#brachot

[self-mythologist]

Bracha for the first warm rays of sun of the year

ברוך אתה, יי אלהינו מלך העולם שעשה את השמש החום

Baruch atah, Adonai Eloheinu,Melech ha’olam,she’asah et hashemesh hachom.

Praise to You, Adonai our God, Sovereign of the universe, who created the warmth of the sun.

[towerrecords]

My dear friend Ari Yovel wrote this incredible bracha for me for pre-surgery and I wanted to share it with you all. Here is the English translation in screenreadable text:

‘Blessed are you, Adonai our G-d, Sovereign of the Universe, who created my body with wisdom and placed a pure soul within me. The Transforming One to those who transform, you grace human beings with knowledge and teach understanding to every soul. In the name of the commandments of self-creation and the preservation of life: may it be your will, Adonai, our G-d and G-d of our ancestors, that by their merit I undergo a full and swift healing from Heaven, a healing of body and spirit. As is written in the songs of your servant David, "my heart rejoices, my whole being exults, and my body rests secure." Blessed are you, Adonai, who carries out the act of creation.’

Thank you so much and thank you to all who have supported me in this gender affirming process. 💕

[aimmyarrowshigh]

“We’re having breakfast,” Kitty says. She carries an enormous platter of jelly-smeared, powdered sugar frosted matzo brei to the table. “There’s enough for you, too, Professor.” She returns to the sink to wash her hands and make hamotzi. And after a long minute, so does Erik. --- Or, Erik doesn't leave the Mansion first thing, that morning.

I can reveal the fic that I wrote for @vtsuion for the Jews In Space Fic Exchange! I've never written Cherik before, so I hope that it turned out okay. It was fun to try out a new pairing in a new corner of the Marvel universe!

[thepomegranatewitch]

omer counter 5783

Posting 6 Apr 2023 / 15 Nisan 5783: tonight starts the omer! You can check out HebCal's handy checker for what day of the omer it is at this link.

Image description: a digital collage with full colour botanical illustrations. A flowering branch of pomegranate has a sheaf of wheat in the middle. A spiral of moon phases in black starting from center top and ending with a gibbous moon at the straw for the sheaf of wheat.

For some people, this is something they were never taught about and you'll be surprised to hear about it. For others, it's a quotidian count without much more. For others (like me), it's a chance to do a little study each evening and take stock of your actions between Pesach and Shavuot. (Same goes for Shavuot - maybe it's a day you look forward to for study or for cheesecake, maybe it's something you never heard about. I like it because it brings together multiple of my loves: cream-based desserts, reading, flowers, and staying up all night.)

Image descriptions. Two photographs. Left is a single particularly tall stalk of blooming wild radish in a field of blooming white radish. The horizon shows some trees and the top third of the photo is a clear blue sky. Right is a bee about to collect nectar from a branch of flowering white ornamental pear. Her legs are visibly packed with golden pollen. The background is bokeh branches with few leaves on a sunny day.

The kabbalists introduced the practice of considering seven of the sefirot on the tree of life over the seven week period between Pesach and Shavuot as we metaphorically journey from the Narrow Place to Revelation. Each week has a sefira and each day has a sefira, so you end up considering each of them within each other: what does lovingkindness within discipline look like? What is sovereignty and humility within splendor? What is splendor within sovereignty?

Image description. Two images almost the same. Both depict a white kabbalistic tree of life collaged on a photo of the sea and mountains on the horizon at sunset with a subtle trans pride palette. The left has only Hebrew and the right has English transliteration under the Hebrew.

I have counted for a couple years now in chevruta and learn something new about myself, my friends, and our texts each year. If you've never tried counting before but are game to take a look, if you've tried before but this year you're going to complete it, or you've done this before and are looking to consider your practice from another angle, I have a tool for you!

I wrote an omer counter off my notes. We will never achieve full understanding, and each year will change and our understanding with us.

Image description: the cover of the omer counter with previously described pomegranate spiral moon and wheat image at center. Top reads counting the omer in English and Hebrew with the year 5783. Bottom right has artist signature in Korean and English transliteration of Hebrew.

There's a big at-a-glance spread of the count:

Image description: a double spread, split into two images, in black and white of a calendar with Gregorian and Hebrew dates, day of the count, sefirot, moon phases, and Jewish holidays.

