A Thought on Parshas Balak

"...HaShem Elokav imo u'truas Melech bo..." "...HaShem his Lord is with them and the glory of the King is in them..." (23:21) Many years ago when I studied under Rav Moshe Feinstein zt'l, a young man came to the yeshiva from a small town in New England, where his father was the rabbi. I befriended the student, in part because we were both from the handful of "out of towners" in the big city of New York. I remember him sharing with me that his father had the minhag to say Me'ain Sheva (the Seven-Faceted Bracha) even when davening without a minyan. The Shulchan Aruch (see O.Ch. 268:8) and even the siddurim declare that this blessing is only to be recited when a set minyan prays together. I had never heard of any other practice, nor had my learned peers. Generally a blessing is not recited when there is a halachic doubt about saying it, so I puzzled over this student's father's custom to recite the full blessing without having a minyan present. The only reason that Chazal instituted this blessing which follows the Shabbos evening prayer is because, in centuries past, people gathered to pray on the outskirts of their villages. Those who stayed late immersed in prayer would have to walk alone back to their homes. To help keep the congregants safe and not isolated, this add-on blessing was instituted so that everyone would delay long enough to allow those individuals to finish and walk back with the group. It stands to reason that when one davens alone at home and without a minyan that there would be no grounds to preserve the original practice. I stayed puzzled. Many years later, while preparing a Bar Mitzva drasha for one of my sons, I came across an opinion attributed to Rav Hai Gaon zt'l who may have held that any bracha, when said as a means of praise rather than out of a sense of obligation, might be recited in its full-form bracha format. That would mean that a person could recite "Baruch Ata HaShem" etc. just for the sake of giving praise, even when not doing anything which required one to make that bracha over something specific. The idea of giving praise to HaShem could even utilize the text of one of the obligatory prayers, and would not be regarded as reciting a bracha in vain. That view intrigued me, although I never made a connection to my friend's father. This week, Rabbeinu Avigdor offers a few interpretations of the phrase "the glory of the King is with them." He suggests that one meaning of those words is that when we make a bracha, we must incorporate mention of HaShem as King. This is the flow of our verse: when we declare that HaShem is with us (when we say a bracha) we also state that He is our King. This is why our brachas say Baruch Ata HaShem....Melech..." Rabbeinu Avigdor then states that a blessing which lacks the reference to "King" is not regarded as a bracha. He then explores some of the parameters of his ruling. He notes that the Seven-Faceted bracha begins with "Baruch Ata" but does not include the King reference. He cites a ruling of Rabbeinu Meshulam that since the blessing lacks the King reference, it is not governed by the laws of other brachos. He then brings an objection from Rabbeinu Tam who ruled that the blessing is problematic because it mentions HaShem as "HaKel HaKadosh" - the Holy Lord - which is equivalent to referring to HaShem as King. This would mean that the Seven-Faceted bracha would qualify as a true bracha and could not be recited if various conditions were not present! Rabbeinu Avigdor then writes that "my rebbe learned from his rebbe that Rabbeinu Tam reversed his ruling. This is why my rebbe re-instituted the custom to say the blessing, and so too have I been accustomed." It would turn out, according to this approach, that since the Seven-Faceted blessing lacks the King reference, it is not governed by the rules of brochos. It is to be classified as a statement of praise. Thus, some 40 years after hearing of the practice of my friend's father, I am able to see a halachic justification for his doing so. The prayer can be recited as a statement of praise rather than as a blessing. It can be said without the usual conditions in that it does not include the "HaShem is King" format. Rabbeinu Avigdor the Posek has enlightened me once again. Good Shabbos. D Fox