Praying With Passion

Birchot HaShachar (part five)

BARUCH ATA HASHEM ELOKEINU MELECH HAOLAM SHE’ASAH LI KOL TZARKI/

Translation: Blessed are You, HaShem our God, King of the Universe, Who has provided me with all my needs.
Theme: An essential concept of the prayer
You’ve Got It All
Hashem provides me with my every need.
Insight: Deeper meanings…
Our Essential Belief
SHE-ASA LI KOL TZORKI. He provided me with my every need- expresses two foundation stones of a Jew’s faith. First, that all we have comes from Hashem. Second, the blessing reminds us that Hashem leaves nothing out of His provision for us. “Every need” required for us to succeed at our G-d-given mission in life is provided to us by G-d.
Human nature is such that you look at your rich neighbor and say, “If I had his money, I’d be a big philanthropist too.” Or you see your neighbor’s perfectly behaved children and think, “If I had such calm, docile children, I’d also be a great mother.” A little envy inevitably slips into our hearts. Yet a person who says the above b’racha with conviction and regularly calls its words to mind in the course of daily life has a powerful anti-envy tool in hand. SHE-ASA LI KOL TZRKI means that G-d has given each of us exactly what we need to live the lives we are meant to live. Therefore, if G-d has not provided you with a particular benefit, it is by definition not something you need for your spiritual growth. In fact, the “asset” may hamper your real success in life.
What if a person has so many challenges that it’s hard for him to do mitzvot?
The truth is that performing one mitzva despite great difficulty shows a strong desire to do Hashem’s will, and may be far more significant than performing many mitzvot when the waters are calm.
This blessing also teaches the essence of true humility: We may take pride in our talents, intelligence, family background, money or any other asset we have, but this blessing reminds us that these are all simply temporary gifts to us from God.
He gives us what we need to fulfill our mission - none of it is really our own. We are like workers who have been loaned an expensive car in which to drive a dignitary.
We might enjoy driving the car, but we would be foolish to become arrogant over our possession of it.
Visualize: Images that bring the prayer to life
Equipped For Your Mission
Rav Naftali Amsterdam was a close disciple of Rav Yisroel Salanter. Once, Rav Amsterdam said to his Rebbe, “If I had the brainpower of the Shagas Aryeh, the heart of the author of Yesod V’Shoresh HaAvodah, and the character of Rabbi Salanter then I would be able to serve G-d.” His Rebbe responded, “Naftali, your mission in life is to serve Hashem with your brainpower, your heart and your character. Only then can you be a true servant of Hashem.”
As Rabbi Salanter implied, there is no need to despair at achieving that which seems outside our grasp. However, this fact does not provide sanction for a person to stop trying. It is only by using what we have to the greatest extent possible that we can succeed at the mission - whether limited or grand - that G-d has given each of us.
Try this: Imagine that each morning, G-d leaves at your bedside a suitcase filled with all the equipment you will need for that day - the exact amount of money, the food, the information, technology and so forth. This week, as you say the words SHE-ASA LI KOL TZORKI, feel the security of taking that suitcase in hand, knowing that all you need is within it.
Editor’s 2CENTS
Here’s a bit of a Towards Better Davening… column, within the Praying with Passion feature.
Usually the words ASA and SHE-ASA are accented on the last syllable. For six days a-SA HASHEM the heavens and the earth… On Chanuka and Purim, the bracha she-a-SA ni-SIM…
However, in this bracha, the word SHE-ASA is followed in the same phrase by the single syllable word LI. In such a case - USUALLY, we have an accent shift - known as NASOG ACHOR - from the last syllable to the next-to-last syllable. The MILRA becmes MIL’EI. she-A-sa LI.
Is this a big deal? When we daven to G-d or make a bracha - in this case, a statement of acknowledgement and thanks to Him, it behooves us to say things correctly as well as mean them; to mean them as well as say them correctly.

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