YESHIVAT HAR ETZION

ISRAEL KOSCHITZKY VIRTUAL BEIT MIDRASH (VBM)

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The Structure of and Meaning of the Daily Prayer

By Rav Ezra Bick

This shiur is available in the archives at:

[Link]/archive/siddur/[Link]

Shiur #04: Ha-ma’avir sheina

The last blessing in the series of birkot ha-shachar is “ha-ma’avir sheina mei-
einai u-tenuma mei-afapai,” Blessed are You who has removed sleep from my eyes
and slumber from my eyelids. As we noted last week, in the order of berakhot
recorded in the Gemara, the first blessing recited upon awakening is Elokai
Neshama, and we explained that the first thing that one experiences on awakening
is the feeling of the life and potentiality of the soul. Awakening itself is not an
experience; it is what we meet on awakening that is the experience. In fact, even the
experience of seeing with one's eyes has already been granted its own preceding
blessing – when one opens one's eyes one recites “poke’ach ivrim.” Hence, we must
understand ha-ma’avir sheina not as a blessing on the experience of awakening –
and thus not the first blessing recited – but as relating to something else.

“WHO GRANTS GREAT FAVORS”

The event cited in the Gemara as triggering this blessing is “when he washes
his face.” What is the personal experience that constitutes the significance of
washing one's face? Let us first consider a halakhic-liturgical problem concerning
this blessing. Immediately after this blessing comes what appears to be another
blessing, beginning with the words “vi-hi ratzon mi-lefanekha” and concluding
“barukh ha-gomel chasadim tovim le-amo Yisrael.” As we saw last week, a berakha
is supposed to begin with the word barukh. Why does this blessing begin with an
entirely different phrase?

One of the answers given is that vi-hi ratzon is not an independent blessing at
all, but the continuation of ha-ma’avir, together constituting one long blessing
beginning with barukh and ending with barukh (Rabbeinu Tam, in Tosafot Berakhot
46a). This answer is supported by the fact that we recite “vi-hi ratzon” and not simply
“yehi ratzon,” indicating a continuation rather than the beginning of a new blessing.
The halakhic ramification of this contention is that one should not answer “amen”
after the words “tenuma mei-afapai,” as it is not the end of the blessing. In rebuttal,
many commentators have pointed out that the theme of the vi-hi ratzon has nothing
to do with the removal of sleep (or washing one's face), but relates to Divine
assistance in avoiding sin and performing mitzvot. The chatima (conclusion) of vi-hi
ratzon is “Barukh… who grants great favors to His people Israel.” How, then, can
they be one blessing?
 Rabbeinu Tam answers the question about the connection of the chatima to
the beginning of the blessing (in his opinion, to ha-ma’avir sheina) by claiming that
the “great favor” granted by God is, in fact, the removal of sleep and slumber from
one's eyes. He adds, apparently in order to explain why specifically this favor is
singled out as the “great favor,” that “God removes sleep from man and restores his
strength, as is written in the midrash, “‘New every morning, great is Your faithfulness’
(Eikha 3:24) for He returns the soul to the body whole and peaceful, as it was
originally, even though it was exhausted.”1

Waking up is not merely returning to the state that preceded sleep; it is a

restoration and renewal of spirit. The metaphor is actually even stronger – the soul is
deposited with God the Creator for the night and renewed in the morning. R. Yehuda
b. R. Yakar adds, “For sleep is one sixtieth of death (Berakhot 57a), and [waking] is
somewhat similar to resurrection” (Peirush Ha-tefillot Ve-haberakhot, vol. 2, 13).

One very strong indication that this is one long blessing is the comparison of
this blessing to “ha-mapil,” the blessing recited before going to sleep. Consider the
two texts side by side:

“Ha-mapil chevlei sheina al einai” “Ha-ma’avir sheina mei-einai”

Barukh ata… who casts the bands of Baruch ata… who removes sleep from
sleep on my eyes and slumber on my my eyes and slumber from my eyelids.
eyelids.
May it be Your will, Hashem, our God
May it be Your will, Hashem, my God and the God of our fathers, that You
and the God of my fathers, to lay me make us familiar with Your Torah, and
down in peace and raise me in peace, make us cleave to Your commandments,
and that my thoughts not trouble me, nor and bring us not to the hands of sin, nor
bad dreams, nor bad fancies, but my to transgression or iniquity, nor to
couch be perfect before You. And temptation, nor to scorn. And let not the
enlighten my eyes lest I sleep in death. evil inclination rule over us, and keep us
far from a bad man and a bad
companion, and cleave us unto the good
inclination and good actions. And compel
our inclination to submit to You, and let
us obtain this day and every day, grace,
favor and mercy in Your eyes and in the
eyes of all who see us.

For it is You who gives light to the pupil And grant us great favors.
of the eye.

Barukh ata Hashem, who gives light to Barukh ata Hashem, who grants great
the whole world in His glory. favors to His people Israel.

1 See Midrash Tehillim 25.

Both blessings begin in nearly identical, complementary language, followed by a yehi
ratzon about the coming hours, followed by the chatima, which in neither case is
explicitly about sleep. It seems quite clear that the two blessings are parallel, framing
sleep. In addition, neither suffices with praise but includes a request as well. The
request, however, makes it clear that the second blessing, ha-ma’avir sheina, is not
about sleep, but about the coming day. In other words, our blessing is not a
conclusion to sleep, but an introduction to wakefulness, in the same way that ha-
mapil is an introduction to sleep. We are asking God to help us live the day in the
proper manner, in a way that allows us to serve God to the utmost.

