Blessing God – Ask the Rabbi
Q. How can we really say the words, “Blessed are You”, suggesting that it makes God feel good if we bless Him?
A. There are many passages which suggest just that, e.g. the Yom Kippur poem, V’avita tehillah – “You desire praise”.
It is not that God is susceptible to flattery or that our praise makes Him a better God, but that focussing on His greatness we realise our own littleness and we learn to appreciate His boons and become humble and thankful.
However, grammatically, Baruch attah HaShem probably does not mean “Blessed are You” at all, but “You are the Source of blessing”.
Jacob Emden, an 18th-century authority on the Siddur, says baruch is not passive (“You are blessed”) but active (“You bless”). Words with the same grammatical structure (a-u) are rachum (compassionate) and channun (gracious).
