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The 3rd blessing facilitates the
incoming flow of divine energy by sharpening our awareness of the soul's return
to the body. The fourth blessing focuses on the most
refined and divinely connected human attribute, the intellect, and describes the
influence of the soul's influx upon it. But how do we actualize this potential?
How often do we ignore our own insight? In the matrix of social realities, the
ability to practically utilize the distinction one has made between good and evil
depends upon the effectiveness of one's power of "seeing." In
the fifth blessing we thank G-d for opening our eyes. "Baruch
atah…pokaiach ivrim." "Blessed are you, L-rd our G-d,
King of the universe, who opens the eyes of the blind." Divine consciousness
is referred to in the Zohar as "gazing at the specialness of the king."
Our spiritual leaders are called "the eyes of the flock." Jewish
tradition defines a wise man as one who "sees" the ultimate results
of his actions: his recognition of the unfolding essence of what he is involved
with is so clear that he actually sees it. In contrast to the divine soul,
evil is only a created entity whose function is to stimulate the individual into
actualizing his potential to choose between good and evil; it can not penetrate
- "see" - to the essence. The forces of evil "have eyes yet they
do not see" [Psalms 135:16]. (Obviously, not only physical vision is
being referred to, but also to the mind's eye, spiritual sight, the capacity to
see and understand the truth. This involves the capability both to discern [as
described in blessing #4] and to practically apply the results of this discernment.)
Rabbi
Shaul Leiter is the executive
director of Ascent-of-Safed.
This series is translated and adapted from Meah Shearim
and other sources | 
