Berachos: recognizing all is from Hashem

אא"ז מו"ר ז"ל הגיד מאה ברכות בכל יום הם נגד מאה אדנים שהיו יסוד המשכן כו'.

My grandfather, my teacher and master, of blessed memory, taught that the hundred berachos one recites each day correspond to the hundred sockets (adanim) that were the foundation of the Mishkan…

The Sefas Emes opens with his grandfather's teaching linking the obligation of one hundred daily blessings to the hundred silver sockets that formed the base of the Mishkan.

כן הזכרת שמו ית' כו'.

So too the mention of His Name, blessed be He…

Just as the sockets were the foundation of the Mishkan, invoking Hashem's Name in our berachos forms the foundation of our avodah.

ובגמ' מה ה' שואל.

And in the Gemara: "What does Hashem ask [of you]?" (Devarim 10:12; Menachos 43b).

The Sefas Emes brings the Gemara's exposition of the pasuk "What does Hashem ask of you," which the Sages reread homiletically.

א"ת מה אלא מאה כו' דאי' כ' לה' הארץ וכ' והארץ נתן לבני אדם.

Do not read "mah" (what) but rather "me'ah" (one hundred)… for it is said, "To Hashem belongs the earth [and its fullness]" (Tehillim 24:1), and it is [also] said, "And the earth He gave to mankind" (Tehillim 115:16).

The Gemara rereads "mah" as "me'ah" — one hundred blessings. It then notes two seemingly contradictory pesukim: one says the earth belongs to Hashem, the other says He gave it to people.

כאן קודם ברכה כו'.

Here — before a blessing… [and there — after a blessing].

The Gemara reconciles them: before reciting a berachah the earth belongs to Hashem (and its produce is forbidden to a person); after the berachah, it is given over to mankind to use.

והפי' כי אם יודעין שהוא של הש"י ולה' הארץ.

And the meaning is that if one knows that it belongs to Hashem, and "to Hashem belongs the earth."

The Sefas Emes explains the deeper point: the berachah is an act of recognition — acknowledging that everything truly belongs to Hashem.

כפי ידיעה זו. ניתן להאדם.

According to this recognition, it is given to the person.

To the extent that a person genuinely recognizes that all is Hashem's, the thing is then granted to him for his use — the giving follows from the acknowledgment.

ואא"ז מו"ר ז"ל פי' שנעשה מצותו אחר הברכה שכל כוונת הבריאה לידע כי הוא ממנו ית'.

And my grandfather, my teacher and master, of blessed memory, explained that His mitzvah is fulfilled after the blessing, for the entire purpose of creation is to know that it [all] is from Him, blessed be He.

His grandfather added that the object truly becomes a vehicle for Hashem's mitzvah only after the berachah, since the whole point of creation is that a person come to recognize that everything originates from Hashem.

ולכך קודם הברכה מעל כו' ע"ש.

Therefore, before the blessing it is [as though one has] committed me'ilah (misappropriation of the sacred)… (see there).

Because the world is Hashem's, partaking of it without first acknowledging Him through a berachah is like me'ilah — misusing what is consecrated to Hashem.

כי הברכה שמברר האדם שהכל ממנו ית'.

For the blessing is the person's clarifying that everything is from Him, blessed be He.

The essence of a berachah is birur — a person clarifying and affirming that all things flow from Hashem.

ועי"ז נדבק הדבר בשורשו.

And through this the thing becomes attached to its root.

By recognizing the Divine source of a thing, a person reconnects it to its spiritual root — drawing it back into dveykus with Hashem.

ונמשך ברכה באמת לדבר ההוא להיות ניתן להאדם באמת עתה.

And blessing is truly drawn to that thing, so that it is now truly given to the person.

Once reconnected to its root, genuine berachah (blessing) flows into the object, and only then is it truly given over to the person to benefit from.

וכן בש"ק הוא ברכת ימי השבוע כמ"ש ויברך ויקדש כו' כי בשבת מעידין בנ"י על שהכל חיות הש"י.

And likewise on Shabbos Kodesh it is the blessing of the days of the week, as it is written, "And He blessed and sanctified [the seventh day]" (Bereishis 2:3) — for on Shabbos Bnei Yisrael testify that everything is the vitality of Hashem.

The same principle applies to Shabbos, which is the source of blessing for the whole week. By resting, Bnei Yisrael bear witness that all of existence is nothing but the chiyus (life-force) of Hashem.

ועי"ז נמשך ממקור החיים ברכה על כל השבוע.

And through this, blessing is drawn from the Source of life upon the entire week.

This Shabbos testimony opens the channel through which blessing flows from the Source of life to nourish all the days of the coming week.

כמ"ש מיני' מתברכין כו'.

As it is said, "from it all the days are blessed…" (Zohar, Yisro).

The Zohar confirms that all the weekdays draw their blessing from Shabbos.

א"ת מה אלא מאה הוא ע"י הביטול להש"י בכל הנפש עי"ז יזכה להתדבק באחדות הש"י כנ"ל:

"Do not read 'mah' but 'me'ah'" — this is through bittul to Hashem with one's entire soul, by which one merits to cleave to the Oneness of Hashem, as above.

The hundred berachos ("me'ah") are ultimately an avodah of bittul: through wholehearted self-nullification before Hashem in each blessing, a person merits dveykus — cleaving to the absolute Oneness of Hashem.

Summary: The hundred daily berachos parallel the hundred sockets that founded the Mishkan, for a blessing is the foundation of avodah: it is the act of clarifying that everything belongs to and flows from Hashem. Before a berachah the world is Hashem's (and using it is like me'ilah); through the berachah a thing is reconnected to its root, blessing flows into it, and it is truly given to the person. So too Shabbos blesses the entire week, as Bnei Yisrael testify that all is Hashem's vitality. Ultimately the hundred blessings are an avodah of wholehearted bittul that brings a person to cleave to the Oneness of Hashem.