 This blessing starts with a blessing – Barech. What is the concept of blessing? This is in the major book of philosophy be Rabbi Yosef Albo, in his Sefer HaIkkarim. (4:19) This is in the fourth major statement, 19th chapter:
After Jacob stole the blessing, Esau walked into the room and Isaac realized that he had been tricked by Jacob.
Isaac his father said to him, “Who are you?” And he said, “I am your son, your firstborn, Esau.” And Isaac trembled a great trembling, and said, “Who – where – is he, the one who caught game and brought it to me, and I ate of all when you had not come, and I blessed him? He shall also be blessed!” When Esau heard his father’s words, he cried out an exceedingly great and bitter cry, and said to his father, “Bless me too, Father!” But he said, “Your father came with cleverness and took your blessing.” (Genesis 27:32-35)
To understand blessings that prophets, righteous and pious people bless other people, it is something that has entangled many thinkers. And no one has come up with a coherent explanation of what exactly are the mechanics of one human being blessing another human being. And that’s because they can’t get out of this very basic question. The fundamental question is, is a blessing a form of prayer, or is it a projection of what will happen in the future?
If a blessing is a prayer, why was Isaac so frightened? He only made a mistake by blessing the wrong person! As it is written, “Who was that one who brought me food? Oh, and he too will blessed!” And Esau, why did he respond saying, “Give me too a blessing. You only have one blessing?” Isaac could have just repeated the prayer that he said for Jacob. If the blessing was just a prayer, repeating the blessing for Esau would have strengthened it for him.
If a blessing is a projection for the future, what is Esau complaining about? Jacob could not have stolen it. And how could Isaac say, “Esau, I’m sorry, I just made you his slave.” He didn’t give him anything! Isaac only predicted the future. Why were Isaac and Esau so upset?
Many people have said much about this. The most common approach that others have given is that a blessing is a combination of prayer and a prediction of the future. The prophet is able to see with his prophetic power that which is going to happen to he who is receiving the blessing, and prays that when that happens to you in the future, it should only be good, and everything will work out smoothly. For example, a prophet would see that this person will be a great farmer, and so the prophet prayed that whatever will grow should grow a hundred-fold. If he saw that the man would be a great shepherd, he then would pray that the man should be a very successful herdsman, and all his animals should have many calves.
That the way others interpret blessings in all other forms of success. And when these commentators can’t explain something from the point of view of prayer, they explain it as predicting the future. And if not from prediction of the future, then they explain it as a prayer. That way they explain away all difficulty.
He doesn’t like this approach. Instead, he proposes that:
It is a prayer that gives the recipient the power to receive the Divine Influence that is intended for him. And all those things that bring God’s Influences down to Earth, should hook together. And they do. That necessitates that the person who is to receive the good is ready to receive it.
If someone looks into the future, and sees that I’m going to be a great farmer it means that it is intended for me that that Influence will be transmitted from God. But it doesn’t necessarily mean that at the appropriate moment, I will be an appropriate recipient to that Influence, and to that blessing from God. Therefore a blessing is a preparation for someone to receive the good that is coming to them. That’s why you tell a bride and a groom when they give the blessing to each other at the bedeken, about how they view the other one developing in using their strengths, and to how they hope to help them develop their respective strengths. That is based on the Sefer HaIkkarim.
Therefore, when we say this blessing of Barech Aleinu, there is acknowledgement in this blessing that God gives blessing all the time. There is great influence and munificence coming down from heaven to earth. What this blessing means is that we should be appropriate vessels to receive the blessing that God has intended us to receive. Many times we see opportunities come our way, and we just miss taking advantage of them. Or many times we have the potential, but it doesn’t seem to add up. It can drive you crazy. My kids, when they get report cards that say, “She has great potential,” go crazy. “Just say that I’m a great student.” Potential means “I could do better. Then say I should do better.” Potential drives them crazy, because it suggests that you should always do more, do more. What it really means is that you have to be ready to actualize that potential.
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