Today we read psalm 96. It is a very upbeat psalm:
Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the , all you lands.
Tell his glory among the nations; among all peoples, his wondrous deeds.
For great is the Lord and highly to be praised;
awesome is he, beyond all gods.
For all the gods of the nations are thing of nought,
but the Lord made the heavens.
Let the heavens be glad and the earth rejoice;
let the sea and what fills is resound;
let the plains be joyful and all that is in them!
Then shall all the trees of the forest exult.
Before the Lord, for he comes;
for he comes to rule the earth.
He shall rule the world with justice
and the peoples with his constancy.
What a beautiful way to begin the day.
It is a berakhah or broche, an atmosphere of thanksgiving and praise for God.
One Jewish tradition says that a pious Jew should bentsch God one hundred times a day, pronouncing a broche over God. these are the Berakah prayers: "berukh atah Ha-shem Elokaynu melekh ha-olam: blessed are you Lord our God, king of the universe"
Here are a few examples:
When one awakes: "Blessed are you, Lord our God, King of the world. You give the souls back to their mortal bodies and thus link the morning awakening to the hope of resurrection."
When the Jew looks around in the morning: "Blessed are you, Lord our God, king of the World. You open the eyes of the blind."
When one gets out of bed and places their feet on the floor: "Blessed are you, Lord our God, king of the world. You have established the earth on the waters.'
In the mindset of the pious Jew everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected and should be received with rejoicing and thanksgiving.
Rejoicing and thanksgiving is our benediction to God.
We should seek to live with a benediction in our heart and soul and mind and truly we enter into the new song daily.
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