Illustration credit: Rebecca Kerzner
Prayer in the Parashah תְּפִלָּה
In Ha’azinu, God describes God’s own power:
אֲנִ֧י אָמִ֣ית וַאֲחַיֶּ֗ה
I cause death and life
We echo this line in the second בְּרָכָה (berakhah, blessing) of the Amidah, when we describe God as מֶלֶךְ מֵמִית וּמְחַיֶּה (the King who causes death and life).
When we say this berakhah, what exactly are we talking about?
The berakhah contains a couple examples.:
סוֹמֵךְ נוֹפְלִים – Supporting people who are stumbling
רוֹפֵא חוֹלִים - Healing sick people
מַתִּיר אֲסוּרִים - Releasing captives
מְחַיֵּה הַמֵּתִים - Bringing the dead back to life
- Do you notice a common idea here? How does each example relate to all the other ones?
It seems that this berakhah is talking about situations where a bad situation is turned around and made better. This can be very extreme - like someone having already died and being brought back to life (which is probably talking about the future when mashiah comes). But it also happens in simpler ways, like when someone is in captivity but God helps free them, or when someone is sick but God helps heal them, or when someone falls but God helps them to get back up.
According to this berakhah, the pasuk does not just mean that God both causes death and also causes life, but that God can take a situation of death (or sickness or falling) and turn it around to life (or healing or getting back up).
This can even apply to God helping someone who’s asleep to wake up!
דְּבֵית ר' יַנַּאי אָמְרִין הַנּוֹעֵר מִשְּׁנָתוֹ צָרִיךְ לוֹמַר בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יהוה מְחַיֵּה הַמֵּתִים.
The school of R. Yannai said: One who wakes from sleep must say: Blessed are You, God, who gives life to the dead.
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