Lech Lecha
What does it mean to be a blessing?
Reflection by Akiva Nelson:
אֶעֶשְׂךָ, לְגוֹי גָּדוֹל, וַאֲבָרֶכְךָ, וַאֲגַדְּלָה שְׁמֶךָ; וֶהְיֵה, בְּרָכָה
I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, and you shall become a blessing (Bereishit 12:2).
"G-d says these words to Avram at the beginning of our parsha. What does it mean that Avram will become a blessing? Rashi, the medieval commentator, interprets G-d’s words in this verse to mean that G-d is transferring the power of granting blessings from G-d’s hands to Avram’s (Rashi on Bereishit 12:2). The simple reading is that whereas it was G-d alone who blessed the first humans, Avram has now become the first person with the power to bless others.
Like Avram, we too have inherited the power to bless others. Indeed, in our Jewish meditation community, blessing practice is a core component of our retreats and sitting groups. Inspired by the Buddhist practice of metta (lovingkindness cultivation), we say words like, `May you be blessed with safety from inner and outer harm. May you be blessed with joy and fulfillment. May you be blessed with health of body and mind. May you be blessed with ease amongst life’s ups and downs.`
This is an intention we put out into the world without any guarantee that it will come to pass. But we say it anyway, quietly to ourselves, because it is wholesome and powerful to say these blessings. Doing so can turn ill will into wishes of well-being, curse into blessing.
We say these words over and over. `May you be blessed…` If we’re lucky, we feel a sensation blossoming within our hearts, the embodied sensation of goodwill. Feeling this goodwill in our bodies is one of the core purposes of doing Blessing Practice. It’s not enough just to say the words; we must say them with intention, so that through blessing others, we feel something deep within ourselves.
With continued practice, our bodies can become a vessel of blessing, a vessel by which goodness radiates out to the world. In this way, we are not merely saying blessings, but becoming them."