YESHIVAT HAR ETZION
ISRAEL KOSCHITZKY VIRTUAL BEIT MIDRASH (VBM)
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UNDERSTANDING AGGADA
By Rav Yitzchak Blau

The htm version of this shiur for easy printing is available at:
http://vbm-torah.org/archive/aggada/29b-aggada.htm

Shiur #29b: Hidden Blessings

R. Yitzchak said: "Blessing is not found except in something that is hidden from the eye as it says: 'God will command the blessing to be with you in your silos' (Devarim 28:8 with be'asamekha being linked to the word samuy or hidden)."  It was taught in the school of R. Yishmael: " Blessing is not found except in something upon which the eye cannot gaze as it says: 'God will command the blessing to be with you in your silos.'"  The Rabbis taught: He who goes to measure (the produce in) his silo should say 'May it be your will the Lord, our God, that you send blessing in the work of our hands.'  If he began to measure, he should say 'Blessed be the one who sends blessing to this pile.'  If he measured and afterward blessed, it is a wasted prayer because blessing is not found in something measured or counted but only in something hidden from the eye." (Bava Metzia 42a)

	The clue to understanding the three statements above; that of R. Yitzchak, the school of R. Yishmael and the Rabbis, may lie in the last of the three.  Apparently, one can hope for blessing up until the point that one has measured the grain and arrived at a precise amount.  After that, any request for blessing turns into a wasted prayer.  Why can the farmer not measure and then pray?  Maharsha mentions the possibility that this gemara builds upon the concept of ayin hara. Once the farmer gives his bounty a number, others get jealous and this has negative repercussions.  One can explain ayin hara in a metaphysical way or naturalistically by arguing that the jealousy of others often leads to harm without any metaphysical machinery playing a role.     

R. Yaakov Reisher (in his Iyyun Yaakov) rejects the ayin hara explanation of the statement from R. Yishmael's school.  After all, the Rabbis seem to discuss a case when a farmer measures alone in his silo and a person does not give himself the evil eye.  Instead, he argues that divine providence prefers to work with a hidden hand and not in an openly miraculous fashion.  Once the measurement has been taken, any shift in the number would mandate an open miracle.  Before the count has concluded, providence can help without making clear its miraculous intervention.    

R. Yitzchak Arama takes this gemara in a different direction altogether in his Akkedat Yitzchak (Emor 113b).  He says that life's most authentic blessings cannot be found in the quantifiable, such as wealth or possessions.  True blessing is located in the realm of the spirit, a realm that does not lend itself to quantification.  Marc Shapiro has translated an address of Rav Azriel Hildesheimer (Torah u' Madda Journal Volume 9) in which the same idea appears.  Indeed, those of us fortunate enough to enjoy the wonders of friendship, child rearing, acts of kindness observance of shabbat v'chgaim, powerful prayer experiences and the depths of learning understand this quite well.  The ultimate blessings are not to be found in the measured or the numbered but in the non – numerical world of the spirit. 

While R. Arama does not address the following point, it seems that his interpretation does not explain the difference between praying before measuring and praying after measuring.  Either way, the blessing in question refers to produce, something inherently quantifiable.  Perhaps R. Arama's explanation only works for the earlier two statements of R. Yitzchak and the school of R. Yishmael.  Note that the first two statements did not mention the issue of when to pray while measuring.  While the final quote from the Rabbis teaches us about the workings of providence or ayin hara, the earlier two citations instruct us as to where life's blessings truly lie.