The Human Heart vs the Rooster: the Morning Blessings and Job 38:36

Birchot Hashachar -- the Morning Blessings

This set of 15 blessings are central to the opening of the morning services and are said 365 days of the year.

The first of these blessing is:

.לְהַבְחִין בֵּין יום וּבֵין לָיְלָה רוּךְ אַתָּה ה' אֱלהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעולָם. אֲשֶׁר נָתַן לַשּכְוִי בִינָהבָּ.

The key word in Hebrew –SHECHVI -- is now regularly translated in popular siddurim as the ‘human heart’ (Art Scroll and RCA Koren) or ‘us’ (Conservative Sim Shalom).

The RCA notes that ‘human heart’ translation follows the majority of Jewish commentators’ reading of Job 38:36: the only place it ever appears in the Bible.

However, Philip Birnbaum in his Hasiddur Hashalem (1949) uses “cock”, i.e., rooster, and cites not only the famous Berakot 60b passage which states the blessing is to be said whenever a person sees a rooster, but also Rosh Hashannah 26a (near the end of the folio) which also equates SHECHVI with the roster. Birnbaum explains that the blessing is an acknowledgement of the marvels of the natural world created by God.

Sefaria in its Ashkenaz and Sepharad online siddurs translates SHECHVI as “rooster (or mind)”[i]

Both RCA and the Art Scroll end by noting the Rosh (Rabbi Asher ben Jehiel, 1250–1328) held that SHECHVI in this blessing applies to both the human heart/mind and the rooster: as the focus is on differentiating between night and day.

Rashi on Job 38:36 states that SHECHVI means rooster but that some translate it as the human heart/mind.

And the Tur tries to resolve the dispute by stating that SHECHVI in the holy language of Hebrew means ‘heart’, but in Aramaic the same sounding word means rooster. Hence, Job 38:36 -- written in Hebrew -- is “heart” and in the Talmud which is written in Aramaic, it means rooster. [As the Talmud Berakot 60b is talking about a Hebrew blessing, this solution is very odd.]

So which is the correct translation and understanding of SHECHVI in the morning blessing?

And what guidance is there from Job 38:36?

Job 38:36 is the only time the word SHECHVI appears in all of Scriptures [ii].

׃ בִינָֽה לַשֶּׂ֣כְוִי מִֽי־נָתַ֖ן א֤וֹ חָכְמָ֑ה בַּטֻּח֣וֹת מִי־שָׁ֭ת

While the first Jewish 1917 JPS translation [iii] , and many Christian translations -- including the landmark King James Bible (1611) -- link SHECHVI to the ‘human heart’ or ‘human mind’[iv], any such interpretation is problematic.

Put simply, the understanding and translation of Job 38:36 has long been disputed.

The Greek Septuagint (3rd c. BCE [v]) translates the verse:

“And who has given to women skill in weaving, or knowledge of embroidery?[vi]”

The Latin Vulgate Bible of Jerome (405 CE), who consulted the Septuagint and chose to follow the original Hebrew text (probably with a Jewish Hebrew scholar as guide) translates it:

“Quis posuit in visceribus hominis sapientiam vel quis dedit gallo intellegentiam [vii]”

Who places wisdom in man’s innards and who gives intelligence to the rooster (gallo). [My English translation.]

The standard Catholic bible, the Douay-Rheims Bible, following the Vulgate, reads:

“Who hath put wisdom in the heart of man? or who gave the cock understanding?”[viii]

The recent, late 20^th century New International Version (NIV) by fifteen scholars, accessing all known ancient texts and translations -- including the Dead Sea Scrolls -- believes the verse says:

“Who gives the ibis wisdom or gives the rooster understanding.”[ix]

The translation sees both SHECHVI and the equally rare BTOOCHOT

(only found again in Pslams 51:5(Christian); 51:8 Hebrew) as references to

birds; birds who have special symbolism in the ancient Near East.

The ibis was a common wetland bird holy to the Egyptians and linked to their god of wisdom and learning, Thoth [x].

The rooster, with its dawn crowing, was also a common religious

symbol in numerous ancient cultures and appears on Jewish

potsherds from 7^th c. BCE inside a Star of David and on the seal

of the ancient royal Jewish official Jaazaniah [xi]

More importantly, the verse is part of God’s verbal response to Job and his ongoing physical sufferings.

