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Activity: Blessing of the Kohanim
This is the way Kohanim hold their hands when giving the priestly blessing – the fingers form a Shin to represent Shaddai (God’s name.) Can you hold your hands this way? Look up the blessing Bamidbar 6:23–27.
Image from: http://ggorelik.narod.ru/LeHaim_W/LeHaim_W1.htm
Image by Kleuske – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=20497346
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Activity: Blessing the Children
This custom is a nice way of bringing gratitude and spirituality into your family on Shabbat and at other special occasions. There are different customs as to when the blessing is recited. Some families bless their children immediately before or after Kiddush. Others prefer to bless just after lighting the Shabbat candles. Usually the person giving the blessing places one or both hands on the child’s head. Some parents bless each child in succession, others bless all of the girls together, and all of the boys together, while other families have developed their own rituals around this practice.
In Pairs, take it in turns to give the blessing one to another – do it with Kavanah (focused intentionality). What did it feel like to give the blessing? What did it feel like to receive the blessing? (Physically, how did you experience it? How did the relationship with the other person feel during this experience?)
The words of the blessing are taken from the priestly blessing (Bamidbar 6:24-26) and traditionally the introduction is constructed differently according to the gender of the person being blessed. Some people like to ‘mix this up’ and include both male and female figures in blessing their child.
For males:
יְשִׂימְךָ אֱלהיִם כְּאֶפְרַיְם וְכִמְנַשֶּׁה
May you be like Ephraim and Menashe.
For females:
יְשִׂימֵךְ אֱלהיִם כְּשָׂרָה רִבְקָה רָחֵל וְלֵאָה
May you be like Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, and Leah.
For both genders, the rest of the blessing is:
יְבָרֶכְךָ יְהוָה וְיִשְׁמְרֶךָ
יָאֵר יְהוָה פָּנָיו אֵלֶיךָ וִיחֻנֶּךָּ
יִשָּׂא יְהוָה פָּנָיו אֵלֶיךָ וְיָשֵׂם לְךָ שָׁלום
May God bless you and guard you.
May God show you favor and be gracious to you.
May God show you kindness and grant you peace.
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Intertextual Resource: Divine and Human Blessings
Which of these blessings are asked for and which given without asking? Do you think this makes a difference? Who or what are the blessings directed toward – how does it change the thing being blessed?
Divine Blessings
Does the blessing recognize something (a quality) that is already present or does it create something new? What is the meaning of the blessing? What is intended by the blessing?
| God blesses Avram – Bereshit 24:1 |
וְאַבְרָהָם זָקֵן בָּא בַּיָּמִים וַיהֹוָה בֵּרַךְ אֶת אַבְרָהָם בַּכֹּל. |
| Yaakov demands a blessing from the man-angel – Bereshit 32:25-27 |
וַיֹּאמֶר שַׁלְּחֵנִי כִּי עָלָה הַשָּׁחַר וַיֹּאמֶר לֹא אֲשַׁלֵּחֲךָ כִּי אִם בֵּרַכְתָּנִי… |
| God blesses the 7th day – Bereshit 2:3 |
וַיְבָרֶךְ אֱלֹהִים אֶת-יוֹם הַשְּׁבִיעִי, וַיְקַדֵּשׁ אֹתוֹ … |
Human Blessings
Does the blessing create something new or recognize something (a quality) that is already present? Is the blessing freely offered? What is intended by the blessing?
| Yitzak blessing Yaakov – Bereshit 27:30 |
וַיְהִי כַּאֲשֶׁר כִּלָּה יִצְחָק לְבָרֵךְ אֶת יַעֲקֹב |
| Yakov blesses Yoseph – Bereshit 48:15 |
וַיְבָרֶךְ אֶת יוֹסֵף וַיֹּאמַר |
| The blessing we recite over food |
בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְהוָה אֱלהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעולָם … |
| Parents bless their children |
יְבָרֶכְךָ יְהוָה וְיִשְׁמְרֶךָ |
Download the discussion plan here: Word PDF
Discussion Plan: Being Blessed
Download the discussion plan here: Word PDF
Discussion Plan: Giving and Receiving Blessings
PDF Exercise: What do we eat and why/why not?
| I eat this | Someone else in my family eats this | Other people in my culture eat this | In the Torah it says we shouldn’t eat it | People from other cultures I know of do eat it | I don’t think anyone eats this – but it wouldn’t be wrong if they did | No-one should eat this– it is morally wrong | |
| Fish | |||||||
| Dried Flowers | |||||||
| Mushrooms | |||||||
| Beef | |||||||
| Golf balls | |||||||
| Raw eggs | |||||||
| Lamb | |||||||
| Animal Hair | |||||||
| Blood sausage | |||||||
| Monkeys | |||||||
| Cats | |||||||
| Gum | |||||||
| Pork | |||||||
| Elephants | |||||||
| Leftovers | |||||||
| Strawberries | |||||||
| Ants | |||||||
| Human Beings | |||||||
| A leather shoe | |||||||
| Dolphins | |||||||
| Mice | |||||||
| Paper | |||||||
| Someone else’s half eaten sandwich |
Download the discussion plan here: Word PDF
Discussion Plan: Giving and Receiving Curses
PDF Intertextual Resources: Adam & Noah
| To Adam and Chava: | To Noah and his sons: |
| כח וַיְבָרֶךְ אֹתָם, אֱלֹהִים, וַיֹּאמֶר לָהֶם אֱלֹהִים פְּרוּ וּרְבוּ וּמִלְאוּ אֶת-הָאָרֶץ, וְכִבְשֻׁהָ; וּרְדוּ בִּדְגַת הַיָּם, וּבְעוֹף הַשָּׁמַיִם, וּבְכָל-חַיָּה, הָרֹמֶשֶׂת עַל-הָאָרֶץ. כט וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹהִים, הִנֵּה נָתַתִּי לָכֶם אֶת-כָּל-עֵשֶׂב זֹרֵעַ זֶרַע אֲשֶׁר עַל-פְּנֵי כָל-הָאָרֶץ, וְאֶת-כָּל-הָעֵץ אֲשֶׁר-בּוֹ פְרִי-עֵץ, זֹרֵעַ זָרַע: לָכֶם יִהְיֶה, לְאָכְלָה. |
א וַיְבָרֶךְ אֱלֹהִים, אֶת-נֹחַ וְאֶת-בָּנָיו; וַיֹּאמֶר לָהֶם פְּרוּ וּרְבוּ, וּמִלְאוּ אֶת-הָאָרֶץ.
