BS”D
BERACHA BROADENED: PARSHAT YITRO
Shira Smiles shiur – 2016/5776
Summary by Channie Koplowitz Stein
When Yitro, Moshe’s father-in-law, arrives at the camp of Bnei Yisroel with the
rest of Moshe’s family, Moshe goes out to greet him and tells him all the
wondrous Hashem did for Bnei Yisroel and the terrible things to Pharaoh and the
Egyptians. In gratitude, joy, awe, and even grief at the death of the
Egyptians, Yitro’s skin was covered in goose bumps. But the words that came out
of Yitro’s mouth, “Boruch Hashem,” were so extraordinary that they have become
part of the Jewish vernacular and speech pattern. As the Gemarrah notes, no one
had ever used that precise phrase before. Could it possibly mean that no one
had ever thanked Hashem before for all the chessed He did for us?
Obviously, Bnei Yisroel had thanked Hashem. Wasn’t Az Yashir, the song
Bnei Yisroel sang after crossing the sea and seeing their pursuing Egyptians
drown their expression of gratitude and a blessing even without using that
particular phrase? However, Oznayim LaTorah considers it detrimental
that Bnei Yisroel didn’t use the particular term of blessing as part of their
song of gratitude. The question that the Ohr Doniel then asks is
obvious: What is so unique about the expression Boruch Hashem – May the
name of Hashem be blessed? In fact, if you experience a miracle (or childbirth)
and you respond with Amen at someone else’s Boruch Hashem, notes Shnayim
Mikra, you have fulfilled the obligation of thanking Hashem. While the Song
of the Sea was Hallel, an expression of praise of Hashem, gratitude
was not expressed, and that obligation was therefore not fulfilled until Bnei
Yisroel answered Amen to Yitro’s exclamation.
Rabbi Igbui in Chochmat Hamatzpun quoting the Ohr Yahel, offers that
there is a difference between shira, song, and beracha, blessing.
While each has the power to elevate an individual, by saying Boruch Hashem
one can reach a higher level than with song alone. The difference is clarified
by Rabbi Yaakov Hillel who interprets Ramchal’s Mesillat Yeshorim in Ascending
the Path. He presents the analogy of two people doing the same favor. Both
have accomplished something good, but one does it with a smile while the other
does not. That extra smile, that “boruch”, earns the doer extra rewards
in the hereafter. It is precisely these extra expressions that create the more
beautiful “canopies” under which the righteous will sit in the hereafter, and
it is the lack of these expressions that will create the searing pain and
future regrets of “could’ve, would’ve, should’ve” that comprise our personal gehinnom.
There are three aspects to beracha, explains Rabbi Dovid Hofstedter in Drash
Dovid. Obviously, there is praise, but there is also recognition that
Hashem is the source of all good. Finally, it is the ability to thank Hashem
for every situation, including the challenges. So what did Yitro add? Rabbi
Yisroel Druck quotes his father in Aish Tamid and says that Bnei Yisroel
sang praises to Hashem for the good He had done for them. When Yitro said boruch
Hashem, he was acknowledging the good Hashem did for others, when he
himself was not a recipient of that benevolence. What Yitro added was the
ability to move beyond self and bless Hashem for the good He shows others.
It is this ability to appreciate the joy of others that explains why it is a
mitzvah to bring joy to a bride and groom and it merits one to be the recipient
of five blessings, writes Lachazot Benoam Hashem, citing the Gemarrah.
This is ahavat chinom, cost free love that counteracts the sinat
chinom, the baseless animosity that was the catalyst for the destruction of
the Beit Hamikdosh. Rabbi Frand offers a similar idea from the opposite
perspective in It’s Never too Little, It’s Never too Late, It’s Never Enough.
He writes that one celebrating a personal simcha has the ability to take
the blessing Hashem is now bestowing upon him, whether at his/her wedding, or
at the birth of a new child or grandchild, and broaden that blessing by
extending it to others and blessing others. There is tremendous power in
blessings that come from a full heart.
Rabbi Druck expands on the power we have to bring Hashem’s blessings down to
earth and to others. Why does the Torah command us to bless Hashem after eating
(recite Grace after Meals)? The Gemarrah explains that anyone who
neglects to bless Hashem after eating it is as if he has committed theft. While
the simple understanding may be that everything belongs to Hashem and when we
refuse to acknowledge that fact we are stealing from Him, Rabbi Druck offers a
more profound explanation. Berachah, the Hebrew word for blessing, is
derived from beraycha, a pool full of bounty. When we are satiated and
happy, we have the ability to draw from that pool belonging to Hashem and
bestow it on others. Hashem commanded us to “bless” after eating so that the
plugs on the pool of plenty would open and blessings could flow out to others.
If we fail to bless at this point, we are robbing others of the ability to
receive the outflow of blessings Hashem wishes to give. What Yitro taught Moshe
was that he had the ability to add the energy of expansion, to create a ripple
effect in the flow of blessings. Shira, song and praise, goes up, but beracha,
blessing, goes up and comes back down.
After the splitting of the sea, all of Bnei Yisroel sang a song of praise to
Hakodosh Boruch Hu for the great miracles He had performed for them as a
nation. What they failed to do, writes Rabbi Yosef Salant, the Be’er Yosef,
was to thank Hashem as individuals for all the good He did for them on an
individual, personal level. If we forget to say thank you to someone or to an
individual who has done us some service or from whom we have derived some
benefit, we are indeed worthy of criticism. Further, if we can give benefit to
someone else, especially if it costs us nothing, we must do so. Just as a tree
gives its shade to everyone near it, so should we offer a smile to everyone
near us (Happy Tu b’Shevat.) and train ourselves to say thank you to Hashem as
well as to others writes Rabbi Wallerstein. Acknowledging the good we receive
from every benefactor and saying thank you not just to God but to human beings
is the will of Hashem, writes Rabbi Chaim Shmuelevitz.
There is an additional aspect of praise and blessings one must recognize. There
are times when we may face challenges, when things appear difficult, but during
these times one must strive to find the silver lining, writes Letitcha Elyon,
and bless Hashem for those bright spots in the darkness. Further, we tend to
thank Hashem for a general good when the truth is we must thank Hashem for each
aspect, for every drop of the rain that falls, not just for the rainfall.
When Hashem does you a favor and you feel His presence and providence, you need
to immediately let that praise and blessing burst forth spontaneously, writes
Rabbi Ezrachi in Birkat Mordechai. However, it is not enough to mouth
the words and then forget about it. That feeling of gratitude must be internalized
so that it becomes part of our essence. Why do we hear nothing of Yitro after
this parsha in the Torah? Perhaps because although he taught us so many
concepts with that spontaneous “Boruch Hashem”, he never internalized
the emotion and let it dissipate. This is the challenge facing each of us
writes Rabbi Yehudah Casbah.
The Ksav Sofer notes that it pained Yitro to hear about the death of the
Egyptians. After all, according to the Medrash, Yitro had lived in Egypt and
been an advisor to Pharaoh himself for many years. Nevertheless, from within
that pain he was still able to praise Hashem and recognize the good that came
from it. So must we also search for the good in every circumstance, writes
Rabbi Rosenblatt in Finding Light in the Darkness, and learn to say gam
zu letova - this too is for the good.
Boruch Hashem, thank You Hashem, for the roses and the thorns, for my personal
blessings and those You give to our people as a whole. Thank You for giving me
the opportunity and the power to bless others, and thank You for the ability to
rejoice in the blessings of others and for allowing me to be a conduit of
blessings to others.