Reading this request section gives rise to a serious theological problem. The
request appears to be asking God to eliminate our free will. A similar problem arises
in regard to the request in the Amida to have God “return us to Your Torah,” but our
blessing is, in fact, much more extreme. We explicitly ask that God “compel our
inclination to submit to You.” This astonishing formulation is unique in the liturgy, and
appears to completely negate the value of free will, which is surely one of the
foundations of the service of God. The usual answer to this question – and I think
that it is undoubtedly correct – is that we are asking for Divine assistance in our
efforts to bend our own will from evil to the service of God. The language of the
blessing appears to be far more extreme, but nonetheless it should be interpreted to
mean that we are asking God to help us fulfill what we ourselves choose to do,
acknowledging that even free will requires Divine assistance. I am aware of no other
explanation for this request of God, though I admit it does not seem to be quite
satisfactory in this case. We will leave this question aside for a moment, and return
to the interpretation of the blessing.

PREPARING FOR A DAY IN THE SERVICE OF GOD

We can now attempt to offer an understanding of ha-ma’avir sheina and its

place within birkot ha-shachar. This blessing is not recited at the first stirrings of life
after sleep – that was the blessing of Elokai Neshama, which, as we have seen, was
designated as the first blessing of the day. Ha-ma’avir sheina is the last blessing of
the series of birkot ha-shachar, recited after awakening, opening one's eyes, rising,
getting dressed and, finally, washing one's face. In fact, in the order found in the
Gemara, one has already put on the tallit and tefillin as well before reciting ha-
ma’avir sheina. The blessing is similar to Tefillat Ha-derekh – it is a request for
Divine assistance in living, in our journey of life. Because we are awake and are
about to set out on the journey of life, we naturally ask for God's blessing.

All of the previous blessings were in response to the immediate past, to an

experience. Ha-ma’avir sheina, like ha-mapil before sleep, is in anticipation of the
future, a preparation for the step we are about to take. That step is living, as a
servant of God, fulfilling the purpose of one’s life.

What is the connection between such a prayer and the act of awakening from
sleep? Waking up is coming in contact with life, which has been restored after a sort
of death, as we saw above. The first stirrings of that potentiality were expressed in
the blessing of Elokai Neshama, as we saw last week. When one has completed
dressing, preparing to go out into the world and really live, do things and act out that
potentiality, we reach ha-ma’avir sheina. Washing the face is an act of preparing to
go out, not of removing dirt. It is a dedication ceremony, a final preparation for facing
the world. God, who has removed sleep from my eyes and slumber from my eyelids,
has also charged us with a task in the world. The reason we have been given
restored life after sleep is so that we may be God's servants in the world. Living
means serving God. This is why the two parts of the blessing are one blessing. You
have restored me to life for the purpose of sending me out into the world, to fulfill the
task You assigned to me. Please help me fulfill that task, to be engaged in Your
Torah and fulfill Your commandments, and, especially, not to fail the task by
succumbing to the evil inclination. We aren’t thanking God for life restored; we are
accepting the mission implied by life restored, and immediately asking for assistance
in fulfilling that difficult mission.

This is not really the place to be asking God for the necessities of life. That is
what we do during the Amida. Here we are preparing for living, for serving God – the
yehi ratzon is added because the situation requires it. Setting out to serve God fills
me with trepidation because the almost inevitable possibility of failure would render
my life meaningless. I think this explains the extreme formulation of the request. We
do not really wish for God to annul our free will; we only wish for Him to help us
serve Him. But the emotion behind this blessing is the total rejection of the possibility
that we will not fulfill our Divinely mandated destiny, and we therefore ask God to
prevent that possibility: Please, my God and the God of my fathers, ensure that I am
true to Torah, engaged in mitzvot, free from the evil inclination, and totally committed
to Your service. The language may be theologically untenable, but it is totally
appropriate to the commitment of one who is setting out into the world in the service
of God.

There is another anomaly to this compound blessing, as it is presently

formulated in the siddur. The first part, “ha-ma’avir,” is written in the singular – “who
has removed sleep from my eyes and slumber from my eyelids” – whereas the
second part is in the plural – “May it be Your will, Hashem our God and the God of
our fathers, that You make us familiar with Your Torah.” This, one might argue, is a
clear indication that ha-ma’avir sheina and vi-hi ratzon are two blessings after all.
However, this is actually a bit of an illusion. In the text of the Gemara, as well as in
the siddurim of all the Rishonim, the yehi ratzon is written in the singular. It is only in
the last several hundred years that the text was changed to the plural, in keeping
with the Talmudic dictum that one should always pray for oneself as part of the
community. However, this rule obviously has some exceptions; the most noticeable
of these for us is birkat ha-mapil, where one asks God to protect him when he
sleeps, formulated in the singular. The reason for the use of the singular here is
clearly because the request is highly personal – my sleep, my sins, my fear of death.
For exactly the same reason, it would make sense that our blessing should also be
in the singular, since it is based on one’s personal perception of his task in life, one’s
mission from God.

The Gemara assumes that you have already donned tallit and tefillin before
reciting ha-ma’avir sheina. Tallit and tefillin are part of the dress of a Jew, or perhaps
in a better formulation, the uniform of the servants of God. Just like ha-ma’avir
sheina, getting dressed is part of one's preparations to act, to anticipate a day spent
in the service of God. This blessing concludes birkot ha-shachar by directing us to
the ultimate purpose of waking up – avodat Hashem.