Our minds are not a tool for validation but a path to the Divine
“Atah chonein l’adam daas” initiates the shift from birchos shevach to birchos bakashah. Why is daas, knowledge, the very first thing we request in Shemoneh Esreh?
The Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chayim: 115:1) explains, “The superiority of man over beast is in man’s knowledge and understanding, therefore the brachah of ‘Atah chonein’ is the first of the middle set [of brachos], for without understanding, there is no tefillah.”
Seichel, higher knowledge and understanding, expresses our predominance over the animal kingdom and is arguably our most human attribute. Our capacity for tefillah is dependent on our seichel. Knowledge and understanding of life’s circumstances is a prerequisite to tefillah; how else would we recognize the need to daven, or know what to ask for?
Atah chonein, as the first of the bakashah set, expresses yet another, deeper, dimension in our identity as a Jew. “This is man’s predominant request of his Creator, that He provide the knowledge and understanding to abhor evil and choose good” (Mishnah Berurah, ibid).
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