ב וּמוֹרַאֲכֶם וְחִתְּכֶם, יִהְיֶה, עַל כָּל-חַיַּת הָאָרֶץ, וְעַל כָּל-עוֹף הַשָּׁמָיִם; בְּכֹל אֲשֶׁר תִּרְמֹשׂ הָאֲדָמָה וּבְכָל-דְּגֵי הַיָּם, בְּיֶדְכֶם נִתָּנוּ. ג כָּל-רֶמֶשׂ אֲשֶׁר הוּא-חַי, לָכֶם יִהְיֶה לְאָכְלָה: כְּיֶרֶק עֵשֶׂב, נָתַתִּי לָכֶם אֶת-כֹּל. ד אַךְ-בָּשָׂר, בְּנַפְשׁוֹ דָמוֹ לֹא תֹאכֵלוּ. ה וְאַךְ אֶת-דִּמְכֶם לְנַפְשֹׁתֵיכֶם אֶדְרֹשׁ, מִיַּד כָּל-חַיָּה אֶדְרְשֶׁנּוּ; וּמִיַּד הָאָדָם, מִיַּד אִישׁ אָחִיו–אֶדְרֹשׁ, אֶת-נֶפֶשׁ הָאָדָם. |
| And God blessed them [Adam and Chava], and said to them: ‘Be fruitful, and multiply [be many], and fill the earth, and bring it under your control [subdue it]; and have command over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the heavens, and all living things that crawl upon the earth. And God said: ‘Here, I give you all plants that bear seeds, that are upon the face of all the earth, and all trees, in which there is fruit of the tree that bears seeds—for you they shall be for eating. | And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: ‘Be fruitful and multiply [be many], and fill the earth. And the fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon all the wildlife of the earth, and upon all the fowl of the heavens, and all that crawl on the soil, and all the fish of the sea – into your hand are they given. All things crawling about that live, for you shall they be, for eating, as with the green plants, I now give you all of it. However – flesh with its life, its blood, you shall not eat. |
Leading Idea: Eating Meat
This text parallels strongly elements of the text in Bereshit 1:28-29. Yet there is a striking difference. In the account of creation in Bereshit, God blesses human beings and gives us dominion over all of creation, but only the plant kingdom is given to us to eat for food. In this blessing, God not only gives us plants, but also the animal kingdom as food. In this, it marks a transition for humans from being herbivores to omnivores (eating both plants and animals). Whether we should eat meat is a contentious issue. Before delving into this issue it might be helpful to slow down and spend time reflecting on how we decide what counts as food and how we decide which foods we will eat. The issue is more complex than merely deciding between “meat or not meat”. The discussion plans and exercises here explore our relationship to food, how what we eat might affect us, and how we decide – culturally, religiously, and morally – the boundaries to what we choose to eat.
While the text now states we have permission to eat meat, there are distinctions and limits here as well – we can eat flesh, but not blood, and we will be held accountable for killing another human being. What does this transition signify? What might it say about our relationship to creation and about our nature as human beings? How do we decide what is acceptable to eat and how is this connected to our identity? To what extent are we what we eat? Does eating flesh make us more violent or is it a release that leads us to be less violent? If we start thinking that it is acceptable to kill animals will we end up thinking it is acceptable to kill people?
Both the Jewish textual tradition and philosophical discourse are animated around these questions, offering us multiple responses that can inform our inquiry
PDF Secondary Sources: Animals and People – Killing Animals and Killing People
Bereshit Chapter 9:1-7- בְּרֵאשִׁית
You are permitted to use the animals and employ them for work, rule over them in order to utilize their services for your survival, but you must not hold their life cheap or kill them for food. Your natural diet is vegetarian… Apparently the Torah was in principle opposed to the eating of meat. When Noah and his descendants were permitted to eat meat this was a concession conditional on the law against eating blood. This law implied respect for the principle of life (“for the blood is the life”) and hints that in reality all meat should have been prohibited. This restriction was designed to call to mind the previous total one.
Cassuto: From Adam to Noah, on Genesis 1:27
Umberto Cassuto was also known as Moshe David Cassuto (1883–1951). He was a rabbi and Biblical scholar born in Florence, Italy.
Image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Umberto_Cassuto
Since the land had become filled with violence and man had allowed himself to do terrible things, man was no longer required to go without killing animals for food. It was far more important that he should control himself and hold back from killing other human beings, and respect the life of his neighbor.
Nehama Leibowitz on Rav Kook, Professor Nehama Leibowitz was a famous Israeli Bible scholar who developed a particular style of Bible study that was very popular around the world.
Image source: www.lookstein.org/nechama_biography.html