When I did my chaplaincy training years ago, one of the most striking differences I encountered between myself and my Christian colleagues was the ease and frequency with which they uttered "spontaneous" prayers and blessings.
My sense is that as more rabbis go through chaplaincy training, this skill is gaining in popularity. In my own work, I have found that there are situations where it is both appropriate and powerful.
Still, I continue to ponder the relative merits of spontaneous versus established blessings.
In the biblical Book of Numbers, set in the wilderness, we encounter instructions for the Israelite priests on what to say when blessing the people. The words of this brief blessing, considered by scholars to be extremely ancient, are beloved in both Jewish and Christian contexts to this day:
May God bless you and guard you.
May God shine God's face upon you and be gracious to you.
May God lift up God's face toward you and grant you peace.
Rabbinic commentators teach that this "priestly blessing" must be recited slowly and carefully, whole-heartedly and with intention. It is also necessary that the people being blessed actually hear the words.
Barech/bless has three basic meanings in Torah: 1) fruitfulness, material abundance; 2) to greet, welcome, acknowledge; and 3) bestowed privilege from a father (in which one offspring receives more). Most commentaries assume that the first line of the priestly blessing can be understood to mean something like: "May God bless you with abundance (of possessions, family, etc.), and guard you from the challenges that having those possessions will create in your life (theft, envy, greed, pride, etc.)."
The next two verses of the blessing refer to God's face. A "shining" or "illuminated" face suggests smiling, even laughing, or beaming. The sense of the expression is clearly a positive one. Here we see the second meaning of barech - the sense of God acknowledging you, smiling at you - thus responding to the deep (I would say the deepest) human need to be known.
As distinct from prayer, only in blessing are two people explicitly in relation to one another. To speak in modern terms, one could say that this blessing "works" interpersonally, regardless of the individuals' perceptions of God's role in the interaction. From this perspective, it may be the whole-heartedness and intention that are the essence of the encounter.
So yes, there is a place in our lives for spontaneous blessings. Yet sometimes I wonder if it is presumptuous of me to imagine that I can do better than a blessing with 3000 years of staying power and accumulated layers of meaning and emotional resonance.
My sense is that as more rabbis go through chaplaincy training, this skill is gaining in popularity. In my own work, I have found that there are situations where it is both appropriate and powerful.
Still, I continue to ponder the relative merits of spontaneous versus established blessings.
In the biblical Book of Numbers, set in the wilderness, we encounter instructions for the Israelite priests on what to say when blessing the people. The words of this brief blessing, considered by scholars to be extremely ancient, are beloved in both Jewish and Christian contexts to this day:
May God bless you and guard you.
May God shine God's face upon you and be gracious to you.
May God lift up God's face toward you and grant you peace.
Rabbinic commentators teach that this "priestly blessing" must be recited slowly and carefully, whole-heartedly and with intention. It is also necessary that the people being blessed actually hear the words.
Barech/bless has three basic meanings in Torah: 1) fruitfulness, material abundance; 2) to greet, welcome, acknowledge; and 3) bestowed privilege from a father (in which one offspring receives more). Most commentaries assume that the first line of the priestly blessing can be understood to mean something like: "May God bless you with abundance (of possessions, family, etc.), and guard you from the challenges that having those possessions will create in your life (theft, envy, greed, pride, etc.)."
The next two verses of the blessing refer to God's face. A "shining" or "illuminated" face suggests smiling, even laughing, or beaming. The sense of the expression is clearly a positive one. Here we see the second meaning of barech - the sense of God acknowledging you, smiling at you - thus responding to the deep (I would say the deepest) human need to be known.
As distinct from prayer, only in blessing are two people explicitly in relation to one another. To speak in modern terms, one could say that this blessing "works" interpersonally, regardless of the individuals' perceptions of God's role in the interaction. From this perspective, it may be the whole-heartedness and intention that are the essence of the encounter.
So yes, there is a place in our lives for spontaneous blessings. Yet sometimes I wonder if it is presumptuous of me to imagine that I can do better than a blessing with 3000 years of staying power and accumulated layers of meaning and emotional resonance.