All the other verses in this two-chapter-long Divine speech never praise or compliment whatsoever human intelligence or wisdom.

On the contrary, ch 38 and ch 39 are a series of rhetorical questions which, put simply, stress again and again how great and infinite is the power and knowledge of God, and how ‘limited’, if not ‘ignorant’, is mankind’s understanding [xii].

Job 38: 1-33 asks if a human can understand how the universe was created or how it operates: the formation of the Earth, the seas, daylight, rain and snow and hail, lightning, and the stars and constellations.

As for verse 36 – the SHECHVI verse – it is in the middle of a unit or stanza on clouds and rainfall and their effect on the ground—as forces of nature known only to God.

The unit begins with verse 34 and runs through verse 38. (The NIV is especially helpful as its translation divides ch 38 and ch 39 into thematic stanzas.[xiii])

Below is the stanza in Hebrew and English with Sefaria’s translation.

https://www.sefaria.org/Job.38.32-39?lang=bi

34. הֲתָרִ֣ים לָעָ֣ב קוֹלֶ֑ךָ וְֽשִׁפְעַת־מַ֥יִם תְּכַסֶּֽךָּ׃

Can you send up an order to the clouds For an abundance of water to cover you?

35. הַֽתְשַׁלַּ֣ח בְּרָקִ֣ים וְיֵלֵ֑כוּ וְיֹאמְר֖וּ לְךָ֣ הִנֵּֽנוּ׃

Can you dispatch the lightning on a mission And have it answer you, “I am ready”?

36. חָכְמָ֑ה א֤וֹ מִֽי־נָתַ֖ן לַשֶּׂ֣כְוִי בִינָֽה׃ תמִי־שָׁ֭ת בַּטֻּח֣וֹ

Who put wisdom in the hidden parts? Who gave understanding to the mind?

37. מִֽי־יְסַפֵּ֣ר שְׁחָקִ֣ים בְּחָכְמָ֑ה וְנִבְלֵ֥י שָׁ֝מַ֗יִם מִ֣י יַשְׁכִּֽיב׃

Who is wise enough to give an account of the heavens? Who can tilt the bottles of the sky,

38. בְּצֶ֣קֶת עָ֭פָר לַמּוּצָ֑ק וּרְגָבִ֥ים יְדֻבָּֽקוּ׃

Whereupon the earth melts into a mass, And its clods stick together.

Put simply, verse 34 starts a five (5) verse unit on clouds, lightning, and how the dust and soil of the Earth interact with rainfall.

There is also a clever poetic word play and linkage between verses 36 and 37.

36. ׃ המִי־שָׁ֭ת בַּטֻּח֣וֹת חָכְמָ֑ה א֤וֹ מִֽי־נָתַ֖ן לַשֶּׂ֣כְוִי בִינָֽ

37. מִֽי־יְסַפֵּ֣ר שְׁחָקִ֣ים בְּחָכְמָ֑ה וְנִבְלֵ֥י שָׁ֝מַ֗יִם מִ֣י יַשְׁכִּֽיב׃

Both use (wisdom) חכמה-- the 4^th word in each --as the key idea in the first half. As for their second halves, when spoken aloud, the similarity between SHCHVI and YASHKIV – with 3 of the same Hebrew letters ( -- (שכי and only replacing the Vav of SHECHVI with Hebrew’s 2^nd VAV sound – ב -- is clearly not an accident.

So, put simply, Verse 36 is an integral part of a stanza on rainfall and poetically coupled with verse 37 and its idea of the sky being filled with jugs of water ready to be tipped by God.

Consequently, there is no room for the ‘human heart/mind’ or any ‘rooster’ (and ibis) in this stanza. It is all about rainfall.

Yes, animals are mentioned in this length verbal response by God but never intermixed with any stanza on the sky or nature.

In Ch 36:39 -41 and all of Chapter 39 (30 verses long), the focus switches exclusively to discussing the animals of the planet and how they act and behave. Something which God alone knows and controls: re: lions, wild goats, wild asses, wild oxen, the ostrich, the horse and the hawk.

