ספר בראשית

Genesis 27,30 “it was that as soon as Yitzchok had ‎concluded blessing Yaakov, etc.;” we need to understand ‎why Yitzchok had not wanted to bestow a blessing on Yaakov, ‎originally. Nachmanides writes: (not found in Torah commentary) ‎that Yitzchok preferred Yaakov to remain unaware of the ‎blessings bestowed upon him. [Perhaps he felt that way ‎seeing that his own father, Avraham, also had not bestowed a ‎blessing upon him, and left it for G’d to do so after he had died. ‎Compare. Genesis 28,4 where Yitzchok makes it plain to Yaakov ‎that he had not received this blessing from his own father. ‎Ed.] This seems difficult to understand. Perhaps we may ‎understand it better in conjunction with what the Talmud ‎‎B’rachot 45 states that the person translating the public ‎Torah reading must not raise his voice to be louder than the voice ‎of the person reading the Torah from the original scroll. The ‎reader represents G’d, Who has given us the Torah, whereas the ‎translator only represents the reader. The Talmud cites Exodus ‎‎19,19 as the source for this ruling. Anyone reading that verse will ‎be astounded, as it sounds as if G‘d, responding to Moses spoke ‎louder than Moses, when repeating what Moses had told Him. ‎‎(Compare Tossaphot on that folio) However, the point is, as ‎we learned in B’rachot 12, that any benediction that does ‎not contain a reference to G’d as King, is not considered a ‎benediction in the full meaning of the word. Similarly, any ‎benediction which follows immediately after another benediction ‎also does not rank as a (separate) benediction in the full sense of ‎the word so that it does not need to include another reference to ‎G’d as “King”.‎It appears that Avraham had a “claim” on the word ‎א-ל‎ as a ‎name of G’d, as G’d uses this name when bestowing acts of loving ‎kindness on His creatures. Yitzchok, on the other hand, had a ‎similar claim on the word ‎אלוקים‎ for G’d, as this name represents ‎Justice or judgment. This is why his son Yaakov in Genesis 31,42 ‎speaks of ‎פחד יצחק‎ “He Who Yitzchok was in awe of and Who ‎assisted me,” when describing Yitzchoks’ G’d.” Yaakov, had a ‎‎“claim” on the tetragram, i.e. ‎י-ה-ו-ה‎, the name of G’d representing ‎primarily the attribute of Mercy. In order for the attribute of ‎Justice to be “sweetened” somewhat, it needs to be applied in ‎conjunction with the other two attributes we mentioned.‎The Ari z’al said that the word ‎אתה‎ when used in the ‎beginning of each benediction is an allusion to the attribute ‎א-ל‎, ‎so that when one commences the benediction with the words ‎ברוך ‏אתה י-ה-ו-ה‎, the word ‎ברוך‎ signifying continuation, or conduit, ‎meaning that G’d continuously dispensing loving kindness by ‎means of both His names ‎אתה א-ל י-ה-ו-ה‎. Through His continuing ‎to do so, G’d automatically “sweetens,” i.e. softens the impact of ‎the attribute of Justice, the one referred to as ‎אלוקינו‎ in every ‎benediction we pronounce. It follows that when one benediction ‎follows on the heels of another benediction, there having been no ‎prayer or psalm interrupting the two, that there is no need to ‎acknowledge G’d once more as being King, as the full impact of ‎the attribute of Justice has already been softened so that we do ‎not need to appeal to G’d as a benevolent ruler, i.e. King, to soften ‎the attribute of Justice once more.