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Discussion Plan: Everyday Uses of the Term “Bless”
What is meant in each of these cases? Does “Bless” mean the same thing in each case?
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Leading Ideas: Blessings and Curses
In this passage, God makes three kinds of claims regarding how Avram will be blessed:
What is a blessing? What does it mean ‘ to be blessed’? What might it mean to regard yourself blessed by the presence of someone else?
How might giving or receiving a blessing be different from being a blessing? Or being blessed? Whereas the activity of ‘giving or receiving blessings suggests a kind of transaction – with something being passed on from one person to another, the state of ‘being a blessing’ and ‘being blessed’ suggests some state of being – some inner active quality of a person. Here there is an interesting question – is ‘blessing’ being used transitively or intransitively? There is a difference between verbs used non-transitively (like “she is standing over there” OR “she Is crying” and transitive verbs (like “Sam was hitting the pillow”). Whereas non-transitive verbs like standing and sitting don’t have any direct object, you can only be ‘hitting’ if there is some object that directly receives your action (to hit you have to be hitting something).
A lot of verbs can be used both ways – and this seems to be the case with blessing. In this way ‘being blessed’ might grammatically be more like ‘being kind’ than ‘being happy’ – to say someone is being kind is to point to the way they interact with others and the world – it is doubtful you could be kind if you were totally alone on a desert island. (where there was no-one/nothing to be kind toward). While being happy is an inner state.
Another way of thinking about “being a blessed to others” might be the sort of thing that we might have in mind when we say of someone: “she is such a calm person, when she is here she has a calming influence on the whole room.” (or spiritual person, or agitated person – the point being their state of being has an impact on their environment). We might also think of ways that we are blessed because of the presence of other people in our lives.
How might these meanings shed light on the text?
In addition to blessing Avram, God says he will bless all who bless Avram and curse all those who curse him. This not only suggests that people (as well as God) are capable of blessing and cursing – but opens up the moral question of what it means for God to act toward others according to how others treat Avram. What are we doing when we bless and curse people? Is it just another way of wishing them something (for instance, good or bad luck?). Can the idea of giving or receiving a blessing have significance even if you don’t believe in ‘ a God who blesses or curses?
In Summary:
We might see being a blessing / being blessed as :
We might understand blessing as:
These are fine (and somewhat complex) distinctions, but getting the students to think about these ideas is guided by different discussion plans – for example, the discussion plan on “giving and receiving blessings’ explores the transitivity of ‘Blessing.’
Download the discussion plan here: Word PDF
Discussion Plan: Journeys and Journeying
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Exercise: Journeys
This exercise strengthens our reasoning skills by asking us to reason toward the best explanation. If someone sets out with these items (amongst others) on a journey, what might you infer about:
As a variation, in pairs prepare to tell the story of this journey to the rest of the group.
Returning to the Lech l’cha text – what do we know about what Avram took with him? What might we infer from this about his thoughts about the journey he is making?
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Leading Idea: Thinking about Journeys and Journeying
The books of Bereshit and Shemot are full of journeys. Several ideas are explored here that prepare students for the pieces of narratives that they will encounter. In this regard the first set of discussion plans and activities can act as induction exercises to ‘journeying’ in general, as well as being used to explore more deeply questions students raise. Attention is drawn here to two aspects of journeying that can prepare students for thinking about this Parashah.
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Secondary Source: Different Meanings of Lech L’cha
Rashi:
Go forth: Heb לך לך, literally go to you, for your benefit and for your good, and there I will make you into a great nation. If you stay here I won’t give you children. Moreover. If you go, I will make your character known in the world.
— Rosh Hashanah 16b, Tan.
Rashi (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebrew_languageרש”י) is shorthand for RAbbi SHlomo Itzhaki). Rashi was a medieval French rabbi who wrote many commentaries on the Talmud and on the Tanakh. His writings are still widely read and thought about today.
Picture: By Guillaume de Paris, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=41460972
Avivah Zornberg: was born in London and grew up in Glasgow, Scotland, where her father was a Rabbi. She studied with him from childhood; he was her most important teacher of Torah. For the past thirty years, she has taught Torah in Jerusalem.
“Lech L’cha” – start travelling – this is a travel narrative. Not to go to a particular place to do business, but as an open-ended travel. To discover something about the place you are in – like in Gulliver’s Travels or the Odyssey – it seems the journey itself offers you something you wouldn’t get by staying home… You can never know how it will change you, but the journey itself changes you.
Matan lecture: http://www.matan.org.il/eng/show.asp?id=35416
Photo: http://www.avivahzornberg.com/
Joel Lynn: was a journalist for a New Jersey newspaper. He now lives and teaches in Israel.
A look at the Hebrew in this sentence reveals something.
“… Commentators offer various meanings of this extra word, translating the sentence as “Go for yourself,” “Go by yourself” or “Go to yourself… [My] favorite of the three is “Go to yourself.”
While Abraham had many difficult tests to overcome in his lifetime, the most important one is the first one we read about in the Torah: “Go to yourself.” Realize what your mission in life is. Recognize your potential. Become YOU. Without this, there would never have been a covenant, a circumcision, a binding of Isaac, or a founding of the Jewish people.
Source: http://www.myjewishlearning.com
Rabbi Naftali Citron: Rabbi Citron is now serving as Rabbi of the Carlebach Shul in New York.
This week’s Torah reading, Lech Lecha, is especially significant because it represents the first Divine encounter of our forefather Abraham. The words “Lech Lecha” are often translated as “Go forth!” but these words may also mean that Abraham is supposed to “travel more deeply into himself.” As we begin our spiritual inner journeys modeling those of Abraham and Sarah, it is important to experience the depth of our own souls as we go forth to face the world. The word that is often associated with such intention and devotion in Judaism is kavanah.
Source: http://isabellafreedman.org/email/biweeklies/20091028/email.html
Picture: http://carlebachshul.org/About%20Us/Future.html
Discussion Plan: How do Blessings work?
1. Can you ask for a blessing? If so, what do you think happens when you are ‘being blessed’?
2. Can you demand or force someone to bless you?
3. Can anyone receive a blessing?
4. Can anyone give a blessing?
5 .Can you give a blessing without realising you have done so?
6. Can a blessing ever be a burden?
7. Can you believe in blessings without believing in curses?
8. Can you believe in blessings without believing in God?
9. What blessing would you wish for?
10. What blessing would you like to give to someone else?
Being blessed and giving blessings
Discussion Plan: Giving and Receiving Curses