Rethinking Nissim B’chol Yom

So once a month, in lieu of normal Torah study, my Rabbi hosts a series called Big Jewish Ideas. Each session discusses a big idea, like Israel or God. Last week, the session was on spirituality.

It’s funny, I almost skipped. I had worked an emotional shift the day before, and part of me wanted to sleep as late as my body would let me. Turns out I awoke at 7am anyway. My body knew what I needed more than my mind did.

My experience in Torah study is pretty unique on any given day. It’s one of the few spaces in my life where I can come in, be relatively anonymous and not be known as the chatty one, the loud one, or really be known as anything. I am one of a handful of adults under 50 who attends, and I enjoy marinating in the insights and arguments of people who have lived a lot more life than I have.

This particular session was on spirituality, and after a pretty stressful week, I felt like I needed to get right with God. Rabbi Knight started the discussion with a premise that I will paraphrase to the best of my ability:

Western thought tells us that that the spirit is non-corpeal; innately separate from the body.

Jewish thought tells us that the spirit is the sacred potential found in the holistic being.

Why does this matter? It matters because it means that the body is not disposable or somehow less worthy of sacred care than the rest of us. In fact, the big take home I had from Big Jewish Ideas this week was Judaism is about making the banal and ordinary sacred through intention. In fact, mindfulness in all activities, the small and unheroic moments in our lives is fundamentally jewish.

One of the participants mentioned something that I had never heard of during this discussion. She said

“That’s why there’s that ‘say 100 blessings a day’ thing”

The WHAT? I had never heard of this, and essentially emotionally blacked out for two minutes after she said it so I have no idea if they explained it further. 100 Blessings a Day sounds like the trail-marker I’ve been needing in my life.

When I got home later that day, I googled “Jewish 100 blessing a day” and found the story from aish

In Deuteronomy 10:12, Moses tells the Jewish people: “What (mah) does God ask of you?” The Talmud explains that the word mah can be read as me’ah, meaning 100. In other words, God obligates us to recite (at least) 100 brachot every day.

I am so down with this practice. Gratitude is definitely a trendy topic right now, but it’s a bandwagon that I am proud to sign onto.

The research is compelling as to the health benefits of gratitude, including improved quality of sleep and increased resiliency to emotional distress.

One of the surgeons I work with who I deeply admire told me that she and her husband discuss three things they’re grateful for over dinner each night. A true pragmatist, she cited the research on longevity and gratitude.

100 Blessings a Day sounds like a tall order. Orthodox Jewry has structured brachot scattered throughout the day that equal about 90, according to Aish. My personal practice does not include all of these traditional brachot. In fact, I don’t even know many of them.

However, a prayer I’ve always wanted to incorporate into my life is the Nissim B’chol Yom, or prayer for daily miracles. This set of prayers is to be said upon waking, and includes gratitude for simple, everyday gifts. This list is taken from the reform siddur, Mishkan T’filah

for awakening
for vision
for the ability to stretch
for rising to the new day
for firm earth to stand upon
for the gift of motion
for clothing the body
for renewed enthusiasm for life
for reawakening
for being in the image of God
for being a free person
for being a Jew
for purpose
for harmony

The Reform movement has edited these prayer in order to honor our contemporary values and ideals. For example, traditional and controversial prayers include thanking God for not making us a woman or a gentile. I’m grateful my movement removed those prayers. As a reform Jew (and a woman, and the daughter of a gentile), I feel like my right and moreover my responsibility is to study and find ways to elevate my life, which may or may not include literal and traditional applications of the liturgy.

So there is a long tradition of taking core concepts and applying them in creative ways.

This lesson plan for children exists which has a literal worksheet where your write your 100 blessing a day.

Or how about a man who decided that 100 Blessings equated the 10,000 steps he was recommended to take each and every day.

There is even a 12-step book based on the 100 blessings a day.

I am so grateful to the woman in my Torah study who shared this practice. I feel called to rethink the Nissim B’Chol Yom, and make a concerted effort to not only speak aloud the blessings offered in the prayerbook, but also to find my own each and every day. I may not always take the time to bless 100 things, but there will always be at least 100 things to bless.

For your enjoyment, a few things I am blessing today.