To Bless or Not to Bless: Thoughts on Halakha and Spiritual Consciousness
When we think of writings on halakha, we realize that this body of rabbinic literature has various expressions. These can include books on halakhic content e.g. Codes, Responsa or popularizations/digests of Codes. There are also articles on the historical development of halakha and articles or books that deal with disputes in matters of halakha. There is a remote and smaller area of writings on the philosophy of halakha either to articulate the classical foundations of halakha in the contemporary idiom or to critique halakha from a Modernist perspective. While all these domains are of import to Judaism, the area that I will explore here is the implication of halakah on Consciousness. This is an area that strikes me as being neglected, among those things "that are in the most ascendant place in the universe and yet people trample on them". Specifically, my intent is to examine how the historical development of halakha and the nature of the rabbinic hermeneutic and legal process itself has a potentially deleterious effect on human Consciousness and its spiritual expression. I seek to offer a perspective regarding how these effects of halakha on Consciousness may be regarded, and what potentially follows from this as a living halakhic philosophy for select seekers today who are embracing Judaism.
Let us start with a relatively common halakhic category, that of Berakhot (Blessings). It is the dominant opinion that the only Berakha that is Torah mandated is that of Birkat Hamazon (Grace after Meals) which is obligatory by rabbinic law even if one has eaten only an olive's volume portion of bread from the species of: wheat, barley, oats, rye and spelt. This blessing would be said after one completes the meal when one has reached a point of presumed satiation. Any blessing that we make prior to the consumption of a food and any blessing we make after the consumption of a snack or meal that does not contain bread is purely of rabbinic origin, albeit rooted in a Divine mandate.
Birkat Hamazon itself has a historically layered development. According to tradition, Moses instituted the first blessing, Joshua the second, Kind David the third and the rabbis at the time of the second Temple's destruction the fourth. At the time of Moses, apparently no one was obligated to recite blessings on food except after a meal with one of these 5 species of grain. Since the Israelites ate manna and/or meat in the desert and Moses never entered Israel where grain would have been cultivated, one wonders what pervasiveness this blessing had during Moses' lifetime. Regardless, for our purposes we note that halakha has developed from a point of utter simplicity of having one essential blessing around a meal that is one paragraph long and that any school child can learn by age 6-- to a highly complex rabbinic system of blessings that requires significant Torah scholarship and various Talmudic and halakhic books to master.
We have five categories of blessings that are recited before eating food (Hagefen, Mezonot, Ha'etz, Ha'adamah and Shehakol), aside from bread which we have an initial blessing of Hamotzi. In addition, meals have become more complex. Besides having to analyze which blessing is appropriate for each fruit or vegetable, we also have to determine what blessing should be made over a food that is a composite of multiple items, which blessings should be made first if you are partaking of several distinct items. Naturally, there is room for dispute, so we must learn these different practices and choose or be directed to a certain practice based on a scholar's evaluation of the rabbinic perspectives and arguments. We must also concern ourselves with after blessings and the timing of the after blessings; in addition there are concerns over the portions by which a blessing becomes mandatory etc. Of course, there also are concerns regarding what to do if doubt arises as to making the appropriate blessing or if one is in doubt as to what blessing to make.
I am not under the illusion that the intent of the rabbis was to create a religion that is a high risk factor in developing obsessive compulsive disorder or intellectualitis --an inflammation of the mind caused by too much thinking and analysis. Rather, I understand that the intent of the rabbis was to help develop Judaism to be more God conscious-- blessings are after all to God; and there is a certain logic in that the more one recognizes and shows gratitude to God, the closer to God one will be and the more refined a human being one will be. From a Kabbalistic perspective each blessing is an opportunity to elevate a spiritual spark or to channel Godliness into the world. It's not the rabbis' fault that the Italians invented Pizza and now we need to consider whether it's a Hamotzi after one slice or two, or if you are establishing a meal on it even if it's one, a Mezonot with fruit juice or without etc... The Rabbis are just trying to help us eat Pizza with a little bit of God consciousness.
