(א) דין השכמת הבוקר ובו ט סעיפים:
יתגבר כארי לעמוד בבוקר לעבודת בוראו שיהא הוא מעורר השחר:
(1) One should strengthen himself like a lion to get up in the morning to serve his Creator, so that it is he who awakens the dawn.
Imagine that your consciousness is consonant with this poem upon getting up in the morning!! What would that take?
“i thank You God for most this amazing”
by E.E. Cummings
i thank You God for most this amazing
day: for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky; and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes
(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun’s birthday; this is the birth
day of life and of love and wings: and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)
how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any–lifted from the no
of all nothing–human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?
(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)
E.E. Cummings
1894-1962
Poem written circa 1950
מודֶה [מודָה] אֲנִי לְפָנֶיךָ מֶלֶךְ חַי וְקַיָּם, שֶׁהֶחֱזַרְתָּ בִּי נִשְׁמָתִי בְּחֶמְלָה, רַבָּה אֱמוּנָתֶךָ
Compare modeh ani to the E.E. Cummings poem. What's different? Similar?
When one awakens, he recites:
My God, the soul You have placed within me is pure.
You formed it within me,
You breathed it into me,
and You guard it while it is within me.
One day You will take it from me and restore it within me in the time to come.
As long as the soul is within me, I thank You, O Lord my God and God of my ancestors, Master of all worlds, Lord of all souls.
Blessed are You, O Lord, who restores souls to lifeless bodies.
How does this amplify Modeh Ani? How might we relate to the end of this prayer regarding restoring souls to the dead? How does this tefillah compare to the E.E. Cummings poem?
Abraham Joshua Heschel
"Our goal should be to live life in radical amazement… get up in the morning and look at the world in a way that takes nothing for granted. Everything is phenomenal; everything is incredible; never treat life casually. To be spiritual is to be amazed".
- Is this possible?
- Is this possible daily?
- How is this possible?
Upon hearing the sound of the rooster, one should recite: Blessed…Who gave the heart [sekhvi] understanding to distinguish between day and night.
Upon opening his eyes, one should recite: Blessed…Who gives sight to the blind.
Upon sitting up straight, one should recite: Blessed…Who sets captives free.
Upon dressing, one should recite: Blessed…Who clothes the naked, as they would sleep unclothed.
Upon standing up straight, one should recite: Blessed…Who raises those bowed down.
Upon descending from one’s bed to the ground, one should recite: Blessed…Who spreads the earth above the waters, in thanksgiving for the creation of solid ground upon which to walk.
Upon walking, one should recite: Blessed…Who makes firm the steps of man.
Upon putting on his shoes, one should recite: Blessed…Who has provided me with all I need, as shoes are a basic necessity.
Upon putting on his belt, one should recite: Blessed…Who girds Israel with strength.
Upon spreading a shawl upon his head, one should recite: Blessed…Who crowns Israel with glory.
What is the point of "Birkot Hashachar", the morning blessings, according to the Talmud?
(ט) והנה בזמן הש"ס היו אומרים כל ברכ[ו]ת השחר איש על מקומו, מפני שהיו קדושים והזהרו שגם בשינתם לא יגעו ידיהם במקומות המכוסים. אבל עכשיו אי אפשר לברך כל אחד על מקומו, שאין ידינו נקיות. והגם שאפשר לנקות בכותל או בשאר דבר תיכף בקומו, מכל מקום מפני שיש כמה מעמי הארץ שאין יודעים זה, ואין יודעים כלל הברכות האלו, ולכן נוהגים לסדרן בבית הכנסת ועונין "אמן" אחריהם, והם יוצאים ידי חובתן. ואנחנו כל אחד מברך ברכות אלו בביתו אחרי נטילת ידים, וגם אחרי נקיות כשצריך לכך. ואי אפשר לנו לברך כל אחת על מקומו מפני כמה טעמים.
In Talmudic times, each person would say all the morning blessings in their home, since they were holy and scrupulous even in their sleep not to let their hands touch their intimate places. But now it is impossible to recite these blessings at home individually, since our hands are unclean. It is possible, of course, to clean our hands by wiping them on the wall or something else as soon as we awake - but since many people are ignorant of this, and don't even know the blessings - it is customary to recite them all at the synagogue and have the people answer Amen! after each one. We, however, say these blessings at home after netilat yadayim, and after the appropriate cleansing. But we do not say each blessing in its place, for a number of reasons.
וכן הנהיגו רב נטרונאי ורב עמרם ושאר הגאונים לסדר את כלם אפילו לא עשה המעשה שלא על עצמו בלבד הוא מברך אלא על כל העולם מברך את השם שעשה כל הטובות והחסדים האלו תמיד לכל.