Any suggestion that Job 38:36 refers to humans or commends human wisdom and knowledge (male or female) has long been challenged in the Bible commentaries of the Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges and most notably Barnes' Notes on the Bible[xiv] which cites the Septuagint and Vulgate readings and also notes “One of the Targums renders it: ’Who has given to the woodcock intelligence that he should praise his Master?’

Barnes also cites alternate interpretations linked to nature by Herder, Umbreit, Schultens and Rosenmuller [xv]

In closing, then, I do not claim to know what Job 38:36 and its unique SHECHVI and rare BTOOCHOT actually means, but it cannot in any way refer to humans – the heart/mind – nor to any animal: no ibis, no rooster.

It deals with clouds and rainfall in some way.

Consequently, Job 38:36 is no help or guide to the proper understanding of SHECHVI in the Morning Blessings, and we must rely on the only ancient and revered source, the Talmud Bavli, Berakot 60b and its rooster reading for this exact blessing.

Evidence from the structure of the 15 Morning Blessings

The design, structure and organization of the Morning Blessings as a unified ‘prayer’ also favours the rooster.

I have always wondered why Blessing # 9: “who formed the earth on top of the waters” is placed about half-way down instead of near the very start.

Morning Blessings

1. Blessed are you, Hashem, our G-d and king of the world, who gave the rooster (or mind) insight to distinguish between day and night.

2. Blessed are you, Hashem, our G-d and king of the world, who did not make me a gentile.

3. Blessed are you, Hashem, our G-d and king of the world, who did not make me a slave.

4. Blessed are you, Hashem, our G-d and king of the world, who did not make me a woman. (or … who made me according to his will.)

5. Blessed are you, Hashem, our G-d and king of the world, who opens [the eyes of] the blind

6. Blessed are you, Hashem, our G-d and king of the world, who clothes the naked.

7. Blessed are you, Hashem, our G-d and king of the world, who releases the bound.

8. Blessed are you, Hashem, our G-d and king of the world, who straightens the bent.

9. Blessed are you, Hashem, our G-d and king of the world, who placed the land on the water.

10. Blessed are you, Hashem, our G-d and king of the world, who fulfilled all my needs for me.

11. Blessed are you, Hashem, our G-d and king of the world, who steadies the steps of man.

12. Blessed are you, Hashem, our G-d and king of the world, who girds Israel with courage.

13. Blessed are you, Hashem, our G-d and king of the world, who crowns Israel with splendor.

14. Blessed are you, Hashem, our G-d and king of the world, who gives to the weary strength.

15. Blessed are you, Hashem, our G-d and king of the world, who removes sleep from my eyes, and slumber from my pupils.

It seems to me that this prayer of 15 blessings: yes, a carefully crafted ‘prayer’ –splits the 15 blessings into two – like the two tablets from Mount Sinai.

Blessings #2 through #8 thank God for things that He alone has the power to control: whether someone is born a Jew or Gentile, slave or free, male or female; and miracles of Divine intervention: restoring eyesight, liberating the imprisoned, making the crooked and disabled whole again.

Then, Blessing #9 indisputably thanks God for creating the physical world: “the earth upon the waters”. Its wording copies Psalm 136:6, but in the latter, the creation of ‘land and water’ is -- logically -- placed near the start of the list.

Blessings #10 onward are more amorphous and general while simultaneously being more ‘personal’ in focus: fulfilling one’s individual ‘needs’, steadying one’s step, giving the people of Israel courage and then success/splendor, giving the tired strength to go one, and, finally, #15, who helps me wake up in the morning.

If Blessing #1, the SHECHVI blessing, were about humans and waking up (i.e. discerning daylight from the dsrkness of night), the final blessing, #15, would be at least overlapping, redundant and unnecessary.

Consequently, Blessing #1 must be different in focus than Blessing #15, and, I suggest, somehow thematically parallel to Blessing #9 (“the earth upon the waters”).

The rooster reading does this.

It makes Blessing #1 all about nature and the world God created. It is an acknowledgement of the animal kingdom, their unique qualities, knowledge and interactions with nature of which the rooster and his crowing at dawn is emblematic.

It is an echo of God’s message to Job as to His infinite power and daily control of the animal kingdom: a realm so vast and important that it takes up Job 38:39-41 and all 30 verses of ch 39.

