Morning Blessings

birchot hashachar

בִּרְכוֹת הַשַּׁחַר

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Israeli: ' marks a reduced vowel that Israeli speech drops (b'rachah); when the vowel is pronounced it is written e (lefanecha). - separates syllables that would otherwise run together.

How to read the transliterations

בִּרְכוֹת הַשַּׁחַר

MORNING BENEDICTIONS

The blessings below are recited aloud by the Leader, yet each person should say them quietly as well. Our custom is to say them standing.

Hebrew

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם
אֲשֶׁר נָתַן לַשֶּׂכְוִי בִּינָה
לְהַבְחִין בֵּין יוֹם וּבֵין לָיְלָה.

Israeli

baruch atah Adonai Eloheinu melech ha-olam
asher Natan lasechvi binah
lehavchin bein yom uvein laylah.

Hebrew

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם
שֶׁלֹּא עָשַׂנִי גּוֹי.

Israeli

baruch atah Adonai Eloheinu melech ha-olam
shelo asani goy.

Hebrew

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם
שֶׁלֹּא עָשַׂנִי עָבֶד.

Israeli

baruch atah Adonai Eloheinu melech ha-olam
shelo asani aved.

Hebrew

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם
men שֶׁלֹּא עָשַׂנִי אִשָּׁה. / women שֶׁעָשַׂנִי כִּרְצוֹנוֹ.

Israeli

baruch atah Adonai Eloheinu melech ha-olam
men shelo asani ishah. / women she-asani kirtzono.

Commentary

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה Blessed are You: These blessings, itemized in the Talmud (Berakhot 60b), were originally said at home to accompany the various stages of waking and rising. "Who gives sight to the blind" was said on opening one's eyes, "Who clothes the naked" on putting on clothes, and so on. Several medieval authorities, however, held that they should be said in the synagogue.

Their purpose is to make us conscious of what we might otherwise take for granted. Praise is an act of focused attention, foregrounding what is usually in the background of awareness. "The world is full of the light of God, but to see it we must learn to open our eyes" (Rabbi Naḥman of Bratslav).

אֲשֶׁר נָתַן לַשֶּׂכְוִי Who gives the heart: This is the translation according to Rabbeinu Asher (Rosh); Rashi and Abudarham read it, "who gives the cockerel." According to Rosh's reading, the first blessing mirrors the first request of the Amida, for human understanding, as well as the first act of creation in which God created light, separating it from darkness.

שֶׁלֹּא עָשַׂנִי גּוֹי/עֶבֶד/אִשָּׁה Who has not made me a heathen, a slave, a woman: These three blessings are mentioned in the Talmud (Menaḥot 43b). Before we bless God for the universalities of human life, we bless Him for the particularities of our identity. We belong to the people of the covenant; we are free; and we have differentiated responsibilities as women and men. These blessings have nothing to do with hierarchies of dignity, for we believe that every human being is equally formed in the image of God. Rather, they are expressions of acknowledgment of the special duties of Jewish life. Heathens, slaves and women are exempt from certain commands which apply to Jewish men. By these blessings, we express our faith that the commandments are not a burden but a cherished vocation.