Shemoneh Esrei 53 - More Than Meets the Eye

ועל כלם יתברך ויתרומם שמך מלכנו תמיד לעולם ועד

For all these, may Your Name be blessed and exalted, our King, continually forever and ever.

Rav Yisrael Salanter once left his family and students to go to Paris to try to influence the assimilated Jews there to return to Torah Judaism. One day, he entered an elegant hotel to meet some wealthy Jews who frequented that hotel. He sat down and ordered water. When the waiter brought him the bill, it was an astronomic sum. He asked the waiter why the bill was so high. The waiter responded that Rav Yisrael was not paying merely for a glass of water. The charge included the surroundings and ambience in which he drank the water. He was paying for the exquisite furniture, lighting, carpeting, and stunning view, as well as the water.

Rav Yisrael then wrote the following letter to his disciples:

“For a long time I have been puzzled by the fact that we recite a very lofty and all-inclusive blessing for a plain glass of water, saying, ‘Blessed are You, Hashem, our Gd, King of the universe, she’ha’kol nihyeh bid’varo, through Whose word everything came to be.’ But from the words of a gentile waiter in Paris I learned that we are not merely thanking G-d for the glass of water; we are expressing our appreciation for the magnificent surroundings in which G-d serves the water to us. We are thanking G-d for the fresh air we breathe as we drink that water and for the sun that gives us light and for the tree that shades us. In short, whenever we thank G-d for one thing, we should use it as an opportunity to thank G-d for everything.” [Story and quote from Shemoneh Esrei, ArtScroll, by Rav Avrohom Chaim Feuer]

We praise and thank Hashem for “kulam” – for all of the open and hidden miracles, wonders, and goodness that are constantly present in our lives as part of the klal, and  in our personal lives. We praise and thank Him for His limitless rachamim and chesed, which never cease.

We then ask that the entire world recognize that all of the blessings in their lives emanate from You, Hashem. Rav Avigdor Miller points out the future tense in the words starting with “יתברך–yisbarach.” We must strive to do all we can so that our future generations will continue to recognize all that we have just acknowledged.

The following are the words of the Sefer HaChinuch in Mitzvah 130, explaining the meaning of “yisbarach”:

וזהו פירוש "יתברך" – כלומר: יהי רצון מלפניך שכל בני העולם יהיו מיחסים הברכה אליך, ומודיםכי ממך תתפשט בכל

“And this is the definition of the word ‘Yisbarach’ – as if to say: May it be Your will that everyone throughout the world will associate the blessing with You, and will acknowledge that everything emanates from You.”

The Chinuch goes on to explain that when the world recognizes that all blessing comes from Hashem, more blessing will flow to the world, which will “enable” Hashem to fulfill His “desire” to give us all goodness. In effect, as mentioned in previous segments, Hashem gives us this responsibility to “cause” Him to bring more and more blessing to the world.

May we merit to soon see that day when all the world will recognize Hashem.