Blessing #1, in brief, reminds us that we are not the only living beings created by God. That there is a vast animal realm and natural world beyond us.

They too are God’s creation and worthy of daily acknowledgement and blessing: represented by the rooster and his daily crowing at dawn.

Its message: ‘respect nature and the animal world’, fits perfectly with today’s environmentalist movements and their manta.

Our Morning Blessings prayer – properly understood -- has been saying this for millennia.

CONCLUSION

The siddur’s set of 15 morning blessings is a carefully crafted prayer.

It changes focus mid-way. Each section: blessings #1-#8 and thereafter #9-#15, begins with an acknowledgement that God is the ultimate and great Creator of the World and all within it. Blessing #9 acknowledges His creation of the physical matter of the World: land and water, and the opening Blessing #1, acknowledges His creation of the animals of the planet and their specific skills and interactions with nature (a la Job from ch 38:39 to the end of ch 39).

So, it would be best for our Siddurim and their editors to follow our ancient Sages and the clear statement of the Talmud.

The rooster rules.

Postscript

One might argue Blessing #9 “earth upon the waters” is not out of place.

The Talmud Bavli, Berakot 60b, as noted by the Art Scroll siddur, sees 9 of the 15 blessings as metaphors relating to the daily stages of getting up and getting dressed.

Upon opening his eyes, one should recite: Blessed…Who gives sight to the blind.
Upon sitting up straight, one should recite: Blessed…Who sets captives free.
Upon dressing, one should recite: Blessed…Who clothes the naked, as they would sleep unclothed.
Upon standing up straight, one should recite: Blessed…Who raises those bowed down.
Upon descending from one’s bed to the ground, one should recite: Blessed…Who spreads the earth above the waters, in thanksgiving for the creation of solid ground upon which to walk.
Upon walking, one should recite: Blessed…Who makes firm the steps of man.
Upon putting on his shoes, one should recite: Blessed…Who has provided me with all I need, as shoes are a basic necessity.
Upon putting on his belt, one should recite: Blessed…Who girds Israel with strength.
Upon spreading a shawl upon his head, one should recite: Blessed…Who crowns Israel with glory.

The “earth upon the waters” is seen by the Talmud as referring to putting one’s feet onto the ground as one gets out of bed.

However, the prayer, the Morning Blessings, includes others not in the Talmud (being a Jew, being free, being either male or female) and ends with a blessing about waking up from deep sleep that does not fit the Talmud’s order of rising and dressing:

“Blessed are you, Hashem, our G-d and king of the world, who removes sleep from my eyes, and slumber from my pupils.”

Also, none of the siddurim mentioned: Art Scroll, RCA, Birnbaum or any others I have even seen, translate the 15 Blessings using the Talmud’s metaphor equivalents.

To do so would be problematic as the blessing for helping the downtrodden, healing the sick and freeing the captive are part of the Shemona Eshrai Amidah opening, said 3 times a day, 365 days a years, and always taken literally by all.

“You sustain the living with loving kindness, You revive the dead to life with great mercy, You support the fallen and You heal the sick; You free the captives and preserve Your faith with those asleep in the dust.”

So too in Psalms 146:

“The Lord loosens the prisoners: the Lord opens the eyes of the blind: the Lord raises those who are bowed down:”

Put simply, the recommendation of the Talmud: to say certain blessings at each stage of waking up and getting dressed, has not been Judaic practice for many centuries.

Instead, the prayer of 15 Blessings is said as a single unit, long after one awakes and is dressed and up. It is only said after tallit and tefillin are put on on weekdays, and if one prays Shacharit in a congregational minyan, the 15 Morning Blessings are said even later: after a 10 to 30 minute or longer walk or drive.

__________

Final Note: As the above study and earlier blogs have noted, it is not enough in the quest to better understand the Chumash and other Hebrew Bible texts to stay within the ‘box’ of Jewish rabbinic scholarship even though it consists of over 2 millennia of rabbinic study by numerous great and pious Jewish scholars and minds.

The Greek Septuagint (3^rd century BCE) and Jerome’s Vulgate (405 CE) and later Christian translations, and the insights and study by Christian scholars as readily found through the Bible Hub website (biblehub.com) are worth exploring.

___________________________________