Blessing of the month

The Shehekyanu

We praise You, Eternal God, Sovereign of the Universe, for giving us life,
for sustaining us and for enabling us to reach this season.

Ba-ruch a-ta A-do-nai, Eh-lo-hei-nu meh-lech ha-o-lam,
she-heh-cheh-ya-nu, v'ki-y'ma-nu, v'higi-anu, la-z'man ha-zeh.

May brings more than May flowers. In May we celebrate graduations, Confirmation, spring, and this particular May, our congregation celebrates the great blessing of a new and already beloved Senior Rabbi.

A Jew recites the Shehekyanu the way a parent records Kodak moments in a child’s life. We pause to reframe and refocus our ordinary surroundings into something extraordinary, a snapshot, to make separate for a brief time one shuttered slice of time we wish to appreciate and give thanks for. Reciting the Shehekyanu we fall out of everyday time and space into a respite from the ordinary, into grace. We recall that we are blessed, and we recall who blesses us.

Unlike most blessings which recall our obligations to God, the commandments we keep as Jews, this blessing simply thanks God for our being. What could be more important than that?

If you haven’t memorized this blessing yet, do it. Copy it out and put in your pocket until you know it by heart. It’s not the Passover china. Don’t keep it just for holidays, just for times the prayer book tells you to recite it. Think of it every time you wish you had a camera with you so you could savor and remember a special moment.

L’shalom,
Andrew Bernard
Cantor