Prayer in the Parashah תְּפִלָּה
One of the most common words in our tefillot is בָּרוּךְ (barukh, bless). It’s the first word of every berakhah: בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה (barukh atah, Blessed are You, God). But what does “bless” mean here? What does it mean to bless God?
Check out this word that comes up in our parashah.
וַיַּבְרֵךְ הַגְּמַלִּים מִחוּץ לָעִיר אֶל בְּאֵר הַמָּיִם…
Avraham’s servant made the camels kneel down outside the city by the water well…
The first word in this pasuk, vayavreikh, is a little strange. Many commentators think it means that Avraham’s servant caused the camels to kneel on their knees (that’s how we translated it). Do you see the connection between וַיַּבְרֵךְ (vayavreikh) and the Hebrew word בִּרְכַּיִם (birkayim, knees)?
Rabbeinu Bahaye notices that this also connects to the word בְּרָכָה (berakhah, blessing). Here’s one of his interpretations:
וְהִנֵּה כַּאֲשֶׁר אָנוּ מְבָרְכִים לַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא יֵשׁ בָּזֶה... מִלְּשׁוֹן בְּרִיכָה וּכְרִיעָה, מִי שֶׁכָּל בֶּרֶךְ כּוֹרֵעַ לוֹ... שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר "כִּי לִי תִּכְרַע כָּל בֶּרֶךְ" (ישעיהו מה).
When we give the Holy One a berakhah…it’s connected to bending and bowing, to the One for Whom all knees bend…like it says, “to Me all knees bend” (Yeshayahu 45).
Bowing is a pretty important part of the tefillah experience. There are times to sit, times to stand, and times to bow.
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