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    24 Oct PARASHAT LECH LECHA: RECEIVING THE POWER TO BLESS

    Posted at 19:14h in by
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    When G-d first
    spoke to Avraham
    and commanded
    him to leave his
    homeland and move to what would
    become known as the Land of Israel,
    He made several promises, including,
    “Va’abarechecha Mebarecheka,
    U’mekelelcha A’or” – “I shall bless
    those who bless you, and those
    who curse you, I shall curse.” G-d
    assured Avraham that those who
    bless him and his descendants would
    be blessed, and those who curse him
    and his descendants would be cursed.
    The Or Ha’hayim Ha’kadosh (Rav
    Haim Ben-Attar, 1696-1743) notes
    the different sequences in the two
    parts of this phrase. When it comes
    to those who bless Avraham, G-d
    promised, “I will bless those who
    bless you,” mentioning first His
    blessing, and then the blessing
    which people give to Avraham. But

    in the next part of the verse, G-d
    says, “those who curse you, I shall
    curse” – mentioning first the curse
    which people would try to place on
    Avraham, and then that G-d would
    curse them. What is the reason for
    these different sequences?
    The Or Ha’hayim explains that the
    first phrase – “I shall bless those who
    bless you” – means that G-d would
    bless people who bless Avraham even
    before they actually utter the blessing,
    as soon as they intend to bless him.
    Those who curse Avraham, however,
    would be cursed by G-d only after
    they actually utter the curse. And
    thus G-d stated, “I shall bless those
    who bless you” – indicating that
    they will be blessed even before they
    pronounce their blessing to Avraham”
    – and “those who curse you, I shall
    curse” – indicating that they will be
    cursed only after cursing Avraham.

    Why would those
    who bless Avraham or
    the Jewish People be
    rewarded even before they
    actually pronounce the
    blessing, whereas those
    who curse Avraham or his
    descendants are punished
    only after pronouncing the
    curse?
    The Or Ha’hayim offers
    a number of explanations,
    one of which is that people
    need to be blessed in order to grant
    blessings to others. The blessings that
    people would confer upon Avraham
    or upon the Jewish Nation will not
    be effective unless those people have
    themselves been blessed. Therefore,
    G-d assured Avraham that He would
    grant blessings to all those who
    intend or wish to bless him or his
    descendants. These blessings will
    then grant them the power to bless

    Am Yisrael. This is the meaning of
    “Va’abarechecha Mebarecheka” –
    that G-d will bless those who wish to
    bless the Jewish People, empowering
    them to give us their blessing.
    The more we desire to bring blessing
    to other people, and to the world, the
    more G-d blesses us with this ability.
    If we truly strive to bless and give to
    the world, then we will receive G-d’s
    blessings to enable us to do so.