from thieves.
“Without flour there is no Torah” means that we need to have basic things like food and money in order to survive physically, and before we can do spiritual things like learning Torah. According to Sforno, the berakhah here is getting the things that meet our physical needs. The request for protection is about making sure those things don’t end up being stolen from us.
- How does Sforno explain why we need wealth and property? What’s the goal of being blessed with these things?
יְבָרֶכְךָ ה' – נִכְלָל בָּזֶה לְכָל אָדָם כְּפִי הָרָאוּי לוֹ לְהִתְבָּרֵךְ... לְעוֹסֵק בַּתּוֹרָה בְּלִמּוּדוֹ, וּלְעוֹסֵק בַּמִּסְחוּר בִּסְחוֹרָתוֹ...
וְיִשְׁמְרֶךָ – דְּכָל בְּרָכָה בָּעֵי שְׁמִירָה שֶׁלֹּא תֵּהָפֵךְ לְרוֹעֵץ חַס וְשָׁלוֹם. בַּעַל תּוֹרָה בָּעֵי שְׁמִירָה מִן הַגַּאֲוָה... בַּעַל נְכָסִים בָּעֵי שְׁמִירָה שֶׁלֹּא יִהְיֶה עֹשֶׁר לְרָעָתוֹ.
May God bless you - This includes a berakhah for each person according to the way they need to be blessed… for a Torah student it’s a berakhah for successful learning, and for a person who does business it’s a berakhah for success in business…
And protect you - Every blessing needs protection so that it doesn’t become a stumbling block, God forbid. Torah scholars need protection from becoming too proud… People who do business need protection so that their wealth doesn’t corrupt them.
According to Ha’amek Davar, we all have our own dreams and abilities, and so we all need (and get) a special berakhah from God that fits who we are.
But if God gives you a special blessing – helping you to become extra good at something – there’s a risk that it might “go to your head.” So we also ask God to protect us from that.
- Can you explain in your own words how Sforno and Ha’amek Davar each understand “and protect you”? What’s being protected and why is that important?
- Can you think of a berakhah that you have – it could be something that you own, or something that you’re really good at? Could you imagine that berakhah ever becoming a “stumbling block” for you? How does your berakhah give you responsibility? How can different berakhot be used for good, and how can the same berakhot be used for bad?
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