חדש באתר: מיכי-בוט. עוזר חכם על כתבי הרב מיכאל אברהם.

Blessed is the name of His Majesty.

שו”תCategory: philosophyBlessed is the name of His Majesty.
asked 8 years ago

Peace and blessings,
I have often tried to understand the exact meaning of the concept “Blessed is the name of the glory of His kingdom forever and ever” and have not succeeded. This makes it difficult for me to understand every time I say Shema Yisrael… I have searched several books and have not found anyone who explains it with good taste and knowledge in a way that appeals to the heart. In the siddurs that interpret the words such as “the intention of the heart” which is quite common, the author changes the meaning from edition to edition, which only reflects the difficulty in understanding the simplicity of the concept.
Is this a request? A praise (as the Sages indicate)?
And what is the meaning of the word “name of the glory of his kingdom”? And the word “baruch”?
In short – what is the understanding of this sentence? thanks!


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0 Answers
מיכי Staff answered 8 years ago
First, it’s not a concept but a sentence. What you mean is that you don’t understand the sentence. I assume that the difficulty with the sentence is mainly the concept “name of the glory of his kingdom” that appears in it. Simply put, it seems to me that the intention is a name that describes the glory of God’s kingdom. God’s names (especially in Kabbalah) refer not to Him Himself but to His enthronement (its derivatives, its expansions, roughly). God’s kingdom is the bottom of the world of enthronement (kingdom is the last, lowest sphere), and its glory is what surrounds it, that is, what it overlaps with. The worlds of the universe (the created worlds, us). The name of the glory of God’s kingdom is His name as it appears (=His glory) in our worlds. The word “Baruch” is explained in detail in the Rashba’s reply that discusses the meaning of blessings. Simply put, this is the secret of the work of a high necessity (in the language of the Rishonim), meaning that we give strength (baruch = abundance, strengthening) to God, and more precisely to His appearance in this world (= the place of His glory and kingdom). And even though He is infinite and exists forever and ever, temporary mortals like us can give Him strength, in the sense of “give strength to God.”  

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ארי replied 8 years ago

Thanks for the answer.
I started to understand something (despite the interweaving of the words of Kabbalah in your explanation).
In fact, we bless the Blessed One (or His appearance in the world), according to how I understood you. A few questions about this:
a. We bless the Blessed One so that His name will be with Him exactly? What is the expression of this reinforcement that we bless Him?
b. The word “Baruch” is not “Blessed” the name of the Blessed One, but rather it is in the sense of stating a fact and not a request. This is how it sounds at least from the simplicity of the word “Baruch” (and not “Blessed”).
c. What is the meaning of the end of the word “forever and ever” in this world?

מיכי Staff replied 8 years ago

The Kabbalistic terms are not to be delayed. I added them because in my opinion they are useful to clarify the matter.

A. It is written in Chazal that there is no king without a people. If the people do not recognize him as king, he is not a king. At least in this sense we make him king in the world (this is what Rosh Hashanah is dedicated to). Without us expressing his kingship, it has no meaning, since he does not want to impose it on the world (although he of course can). He wants it to depend on us, and therefore he created us with freedom of choice. In this context, it is very interesting to see the words of the Rabbi in the Holy Light of the Holy Scriptures concerning perfection and completion. In short, the Almighty is perfect and therefore cannot complete himself (=become more complete). This in itself is a disadvantage. Therefore, he created us so that our completion is a matter of this for him. I have expanded on this in my article Here:
https://mikyab.net/%D7%9B%D7%AA%D7%91%D7%99%D7%9D/%D7%9E%D7%90%D7%9E%D7%A8%D7%99%D7%9D/%D7%97%D7%99%D7%A6%D7%95-%D7%A9%D7%9C-%D 7%96%D7%99%D7%A0%D7%95%D7%9F-%D7%95%D7%94%D7%A4%D7%99%D7%A1%D7%99%D7%A7%D7%94-%D7%94%D7%9E%D7%95%D7%93%D7%A8%D7%A0%D7%99%D7%AA1/

B. When we say Baruch, we make him powerful. It is in our hands (see my words above) and therefore we have nothing to wish him. We must perform and then it will take place. Therefore, the determination is the blessing.

C. Forever and ever means that our temporary influence on our generations makes him Baruch forever and ever (even after our time). The influence of our current actions is eternal. In this sense, giving a blessing to God is our commemoration (leaving an eternal mark).

ארי replied 8 years ago

Hello again (sorry for the late response),
I understood most of what you said, although a few clarifications:
A. According to your words, in saying that “Blessed” is the name of the glory of the kingdom of G-d; we are expressing the kingdom of G-d, blessed be He. It would have been more appropriate to simply say a sentence style that says that G-d is king, such as “G-d is king, etc.”. How exactly does the word “Blessed” relate to the fact that we are strengthening His kingdom, otherwise it would be about wishing that He would reign in a world that is understandable, although to say that the appearance of G-d is abundant and strengthened (as you say) sounds a bit strange, if not absurd…

B. I return again to the beginning of your words regarding the “name of the glory of his kingdom”: You are essentially saying that God is revealed in the world and this is the “name” of his revelation in the world (and therefore he has several names). And are we supposed to strengthen his revelation in the world as a king? If so, what is the connection with “honor”?

C. If I were to ask you to translate for me in one sentence the sentence “Blessed is the name of the glory of his kingdom forever and ever” how would you translate it?

Sorry for the many grammatical errors, although I do mean it in my own words (:

מיכי Staff replied 8 years ago

A. The claim is that the blessing gives power to His kingdom to appear (through the name that represents it). Not the kingdom itself but its appearance in the world
[I would be silent if the expression “ilgi” had not appeared in your sentence precisely in which you claim that the wording of the blessing is ilgi]
B. The glory of His kingdom is His appearance as king. This is to be distinguished from the kingdom itself.
C. I have already translated: I intend to give power to the kingdom of the Holy One, the Almighty, to appear in the world through its name (of the glory of His kingdom).

ארי replied 8 years ago

Hello again, sorry for the late response.
A. Sorry but I didn't understand the difference between His appearance as King and the kingdom itself.
B. Sorry again for misunderstanding what is the path of the “name of the glory of His kingdom”??
C. Regarding the ”forever and ever” you said that our deed will remain and leave a mark forever. I didn't understand how, after all, we are interested in giving power to the appearance of the kingdom of the ’ in the world. This thing is done that’appears as a king over us. How does this have a connection or impact on eternity?
Again, thank you very much.

מיכי Staff replied 8 years ago

A. He is the King of the world by nature. But our blessing causes His kingdom to appear, that is, for people to recognize it.
B. God has names, and each one refers to a certain aspect of Him. It seems that the intention here is that there is a name that refers to the honor of His kingdom (a concept explained here in the Bible).
C. When He leads you, it changes something in the world and remains here for the future. Just as the giving of the Torah or the Exodus from Egypt, which occurred in the past, have an impact to this day.

I think we have exhausted it. The large time intervals between the announcements are also difficult for me.

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