The Path of Blessing: I Want More Life Text and Textures

Tony Kushner, Angels in America: Perestroika, Act 5, Scene 5

Prior: But still. Still

Bless me anyway.
I want more life. I can't help myself. I do.
I've lived through such terrible times, and there are people who live through much much worse, but...You see them living anyway.

When they're more spirit than body, more sores than skin, when they're burned and in agony, when flies lay eggs in the corners of the eyes of their children, they live. Death usually has to take life away. I don't know if that's just the animal. I don't know if it's not braver to die. But I recognize the habit. The addiction to being alive. We live past hope. If I can find hope anywhere, that's it, that's the best I can do. It's so much not enough, so inadequate, but...bless me anyway. I want more life.

בראשית י״ב:א׳-ג׳

(א) וַיֹּ֤אמֶר יי אֶל־אַבְרָ֔ם לֶךְ־לְךָ֛ מֵאַרְצְךָ֥ וּמִמּֽוֹלַדְתְּךָ֖ וּמִבֵּ֣ית אָבִ֑יךָ אֶל־הָאָ֖רֶץ אֲשֶׁ֥ר אַרְאֶֽךָּ׃(ב) וְאֶֽעֶשְׂךָ֙ לְג֣וֹי גָּד֔וֹל וַאֲבָ֣רֶכְךָ֔ וַאֲגַדְּלָ֖ה שְׁמֶ֑ךָ וֶהְיֵ֖ה בְּרָכָֽה׃(ג) וַאֲבָֽרֲכָה֙ מְבָ֣רְכֶ֔יךָ וּמְקַלֶּלְךָ֖ אָאֹ֑ר וְנִבְרְכ֣וּ בְךָ֔ כֹּ֖ל מִשְׁפְּחֹ֥ת הָאֲדָמָֽה׃

Genesis 12:1-3

(1) Now YHVH said unto Abram: ‘Go forth out of your country, and from your kindred, and from your father’s house, unto the land that I will show thee.(2) And I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great; and you will be a blessing.(3) And I will bless them that bless you, and him that curse you will I curse; and in you shall all the families of the earth be blessed.’

רש"י על בראשית י״ב:א׳:א׳

(א)לך לך. להנאתך ולטובתך, ושם אעשך לגוי גדול, וכאן אי אתה זוכה לבנים ועוד שאודיע טבעך בעולם:

Rashi on Genesis 12:1:1

(1) "Go, yourself" - For your benefit, and for your own good, and there I will make you into a great nation. Here you will not merit children. And what's more, I will let the world know all about you.

דברים ל׳:י״ט

(יט) הַעִידֹ֨תִי בָכֶ֣ם הַיּוֹם֮ אֶת־הַשָּׁמַ֣יִם וְאֶת־הָאָרֶץ֒ הַחַיִּ֤ים וְהַמָּ֙וֶת֙ נָתַ֣תִּי לְפָנֶ֔יךָ הַבְּרָכָ֖ה וְהַקְּלָלָ֑ה וּבָֽחַרְתָּ֙ בַּֽחַיִּ֔ים לְמַ֥עַן תִּחְיֶ֖ה אַתָּ֥ה וְזַרְעֶֽךָ׃

Deuteronomy 30:19

(19) I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that I have set before thee life and death, the blessing and the curse; therefore choose life, that thou mayest live, thou and thy seed;

Rabbi Marcia Prager, The Path of Blessing, pg.12

When we look at small children, we see their sense of wonder, their openness to the miraculous. But we notice, as we grow habituated to the world and its daily pressures, that own moments of ecstatic delight diminish. When we allow all the daily miracles to be passed by, our openness to the abundance of divine blessing withers. We realize we have traded away our own aliveness and we long to find our way back. How strongly we need to counteract those daily life pressures.

This is the path of blessing.

מנחות מ״ג ב:ט״ו-ט״ז

תניא היה רבי מאיר אומרחייב אדם לברך מאה ברכות בכל יום שנאמר(דברים י, יב) ועתה ישראל מה יי אלקיך שואל מעמך רב חייא בריה דרב אויא בשבתא וביומי טבי טרח וממלי להו באיספרמקי ומגדי

Menachot 43b:15-16

It was taught: R. Meir used to say, A man is bound to say one hundred blessings daily, as it is written, And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee ?

On Sabbaths and on Festivals.

R. Hiyya the son of R. Awia endeavoured to make up this number by the use of spices

and delicacies.