At the beginning is a great song - Tradition! It's About....well, it's about Tradition. And if you know nothing of Judaism, you should at least know that Jews are firmly rooted in their sense of tradition.
During this song, a man asks the Rabbi a question -
"Is there a Proper Blessing for the Czar?" (If you didn't know, Czars were incredibly cruel to the Jews).
To which the Rabbi response - "A Blessing for the Czar? Of Course! May God Bless and Keep the Czar, FAR away from us!"
So where is this going?
Well - one night at dinner, my son asked me if there was a blessing to say before we ate. Having been raised Catholic, we would have said "Grace". But "Grace" at least the way it was said in my house, wasn't a specific prayer, rather a few improvised words of thanks to God for the food we had, the people we loved and hope for the future.
I don't know why - but I had convinced myself that Jews would be more organized than to just say a bunch of random stuff on the fly. And - I was not disappointed. There was just one problem -
THERE WERE SO MANY OF THEM!
Blessings over snacks, blessings for meals, blessings for meals with bread, blessing for meals without bread, blessings for vegetables, for grains....
I couldn't figure out which ones to say!
After quickly asking Rabbi Roston, she had the perfect solution - when in doubt, grab out a piece of bread and say the blessing for bread. DUH. (Ok, she didn't say Duh, I added that part...)
But it got me thinking -
What are some interesting Jewish blessings?
Here's a list like no other.
Blessing for when you see a rainbow -
Blessed are You, Lord our G‑d, King of the universe, who remembers the covenant, and is faithful to His covenant, and keeps His promise.
Baruch ata Ado-nai, Elo-heinu Melech ha'olam,
Asher yatzar es ha'adam be'chachma,
u'vara vo ne'kavim ve'kavim, chaloolim chaloolim.
Galooy ve'yadoo'a lifney Chi'seh Chevodecha,
she'im yipaseh'ach echad me'hem,
oh yisasem echad me'hem, ee efshar le'hiskayem ve'la'amod lefanecha.
Baruch ata Ado-nai, Rofeh chol basar u'maflee la'asos."
Asher yatzar es ha'adam be'chachma,
u'vara vo ne'kavim ve'kavim, chaloolim chaloolim.
Galooy ve'yadoo'a lifney Chi'seh Chevodecha,
she'im yipaseh'ach echad me'hem,
oh yisasem echad me'hem, ee efshar le'hiskayem ve'la'amod lefanecha.
Baruch ata Ado-nai, Rofeh chol basar u'maflee la'asos."
"Blessed are You, Hashem our G-d, King of the universe, Who formed man with wisdom and created within him many openings and many hollows. It is obvious and known before Your Throne of Glory that if even one of them ruptures, or if even one of them becomes blocked, it would be impossible to survive and to stand before You (even for a short period). Blessed are You, Hashem, Who heals all flesh and acts wondrously."
(Yes - that's a prayer for after you have a one night stand...)
(which I know I pray frequently, especially when traveling by plane)
There are lots of other prayers that Jews say as they go through the course of their day. I just thought that these ranked among the more...unusual. I won't say "weird". I think that using "weird" to describe someone else's cultural or ethnic believes is wrong and leans towards ethnocentrism.
But it just goes to show you that in over 3000 years, Jews have seen a lot, and know to give thanks to G-d.
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