Q:
What should we have in mind when we say the the word ‘baruch’ when we make a brachah?
A:
Baruch is from the word berech, a knee. Baruch means “We bend our knees to You. To nobody else do we bend a knee.”
Baruch atah – You are Hashem the one to whom we bend our knees.
Why do you bend your knees? In gratitude. Gratitude requires hachna’ah, humility. When somebody gives you a benefit you should feel “I am humble before him.”
And therefore we bend our knees to show we’re humbled before Hashem in gratitude for what He gives us. And although we don’t actually bend our knees every time, but in our minds we are humbled, we are bent over.
(June 1998)
