Q&A: Blessed Be the Name of the Glory of His Kingdom
Blessed Be the Name of the Glory of His Kingdom
Question
Hello and blessings,
I have tried many times to understand the precise meaning of the phrase, "Blessed be the name of the glory of His kingdom forever and ever," but I haven’t succeeded. This makes it hard for me to understand each time I say "Hear O Israel"… I looked in quite a few books and didn’t find anyone who explains it clearly and convincingly in a way that sits well with the heart. In prayer books that explain the words, such as "Intention of the Heart," which is fairly common, the author changes the explanation from one edition to the next, which only reflects how difficult it is to understand the plain meaning of the phrase.
Is it a request? A praise, as the Sages indicate?
And what does the phrase "the name of the glory of His kingdom" mean? And the word "blessed"?
In short—what is the meaning of this sentence? Thanks!
Answer
First, this is not a concept but a sentence. What you mean is that you do not understand the sentence. I assume that the difficulty is mainly with the phrase "the name of the glory of His kingdom" that appears in it.
Simply put, it seems to me that the meaning is the name that describes the glory of the Holy One’s kingdom. The names of the Holy One (especially in Kabbalah) do not refer to Him Himself but to His emanations (derivatives of Him, expansions of Him, roughly speaking). The kingdom of the Holy One is the bottom of the world of emanation (kingship is the last, lowest sefirah), and its glory is what surrounds it, meaning that over which it hovers: the worlds of Beriah, Yetzirah, and Asiyah (the created worlds, us). The name of the glory of His kingdom is His name as it appears (= His glory) in our worlds.
The word "blessed" is explained at length, as is known, in Rashba’s responsum discussing the meaning of blessings. Simply put, this is the secret of worship for the sake of the Most High (in the language of the medieval authorities), meaning that we give strength (blessing = abundance, reinforcement) to the Holy One—or more precisely, to His manifestation in the world here (= the name of the glory of His kingdom). And although He is infinite and exists forever and ever, temporary mortals like us can give Him strength, in the sense of "Ascribe strength to God."
Discussion on Answer
The Kabbalistic terms are not essential. I added them because, in my opinion, they help sharpen the point.
A. It is written in the words of the Sages that there is no king without a people. If the people do not recognize him as king, then he is not a king. At least in that sense, we crown Him in the world (this is what Rosh Hashanah is devoted to). Without our expressing His kingship, it has no meaning, since He does not want to impose it on the world (even though of course He could). He wants it to depend on us, and that is why He created us with free choice. In this context it is very interesting to see Rabbi Kook’s words in Orot HaKodesh, vol. 2, regarding perfection and self-perfection. In brief, the Holy One is perfect and therefore cannot perfect Himself (= become more complete). That itself is a deficiency. Therefore He created us so that our self-perfection carries this out for Him. I elaborated on this in my article here:
B. When we say "blessed," we make Him into one who has power. That is in our hands (see what I wrote above), so there is nothing for us to wish for Him. We need to act, and then it will happen. Therefore the statement itself is the blessing.
C. "Forever and ever" means that our temporary influence, for our generations, makes Him blessed forever and ever (even after our time). The effect of our present actions is eternal. In that sense, giving a blessing to the Holy One is our own perpetuation (leaving an eternal mark).
Hello again (sorry for the delay in responding),
I understood most of what you said, though I still need some clarification:
A. According to what you said, when we say "Blessed be" the name of the glory of the kingdom of God, we are basically expressing God’s kingship. If so, it would have been more fitting simply to say a sentence stating that God is king, such as "The Lord reigns," etc. How exactly does the word "blessed" connect to our strengthening His kingship? Fair enough if it were about wishing that God reign in the world—that would make sense. But to say that God’s manifestation is increased and strengthened (as seems to follow from your words) sounds a bit strange, if not clumsy…
B. I’m returning again to your opening words about "the name of the glory of His kingdom": basically you are saying that God is revealed in the world, and this is His "name"—the form of His revelation in the world (and that is why He has several names). And we are supposed to strengthen the form of His revelation in the world as king? If so, what is the connection to "glory"?
C. If I asked you to translate the sentence "Blessed be the name of the glory of His kingdom forever and ever" for me in one sentence, how would you translate it?
Sorry for all the fine distinctions, but this really matters to me… 🙁
A. The claim is that the blessing gives power to His kingship to appear (through the name that represents it). Not kingship itself, but its appearance in the world.
[I would have kept quiet if not for the fact that the word "clumsy" appeared in precisely the sentence where you claim the wording of the blessing is clumsy.]
B. The glory of His kingdom is His appearance as king. That is as distinct from kingship in itself.
C. I already translated it: I intend to give strength to the Holy One’s kingship so that it will appear in the world through its name (that of the glory of His kingdom).
Hello again, sorry for the delay in responding.
A. Sorry, but I didn’t understand what the difference is between His appearance as king and kingship in itself.
B. Again, sorry for not understanding, but what does "through the name of the glory of His kingdom" mean??
C. Regarding the "forever and ever," you said that our action remains and leaves an imprint forever. I didn’t understand how. After all, we want to give strength to the appearance of God’s kingship in the world. That happens when God appears as king over us. How does that have any connection to eternity, or any eternal effect?
Again, thank you very much.
A. He is King of the world by His very nature. But our blessing causes His kingship to appear—that is, for people to recognize it.
B. The Holy One has names, and each one refers to a certain aspect of Him. It seems that here the intention is that there is a name that refers to the glory of His kingship (a concept explained here in A).
C. When He reigns, it changes something in the world, and that remains here into the future as well. Just as the giving of the Torah or the Exodus from Egypt, which happened in the past, still affect us to this day.
It seems to me that we’ve exhausted the topic. The large gaps of time between messages are also difficult for me.
Thank you for the answer.
I’ve started to understand something (despite the weaving of Kabbalistic ideas into your explanation…).
Basically, we are blessing the Holy One (or His manifestation in the world), from what I understood from you. A few questions about that:
A. We bless the Holy One—so what exactly is supposed to happen with Him? How is this strengthening that we bless Him with actually expressed?
B. The word "blessed" is not "may the name of the Holy One be blessed," but rather has the sense of stating a fact and not making a request. At least that’s how it sounds from the plain meaning of the word "blessed" (and not "may He be blessed").
C. What meaning does the ending "forever and ever" have in this world?