There are quick breakdowns that invite you to consider your own systems and give background for

why and how to count

the tree of life

sefirot etymology and translations

what Shavuot is

Each week has a double spread with plenty of space for your own notes, the sefira of the week, translations of the sefira, the blessing for counting the omer in Hebrew and English, and the day of the count in Hebrew and English. These are my own using my consistent queer and poetic grounding to get the cultural and not just literal meaning across, using multiple names and genders for the Divine.

Image description: a double spread showing the week focusing on the sefira tiferet, in all black and white, as described in the above paragraph.

If this piques your interest, or you'd just like to support a mixed race queer Jew, please consider visiting my ko-fi, where you can get a PDF for as low as $5, or my redbubble, where you can purchase stickers, notebooks, and cards with the images.

[whatlieswithintheorchard]

Blessing for Questioning Gender or Sexuality

“A person does not understand statements of Torah unless [one] stumbles on them.”

-Gittin 43a

I feel my struggle without end, without an answer. I feel, at times, that I am alone. Though, I know that is NOT. true. I may not see an end, but I hope to reach it. Or, perhaps, the end I see is simply the road I walk down. I do not know how this will end, but until, or if, it ends, I know that I am, and will always be, my full and whole self.

ברוך אתה הויה ͏רוח הולעם מי שואלת חשב

English Transliteration:

B’ruche ateh Havayah, ruach ha’olam, mi shoelat khoshev

English Translation:

G’d of infinite Oneness, blessed are You, who challenges thought.

[mental-mona]

Asher Yatzar

I've posted about this before, but can't find it in my old posts to reblog, so redoing the post. Jews have a blessing that we say after going to the bathroom called "Asher Yatzar," and it goes as follows:

"ברוך אתה ה' אלוקנו מלך העולם אשר יצר את האדם בחכמה וברא בו נקבים נקבים חלולים חלולים. גלוי וידוע לפני כסא כבודך שאם יפתח אחד מהם או יסתם אחד מהם אי אפשר להתקיים ולעמוד לפניך אפילו שעה אחת. ברוך אתה ה' רופא כל בשר ומפליא לעשות."

"Blessed are You A-donai, our G-d, King of the world, who fashioned man with wisdom and created in him many cavities and hollows. It is well known before Your throne that if one of them were to be opened or one of them were to be closed, it would be impossible to exist and to stand before You for even one moment. Blessed are You A-donai, Healer of all flesh and wondrous of deeds."

I'm in the middle of a massive IC flare along with an IBS flare. I am seriously appreciating this blessing right now. You don't think of the importance of excretory organs until they act up, nor do you think of your other "cavities and hollows" until something goes wrong - an asthma attack or stroke, say. Just...if you're a chronically ill Jew, maybe take a few minutes to learn this blessing and appreciate your internal organs, regardless of whether or not they work right. If you're a chronically ill goy, take a second to appreciate that Jews even have the concept of this blessing, and thank G-d for your body in your own way. (I'm too brain-fogged to decide if a goy saying the actual blessing would be cultural appropriation; let one of the other wise minds of Jumblr clear that up or ask me to clarify when I'm not on the verge of a migraine.)

[anonymousdandelion]

There is no bracha more meaningful than the first Shehakol immediately after a fast ends.

[challahbeloved]

It’s the Rainy Season

even outside of Eretz Yisrael right now

(sticker purchased from NirehOr on Etsy)

Blessing Upon Seeing a Rainbow

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה' אֶלוֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם זוֹכֵר הַבְּרִית וְנֶאֱמָן בִּבְרִיתוֹ וְקַיָם בְּמַאֲמָרוֹ

Baruch ata Ado-nai Elo-heinu melech ha'olam zocher ha'brit v'ne'eman bivrito v'kayam b'ma'amaro.

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.

[guiltywisdom]

Every one among us has a thousand [demons] on his left hand and ten thousand on his right hand.

Rav Huna, Babylonian Talmud Brachot 6a

[torahtot]

i was so excited to make my "we're tu bishvat babies, of course we get a fruit platter instead of cake" joke but then chabad actually did make me a cake and it was the best cake i ever had in my life. win!

[garadinervi]

E.L.T. Mesens. L'exposant exposé, Galerie Isy Brachot, Paris, 1991 [Place-des-Arts]

Exhibition: May 16 – July 12, 1991

[pomegranateandhoney]

These are the versions of the Sheva Berakot we'll be using at our wedding. The explanations provided by the rabbi in this article are beautiful.

1. בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְ-יָ אֱלֹהֵ-ינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, בּוֹרֵא פְּרִי הַגָּפֶן

May your branches cling to one another—wild and overflowing. I bless you with sweet fruits and luscious sanctity. 

2. בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְ-יָ אֱלֹהֵ-ינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, שֶׁהַכֹּל בָּרָא לִכְבוֹדוֹ.

May you know one another fully and completely. May you come to learn and love each other’s light and darkness, each other’s blessings and shortcomings. May you help one another grow to better know yourselves, and may you live to be present with each other’s moments of peace and of pain. I bless you with finding and cultivating the places in each other where the entire universe—love and darkness, light and truth—can reside.

3. בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְ-יָ אֱלֹהֵ-ינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, יוֹצֵר הָאָדָם.

I grant you the blessings of mystery and uncertainty. I bless you with the courage​ to ​not know—to love from the heart, not the head; to love even when you don’t know how; to love because you know no other way than this. I bless you with knowing one another better than yourself, and with knowing yourself through one another. I bless you with messiness and murkiness—with forgetting where one person stops and the other begins.

4. בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְ-יָ אֱלֹהֵ-ינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, אֲשֶׁר יָצַר אֶת הָאָדָם בְּצַלְמוֹ, בְּצֶלֶם דְּמוּת תַּבְנִיתוֹ, וְהִתְקִין לוֹ מִמֶּנּוּ בִּנְיַן עֲדֵי עַד: בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְ-יָ, יוֹצֵר הָאָדָם

May your marriage and your lives be guided by holy justice and principled action. May you find in one another the strength and resiliency to work on behalf of the oppressed and the downtrodden. May you walk together along a path of mercy, graciousness and righteousness. I give you a world in need of healing, and bless you with the power to heal.

5. שׂוֹשׂ תָּשִׂישׂ וְתָגֵל הָעֲקָרָה, בְּקִבּוּץ בָּנֶיהָ לְתוֹכָהּ בְּשִׂמְחָה: בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְ-יָ, מְשַׂמֵּחַ צִיּוֹן בְּבָנֶיהָ.

May you sanctify my name through the lives you impact. May you spread a love for people of all nations and creeds, and may your deeds of kindness be as numerous as the stars of the heaven and the sands of the sea. I bless you with the ability to share the love you have for one another with any and every divine spark you encounter.

6. שַׂמַּח תְּשַׂמַּח רֵעִים הָאֲהוּבִים, כְּשַׂמֵּחֲךָ יְצִירְךָ בְּגַן עֵֽדֶן מִקֶּֽדֶם: בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְ-יָ, מְשַׂמֵּֽחַ חָתָן וְכַלָּה

May you know joy. May each other’s laughter be the question you spend your life trying to answer. May you serve to make life’s quakes gentler, and life’s shakes steadier, for one another. I bless you with a life of finding joy despite—or perhaps amidst—the trembles.

7. בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְ-יָ אֱלֹהֵ-ינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, אֲשֶׁר בָּרָא שָׂשׂוֹן וְשִׂמְחָה, חָתָן וְכַלָּה, גִּילָה רִנָּה דִּיצָה וְחֶדְוָה, אַהֲבָה וְאַחֲוָה שָׁלוֹם וְרֵעוּת, מְהֵרָה יְ-יָ אֱלֹהֵ-ינוּ יִשָּׁמַע בְּעָרֵי יְהוּדָה וּבְחוּצוֹת יְרוּשָׁלָיִם, קוֹל שָׂשׂוֹן וְקוֹל שִׂמְחָה, קוֹל חָתָן וְקוֹל כַּלָּה, קוֹל מִצְהֲלוֹת חֲתָנִים מֵחֻפָּתָם, וּנְעָרִים מִמִּשְׁתֵּה נְגִינָתָם: בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְ-יָ, מְשַׂמֵּחַ חָתָן עִם הַכַּלָּה.

May you lead a life of sound and song. May you join together in songs of praise, songs of joy and songs of sorrow. May your voices provide comfort and solace, inspiration and ecstasy. May you find and create divinity in whispered “I love you’s” and in humble “I’m sorry’s.” I bless you with the capacity, and the lifelong desire, to hear each other’s calls.

[laku-incarnate]

Marcel Delmotte, Untitled, 1970.

[laineystein]

Thank you, Hashem 🌅

[whosafraidofvirginiawoolf]

dying who would get this joke anyway hfjskaksjdj