Nefesh HaChaim נפש החיים

And the matter of the word “blessed” is not an expression of attributing glory and giving praise as is commonly accepted among the masses, for when He said to Rabbee Yishmael: “Yishmael, my child, bless me” (Berakhot 7a), he didn’t utter there any praise in his blessing, rather a prayer and a request for mercy. And in the same context in Bava M’tzee-ah (114a) they stated: “‘and he will bless you’ (D’varim 24:13)—this excludes hekdeish which doesn’t require a blessing”. And then the Talmud argues that this is not correct, and therefore it is written; “and you shall eat and be satisfied and bless God…” (D’varim 8:10).

However, the truth is that ba-rookh, its meaning is an expression of increase and expansion, and consonant with the context of (Berakhot 7a) “accept, please, my b’rakha…” (B’reishit 33:11), and “and He will bless your food” (Shemot 23:25), and “and He will bless the fruit of your womb…” (D’varim 7:13), and many others similar to these in the text, so that it’s impossible to translate them as expressions of attributing glory and giving praise; rather [it’s] an expression of increase and expansion.

And in the Zohar it states in many places “l’am-sheekha birkha’an…”, “l’a-ra-ka birkha’an”, “l’oh-soo-fei birkha’an”, “toseffet v’ribui birkha’an…”. And refer to the Raa-ya M’hemna (beginning of parshat Eikev 71 and 72), that “ba-rookh ah-tah YHV”H”, its meaning is to draw forth and cause the flow of life [force] from the Source of Life to the name of the Holy One (blessed be He)… . And it’s written (ibid): “and you shall eat and be satisfied and bless God your God-Elohi”m”, and those are blessings that people cause to flow with those words…”. Refer there at length [for more details].

And so it is written in the Pri Etz Chayyim, Sha-ar Ha-kadishim, chapter 1, and this is what it says: “The hidden meaning of ba-rookh is many kinds of expansion”. And so it is too at the end of the Sha-ar Ha-b’reeya, and at the end of chapter two of the Sha-ar Ha-ahmeeda, and at the beginning of chapter three there, and in the Sha-ar Ha-shabbat in the beginning of chapter twelve, and in the Sha-ar T’feelaht Rosh Ha-shanna, refer there. And so too wrote the RaShb”A (OBM) in regard to the context of “Yishmael, my child, bless me”. Refer there [for more details].

However the context of blessing Him (blessed be His name), the intention is not [aimed] towards the Essence (so to speak) of the One Master (blessed is He), (never! never!), for He is far, far above any blessing. Rather the context is as is stated in the Zohar (Ehmore 98, and in other places), that the Holy One (blessed be He) is [both] revealed and hidden. For the Essence of the Ein Sofe (blessed is He) is the most hidden of the hiddens, and can’t be assigned any name at all, not even the name YHV”H (blessed is He), nor even to the top thorn of its letter Yud.

And though the Zohar refers to Him (blessed be He) with the name Ein Sofe, it’s not a descriptive name for Him (blessed be His name). Rather the intention is relative to how we perceive Him, from the perspective of the forces that are affected by Him via his purposeful relationship with the worlds. And for this reason He is referred to as “Without End” and not “Without Beginning”, for in truth from the perspective of His Essence (blessed be His name) He has no end and no beginning; [it’s] only from our perspective of His powers (blessed be He). It’s that all of our understanding is just a beginning, but there’s no final destination at which we can arrive with an understanding of His powers (blessed be His name) that influence [the world].

And what we’re able to grasp to some small degree, and [that] we [can] name and describe with a number of: 1. names that are physically descriptive, 2. names that are descriptive of relationship, 3. names that describe behavioral qualities, and 4. names that describe personality qualities, as we’ve encountered in the Torah and in the various expressions of prayer, all of them are only from the perspective of His (blessed be He) relationship with the worlds and the powers from the moment of the creation, to set them up, to sustain them, and to control them according to His will (blessed be His name), and those are what are intended by the phrase: “unfolding of the s’feerote”.

And the names, appellations and descriptions [used to refer to God] vary according to the distinctions in the details of the control process that unfold and are drawn to this world (whether for judgment, compassion, or mercy), via the lofty powers and their combinations. Thus, each specific context in the control process has a unique appellation and a specific name, and this is what the definitions of all the descriptive names that are from the perspective of the created powers teach us. For example “Merciful and Graceful” means “exhibiting mercy and grace toward the created beings”.

And even the unique primary name YHV”H (blessed is He) is not applied in exclusivity to His Essence (blessed be He) that we uniquely attribute to Him; rather [it’s applied] from the perspective of His (blessed be He) relationship with the worlds, per its definition as “existed, exists, will exist, and brings everything into existence”, meaning that He (blessed be He) purposefully relates to the worlds to bring them into existence and to sustain them in each instant.[*] And this is what the Ariza”l stated in his holy explanation, brought in the introduction to the Pri Etz Chayyim, that all the appellations and names, they are names of the Essence that are distributed within the s’feerote. Refer there [for more details].

Annotation: And what is stated in the Pirkei d’Rabbee Eliezer, that “Before the Holy One (blessed be He) created the world, He and his name alone existed”. He specifically used the words “Before He created-Ba-rah”—meaning the world of B’reeya. “He”—meaning His Essence (blessed be He). “And his name”—meaning the world of Ahtzeeloot. They alone existed. But if He (blessed be His name) had not emanated from within Him the world of Ahtzeeloot, there wouldn’t have been any relevance of past, present or future existence to His Essence.