#blogElul 3: Bless
August 29, 2014
BLESS (ELUL 3)
What do we bless
I ask and you point:
first flames then goblets
then bread braided smooth
my lips brush your forehead
d'var acher another view:
Blessed is the One
who opens doors into holiness
and implants meristem cells
into grape vines coiling
Blessed is potential
curled tight in the kernel
of every grain we mill and bake
bless infinity translated into cosmos
creation's atoms persist in us
"D'var acher" means "another viewpoint" (literally it means either "another word" or "another thing.") It's a common rabbinic way of shifting from one opinion to another.
I'm interested in our common parlance about blessings -- we say that we bless candles, juice, bread, though in truth our blessing formula teaches that we bless God Who makes and sanctifies these.
Shabbat shalom to all who celebrate!
I'm participating again this year in #blogElul, an internet-wide carnival of themed posts aimed at waking the heart and soul before the Days of Awe. (Organized by Ima Bima.) You can read last year's and this year's #blogElul posts via the Elul tag; last year's posts are also available, lightly revised, in the print chapbook Elul Reflections.