One of my favorite exchanges in Fiddler on the Roof is when Tevye, in the opening sequence of Tradition, tells the audience that in Judaism, we have blessings for everything. Perhaps you remember the following:
“Rabbi, is there a blessing for the Czar?”
The Rabbi responds: “A blessing for the Czar?! Of course! May God bless and keep the Czar far away from us!”
This humorous exchange reflects how prominent the role blessings, brakhot, can play in the life of a Jew. We do have blessings for almost everything. Blessings can be categorized: a blessing for when we partake in something, birkot hanehenin, and blessings before performing a mitzvah, birkot hamitzvah. But before reading on – can you think of any mitzvot we perform where we actually don’t recite a blessing beforehand?
Twentieth century German Rabbi Yechiel Yaakov Weinberg offered a fascinating explanation as to why certain mitzvot do not require blessings. He does so by discussing another blessing-less mitzvah that we will soon have the opportunity to fulfill by giving gifts of at least two different types of foods to a friend on Purim. This mitzvah is known in Hebrew as Mishloaḥ Manot.
R’ Weinberg explains—the whole goal of giving gifts on Purim is to increase peace, love and friendship among people. If we said a blessing before handing over our gift to a friend, perhaps the friend would wonder—is the person giving me a gift because they want to? Or are they giving this gift because it’s a mitzvah they have to check off their list?
By extension, imagine if before visiting with a sick friend in the hospital, or giving money to a poor person, or even before doing an act to honor one’s parents–one first recited a blessing? It seems there is a whole host of mitzvot that we want people to do not only because they have to, but because of the relationship that performing the mitzvah may promote between people.
R’ Weinberg also offered an additional rationale for why we don’t say a blessing before giving our Purim gifts. He explains that we actually always have the obligation to express our love, friendship, and concern to our friends. It’s only that Purim is a time that we have a specific opportunity to perform this mitzvah—by giving gifts to others. And since one should give gifts and extend acts of friendship and concern all year round, we are not commanded to say a specific blessing on this date – because we can (and should) really be looking out
for one another always.
As I enter the second half of my internship at Temple Emunah, this teaching feels particularly resonant. Consistent and ongoing acts of friendship and relationship are at the heart of what transpires at Temple Emunah, not only on Shabbat, but every day.
Come for breakfast and learning after morning minyan on Wednesday, and you’ll hear an introduction and an update, some humorous, some serious, from each person who chooses to share. Come on Sunday mornings, and you can drink a cup of coffee and get to know another member who happens to be spending time in the building. Come on Shabbat when the crowd is larger, and you’ll have a nametag to help break the ice of saying hello to someone new. The welcome circle, the coffee cart, and the name tags are all deliberate. They are meant to increase our comfort level. They are meant to foster and strengthen relationships, one encounter at a time.
We do not only need the mitzvah of Mishloaḥ Manot to promote friendship. We can, and we do, try to embody the value of knowing and really seeing one another every day. While we continue to say blessings, let us also commit ourselves to be blessings for one another. May we find ways to regularly demonstrate our care and commitment to one another.
-Hebrew College Rabbinic Intern Deborah Anstandig
Monday – Thursday, 8:30 am – 5:00 pm
Friday, 8:30 am – 3:00 pm
