Good morning, Rabbi Lundin. What does the "Shehakol" blessing [by Whose word everything came to be] signify to me? -Faith that "everything" is from Him.
When they came to announce that Benaya had been killed, a day later, they changed the message and announced that he was missing..
We had three days until we found out what had really happened, with special laws (the Rabbi surely knows) in which it is forbidden to make blessings and so on.
You want to take a cup of water and make the blessing just like you are used to doing a million times over the years, but it is forbidden. You feel like you are dangling... naked
And then. In the cemetery right after the funeral at the peak of the summer (the month of Av), someone gives me a cup of water and amid all the chaos, I realize that I am allowed to make a blessing.
Taking the glass and as if for the first time in my life, I make the blessing "Blessed are You, Lord, our God, King of the universe, by Whose word everything came to be"-.. I had just buried my son and I am saying the Shehakol blessing that everything... everything is from Him, the good, the bad, everything is from God". The first time I truly understood (from deep inside) what the "Shehakol" blessing really means...
By the way, I do not remember anything else from the funeral. Nothing.. Like I wasn't there... I only remember the glass of water and the strong and significant blessing that put me in my place again .... to remember Who runs the world here and to thank Him for everything.
The good and the bad. Dayan Haemet.