The Many Layers of Baruch Atah

IT is probably the most widely used phrase in the lexicon of the observant Jew: Baruch Atah, Hashem… Usually translated as “Blessed art Thou, O Lo-d…asher kideshanu… Who has sanctified us with His mitzvos and commanded us to… sound the shofar… don tefillin… eat matzah… wash our hands…” and so forth, it is the most widely used — and also the most widely mangled and least understood brachah.(Incidentally, it is pronounced not trippingly “bruch,” but in two distinct syllables, slowly, as in baw-ruch atah.)

Since thank G-d we have once again been found worthy of greeting Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur as they come roaring down the tracks toward us, it is worthwhile to take a fresh look at these familiar words. There is much to be learned from this simple yet exalted brachah, for it embodies the very relationship between the Jew and his G-d.

Those who recite it thoughtfully will notice a sudden change of tense in its second half. In the beginning is atah, Thou, in the second person, and then suddenly it switches to the third person: asher kideshanu b’mitzvosav — “Who has sanctified us with His mitzvos…” The well-known question is: why the switch from “Thou” to “He”?

To which there are numerous answers, one of which is that the brachah delineates two aspects of our relationship to our Creator: the close, personal intimate one, exemplified by the atah, and also the great distance separating mortals from the Eternal One, exemplified by use of the third person.