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| Praised are you O' Lord God
who is King of the universe, Who fashioned us in Your image. |
Barukh ata adonai eloheinu melekh HaOlam
sh'asani b'tzalmo |
Found on page 65 of the New Siddur Sim Shalom
As mentioned in the bracha #20 we begin each morning
service and possibly each morning ritual with a series of brachot
that are supposed to make us aware of the specifics activities
in which we are able to engage as we start our day. We thank God
for sight as we open our eyes and we thank God for clothing as
we get dressed , with the understanding that we are fortunate
to have clothes and the ability to see, while there are those
who are less privileged. The opening brachot of the morning help
us to set our agenda for the day. We acknowledge how lucky we
are while we determine to help those in need of our assistance.
This bracha is the latest stage in an evolution
of brachot that brings us to a different sense of who we are.
Originally in this location of the morning liturgy was a bracha
that thanked God for not making me a woman, while women would
say thank you for creating her according to His will. This bracha
found itself among a series of brachot that were sated in the
negative. Thank you for not making me a non Jew. Thank You for
not making me a servant, and ultimately thank You for not making
me a woman. Our movement moved to a more positive approach. Thanking
God for what we are rather than what we are not.
This difference between the two approaches could
be reduced to a discussion of whether the glass is half full or
half empty, but I would prefer to open the dialogue to the question
of how do we define who we are. We can chose to see ourselves
for who we are and we can determine our value by what we are not.
And the truth is we define ourselves sin both ways. In an ideal
world with a perfection of psyche, we might be able to see ourselves
only for what we have made of ourselves, but we must also see
what we have yet to become, or what we chose not to be.
The power of this bracha is in what it says as well
as what it has chosen not to say. We are all created in the image
of God. For me, this means that we all embody a spark of the divine.
Each one of us has an innate holiness and each of us has value.
If God created us we must be good. And this bracha reminds us
that if we are going to begin to believe it than we need to say
it. And we need to begin our day that way, everyday. Each of us
has to make choices about the path we are going to follow in our
lives. Sometimes we are forced to follow a certain path because
we the alternative is less appealing. Sometimes we are able to
determine our course because of our ideals and values.
But know, that for every person God has a plan.
The Almighty has a unique plan for every individual. And we must
continually ask ourselves, "why has God placed me here, and why
now?" When we reflect on who we are, what are our unique qualities
we can begin to establish what our involvement is going to be
in the landscape of humanity. This bracha says, begin your day
this way and at the end the end of the day, our contribution will
be clear.
Copyright © 2001 Rabbi
Yohanan Stein. All rights reserved.
New Jersey Region United Synagogue
of Conservative Judaism
PO Box 390; 1025 St. Georges
Ave
Linden, NJ 07036-0390
Phone: 908-925-USCJ (8725)
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Copyright © 2000 -
2003 New Jersey USCJ. All rights reserved.
Last Updated: July 2003
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