Where does this leave us with the subject of our exploration the effects of halakha on Consciousness? One effect on Consciousness is that the rabbinic system, by virtue of its pervasiveness and constancy, can become rote. This is not a very controversial critique, as Hassidism essentially rooted itself in this position in reference to prayer quoting the prophets outcry regarding the degradation of observance devolving into, "The commandments of men by rote." One way of dealing with this is to apply oneself with ever increasing zeal to the application of blessings. This should be understood as the classical response which the rabbis point to in an observation," One can tell a man by the blessings he makes". Their intent is that someone who is punctilious about making the correct blessings is praiseworthy.
However, the greater implication for Consciousness is beyond the issue of the routinization of halakhic observance. The rabbinic tradition of Abaye and Rava, Hillel and Shammai, Rav and Shemuel is all about a multi-vocal perspective as the embodiment of a more complete truth. If spontaneity of gratitude becomes replaced with analytic legalistic grappling then we are removed from what the original intent of the rabbis was, let alone the intent of the Five Books of Moses in its original layer which in utter simplicity states, "And you will eat, and you will be satisfied and you will bless." The Torah describes an organic seamless process that is rooted in a natural human expression. Not, "You will before you eat wonder what to do because its complicated, think about for a bit, wonder if you can reach your rabbi, try to find a book that tells you what to do, get frustrated and make a blessing that was never there when the Torah was given and then forget that the whole point of this was to be grateful to God!" If our Consciousness is consumed by these considerations of what blessing do we make etc... and we neglect what is it that we are actually eating? Who made it? Is the food being produced as Torat Moshe indicates? Is the food healthy? Is it ethically produced? If the consideration of the rabbis was to restore a level of gratitude that they perceived was natural in Biblical Man, then where is this gratitude as we ponder the issues with making blessings over cereal and do all kinds or circuitous behaviors to accommodate divergent opinions that have coalesced in the present era? Is it possible to cultivate such gratitude? Yes. Is it possible that this path demands a lot of effort? Yes. Has this system become irrelevant to the majority of Jews and Jewesses? Yes. Is that the Rabbinic idea? No. Will all the outreach in the world make a difference? No. So where are we left?
For some individuals, the complexity of the system can lead to an aversion to its implementation and a revulsion against the rabbinic spiritual enterprise. We must keep in mind that the rabbis wanted to bring a certain God consciousness into the details of one's mundane human existence through sacred speech. Blessings are intended to raise our spiritual Consciousness, not reduce us to automatons that blurt out the right formula for each eating situation.
I hope that the exploration of the issue itself can be of assistance in understanding one's internal experience of Judaism. I once shared with my community that people need to have more compassion on themselves when they fail to say Birkat Hamazon with adequate concentration. I explained to them how Moses never said Birkat Hamazon as we know it, nor did Joshua nor did King David! What has taken over a thousand years to develop, we attempt to do in 5 minutes! So give yourself a break. I will close with a story from the Kotzker Rebbe that pertains to this point. The Kotzker heard that there were Hassidism who were being praised for reciting the entire book of Tehillim in one night. He remarked, "What took King David his lifetime to write they say in one night?" Halakhic Judaism has developed over thousands of years. It is simply unrealistic to assume that a human being can integrate such a layered system in one lifetime. As the surrealistic artist Salvador Dali once said, "Do not fear perfection; you are in no danger of achieving it!"
Would Orthodoxy be better off if it considered not what blessing it made etc...... but rather considerations pertaining to the health of what is before them, the ethical and ecological constructs that inform the food and drinks before them? Of course, one can respond that this is a false choice and both are living options. If this is truly a false choice, then it behooves Orthodoxy to demonstrate that they are capable of incorporating concerns beyond the perfunctory and don't allow the sacred intent of the rabbis to become a mindless, perfunctory routine that lacks spiritual Consciousness.
Be Blessed!