(יב) ואע״פ שמלשון התלמוד משמע שראוי לברכו בשעת מעשה אפי׳ בעודו על מטתו ואפי׳ קודם נטילת ידים. הגדולי׳ ז״ל החמירו בזה ונהגו לסדר כלן אחר נטילת ידים שיברכם בטהרה ובנקיות.
Thus Rav Natronai and Rav Amram and the rest of the Ge’onim instituted: to say all of them in order even if he did not perform that act. For he does not bless for himself alone, but for the entire world he blesses God Who did all these good things and kindnesses always for everyone. Although the language of the Talmud implies that one should recite these berachot at the time of a [related] act – even when he is still in bed and even before washing hands – the great authorities were stringent with this and were accustomed to say all of them as a set after hand-washing, so as to recite them in purity and in cleanliness.
ר’ יוסי אומר גדול העונה אמן יותר מן המברך
Rabbi Yosei says: Greater is one who answers ‘amen’ than one who recites a beracha.
אמר ריש לקיש כל העונה אמן בכל כחו פותחין לו שערי ג”ע [גן עדן] שנאמר פתחו שערים ויבא גוי צדיק שומר אמונים אל תיקרי שומר אמונים אלא שאומרים אמן.
Reish Lakish said: Whoever responds ‘amen’ with all his might, the gates of Gan Eden open for him, as it is said “Open the gates and the righteous nation will come who is shomer emunim [a keeper of the faith]. Don’t read shomer emunim, rather she’omerim amen [who say ‘amen’].
(19) Open the gates of righteousness for me that I may enter them and praise the LORD.
(יג) פתחו לי שערי צדק. לעולם הבא אומר לו לאדם מה היתה מלאכתך והוא אומר מאכיל רעבים הייתי. והם אומרים לו זה השער של מאכיל רעבים הכנס בו. אחר אומר משקה צמאים הייתי והם אומרים לו זה השער של משקה צמאים הכנס בו. וכן למלביש ערומים ומגדל יתומים ולגומל חסדים. וכן לכל המצוות. אמר דוד אני עשיתי את כולם פתחו לי את כולם. לכך אומר פתחו לי שערי צדק אבא בם:
(13) Open for me the gates of righteousness. In the next world [He] says to a person: What was your occupation? And he says: I fed the hungry. They say to him: Th[ere] is the gate of one who feeds the hungry; enter it. Another says: I gave water to the thirsty; and they say to him: Th[ere] is the gate of one who gives water to the thirsty; enter it. And the same for one who clothes the naked, and one who raises orphans and one who is charitable; and so with all the mitzvot. David said: I did all of the[se things]; open all of them for me. Therefore he says: Open for me the gates of righteousness so that I may enter them.
Abraham Joshua Heschel, God In Search of Man, p.49
"The sense for the miracles which are daily with us,' the sense for the “continual marvels,” is the source of prayer. There is no worship, no music, no love, if we take for granted the blessings or defeats of living. No routine of the social, physical, or physiological order must dull our sense of surprise at the fact that there is a social, a physical, or a physiological order. We are trained in maintaining our sense of wonder by uttering a prayer before the enjoyment of food. Each time we are about to drink a glass of water, we remind ourselves of the eternal mystery of creation, 'Blessed be Thou…by Whose word all things come into being.' A trivial act and a reference to the supreme miracle. Wishing to eat bread or fruit, to enjoy a pleasant fragrance or a cup of wine; on tasting fruit in season for the first time; on seeing a rainbow, or the ocean; or noticing trees when they blossom; on meeting a sage in Torah or in secular learning; on hearing good or bad tidings – we are taught to invoke His great name and our awareness of Him. Even on performing a physiological function we say 'Blessed be Thou…who healest all flesh and doest wonders.'
This is one of the goals of the Jewish way of living: to experience commonplace deeds as spiritual adventures, to feel the hidden love and wisdom in all things".
Why I Wake Early (by Mary Oliver)
Hello, sun in my face.
Hello, you who make the morning
and spread it over the fields
and into the faces of the tulips
and the nodding morning glories,
and into the windows of, even, the
miserable and crotchety–
best preacher that ever was,
dear star, that just happens
to be where you are in the universe
to keep us from ever-darkness,
to ease us with warm touching,
to hold us in the great hands of light–
good morning, good morning, good morning.
Watch, now, how I start the day
in happiness, in kindness.
Mary Oliver
1935 – 2019
Published in 2004