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| Praised are You O Lord our
God king of the universe Who has given the rooster the intelligence
to know the difference between day and night. |
Barukh ata adonai eloheinu melekh haolam
asher natan Lasekhvi vina l'havchin bein yom u'vein layla |
This blessing can be found on page 65 of the
new Siddur Sim Shalom page 10 of the older edition.
This bracha is the first bracha recited
as part of the opening brachot of the morning worship, known as
the Birchot HaShahar. (For further discussion of the Birchot HaShahar
see bracha #20.) This bracha, in its simplest understanding, gives
thanks to God for creating a natural alarm clock. We are busy
and run down. There are statistic that claim the vast majority
of Americans are sleep deprived on some level. We all need more
sleep, but we also have a great deal to accomplish. Pirkei Avot
(Ethics of our Fathers) reminds us, "the day is short and the
work is great." (2:20) Therefore, we have to get up and get to
it. There is excitement about getting to work when we are being
challenged and we enjoy what we do, but sometimes we are tired
and we need subtle assistance to get out of bed. Nature's first
alarm clock was the rooster.
This bracha can also be a metaphor something that
spurs us to see the difference between day and night, between
light and dark, between right and wrong. The rooster is symbolic
of those things that makes us take notice of the world around
us. The rooster wakes us from the sleep. We all walk around half
asleep to the darkness in the world. The commentaries on the Parshat
Bo in the book of Exodus, the portion that describes the plague
of darkness, suggest that the darkness was a crucial plague not
just for teaching the Egyptians but for the instruction of the
Israelites as well. After four hundred years of living in the
slavery they didn't even recognize the darkness that was their
lives.
We too need a wake up call. We too need someone
or something to come by and shake us to the reality of our lives.
Our society has made vast improvements in the areas of civil and
human rights but the racial divide continues. We must learn to
discern the individual merits and potential contributions of all
regardless of how light or dark one's skin. It is not about being
able to differentiate between dark and light skin, it is about
understanding what is right and what s wrong.
There are any number of places we can go to seek
the moral counsel of others. Some consult "The Ethicist" column
of the New York Times, or other advice columns. Some find radio
personalities who claim absolute authority. Some consult ancient
and sacred texts and some even go to see their Rabbi. But the
greatest challenge is to first wake up. That we cannot do alone.
We must continue to place ourselves in circumstances that require
us to think constructively about the challenges before us. We
must seek out the situations that will spark innovative thought
and revolutionary approaches. Then we will truly be able to thank
God for those who initiate change that fosters a sense that we
are all created in the image of God.
Copyright © 2001 Rabbi
Yohanan Stein. All rights reserved.
New Jersey Region United Synagogue
of Conservative Judaism
PO Box 390; 1025 St. Georges
Ave
Linden, NJ 07036-0390
Phone: 908-925-USCJ (8725)
/ Fax: 908-486-USCJ (8725)
E-mail: njersey@uscj.org
Copyright © 2000 -
2003 New Jersey USCJ. All rights reserved.
Last Updated: July 2003
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