Brachos 40: Blessing Hashem For Everything

 

[ON VEGETABLES YOU MAKE THE BRACHA BOREI PRI HO-ADAMA] R. JUDAH SAYS, WHO CREATES DIVERS KINDS OF HERBS. R. Zera, or as some say R. Chinnena b. Papa, said: The halachah is not as stated by R. Judah. R. Zera, or as some say, R. Hinnena b. Papa, further said: What is R. Judah's reason? Scripture says, Blessed be the Lord day by day [On Shabbos give a Shabbos-like bracha and on Yom Tov a Yom Tov-like bracha – Rashi]. Are we then to bless Him by day and not bless Him by night? What it means to tell us is that every day we should give Him the blessing appropriate to the day. So here, for every species we should give Him the appropriate blessing.

 

R. Zera, or as some say, R. Chinnena b. Papa, further said: Observe how the character of the Holy One, blessed be He, differs from that of flesh and blood. A mortal can put something into an empty vessel but not into a full one. But the Holy One, blessed be He, is not so; He puts more into a full vessel – כלי מלא [a wise man – Rashi] but not into an empty one; for it says, If hearkening you will hearken [אם שמוע תשמע], implying, if you hearken [once - Rashi] you will go on hearkening [אם שמוע פעם אחת סופך שתטה אוזן פעם אחרת – לשון רש"י], and if not, you will not hearken. Another explanation is: If you hearken to the old [if you keep reviewing what you learned last year - Rashi], you will hearken to the new, but if your heart turns away, you will not hear any more.

Now we move to a similar sugya in Succah [46a]. I quote in English but highly recommend that you see the original with Rashi.

Our Rabbis taught, He who  has to perform many commandments 

[simultaneously] shall say, ‘Blessed . . . who has sanctified us by Your commandments and commanded us concerning the commandments’.  R. Judah ruled, One must recite a benediction over each one separately. R. Zera or, as some say, R. Hanina b. Papa stated, The halachah  is in agreement with R. Judah. R. Zera or, as some say, R. Hanina b. Papa further stated, What is the reason of R. Judah? Because it is written, Blessed be the Hashem by day. Now do we bless Him by day and not by night? But this comes to teach you: Return to Him every day its appropriate benedictions.  So also here: Return unto Him for every single thing, its appropriate benedictions. R. Zera or, as some say, R. Hanina b. Papa further stated, Come and see that not as the standards of mortal man are the standards of the Holy One, blessed be He. According to the standards of mortal man, an empty vessel is able to contain [what is put into it], and a full vessel cannot contain it

 but according to the standards of the Holy One, blessed be He, a full vessel is able to contain it  while an empty one cannot; as it is said, And it shall come to pass, if you shall hearken diligently,

 if you hearken, you will continue to hearken, but if not, you will not hearken. Another interpretation: If you will hearken to the old,  you will be able to hearken to the new, but if your heart turns away you will no more hearken.

 

Rashi in Brachos seems to be referring to the nature of a person. If he is a "full vessel", a wise man, then he has the capacity to learn more. Also, if he listens once, nature dictates that he will have the capability to listen more in the future. [These rules apply to other wisdoms as well and not just Torah].

 

Surprisingly, in the parallel sugya [Succah 46] Rashi explains that we are discussing reward and punishment. Meaning, that if one doesn't listen at first – he will be punished later and won't be able to listen.

 

When the gemara says that if you listen to the old you will also listen to the new, Rashi says in Succah that you will be able to say  חידושי תורה [which he doesn't mention in Brachos]. That also sounds like we are in the realm of reward and punishment. As a reward for learning the old material well you will innovate novel Torah thoughts.

 

The gemara in Succah also says that if you turn away from your learning שוב לא תשמע  which Rashi explains to mean שוב אין משמיעין אותך. That ALSO sounds like an absolute term of reward and punishment. Meaning that מן השמים  the person will no longer be allowed to hear since he transgressed the prohibition in Pirkei Avos of המפנה לבו לבטלה.

 

We are on to something. The sugya in Brachos seems to be talking about natural effects of learning or not learning properly while the sugya in Succah seems to be talking about supernatural effects of learning or not learning properly.

 

In Brachos, R. Chinnena b. Papa says that the halacha does NOT follow Rav Yehuda [who says to individualize brachos] while in Succah R. Chanina b. Papa says that the halacha DOES follow Rav Yehuda.

 

When explaining the idea that one should bless Hashem every day מעין ברכותיו של אותו יום  Rashi adds to what he said in Brachos [that on Shabbos one should make a Shabbos-dike bracha and on Yom Tov a Yom Tov-dike bracha] the word  ""מאורע - event. What is he teaching us with this addition?

 

In Brachos we expound the pasuk ויאמר אם שמוע תשמע  which is a pasuk in sefer shmos whereas in Succah we expound  והיה אם שמוע תשמע      which is a pasuk in sefer Devarim. Why the difference?

 

The explanation is that in the sugya in Brachos we rule that it is not necessary to bless HKB"H for NATURAL blessings [such as food] on an individual basis rather we are allowed to make a general bracha of ha-adama.

 

In Sukkah we are talking about spiritual brachos [such as birkas hamitzvos] where the halacha is that one must make individualized brachos [a special bracha for tzitzis, a special bracha for tefillin etc.]

 Rashi learns in Brachos that on Shabbos you make a Shabbos-dike bracha and on Yom Tov a Yom Tov-dike bracha because we bless Hashem for the different types of days. In Sukkah Rashi adds the word מאורע   which has a more religious-spiritual connotation because there we are talking about thanking Hashem for all of the spiritual blessings of the day.

 

That explains beautifully why in Brachos, Rashi refers to the natural blessings of learning while in Sukkah he refers to the spiritual, supernatural brachos of learning, as we noted.

 

Now the different psukim quoted by the respective gemaros shine. In Brachos the pasuk is referring to physical health ויאמר אם שמוע תשמע וכו' – כל המחלה אשר שמתי במצרים לא אשים עליך כי אני השם רופאך  while in Sukkah the pasuk is talking about spiritual blessings והיה אם שמוע תשמע לקול השם אלקיך וכו' לתתך עליון על כל גויי הארץ meaning that we will be spiritually elevated over the gentiles.

 

The author of this piece [Rabbi Homnick in Marbeh Bracha] said this chiddush to Rav Shach who enjoyed it and to Rav Shmuel Auerbach who assured him that it is emes!