Some moments in life leave us speechless, often because there’s an intense emotion (or emotions) attached. The birth of a child, the death of a loved one, or a wonder of nature, just to name a few. It’s in these moments when I’m grateful to be Jewish because we have words and even full blessings that give us somewhere to turn when there’s nothing to say.

One of these blessings is the one we recite when receiving bad news, usually at the moment we learn of a death. This blessing is rooted in the Torah portion this week, Parshat Chayei Sarah. In this section of the Torah, both Sarah and Abraham die. When Sarah dies we see Abraham momentarily pause and then get straight to work with finding a burial spot for her, creating a family plot, and looking toward the future. Then at Abraham’s death, Isaac has married Rebekkah and it becomes clear that Abraham and Sarah’s faith will continue on.

In moments like this, we’re asked as Jews, before we move into action, to pause. We recite the phrase “Baruch dayan ha’emet.” “Blessed is the true judge.” This instruction comes from the Mishna, the corpus of Jewish text that was created based on Torah law once the Temple no longer stood in Jerusalem. The Mishna is inviting us to recognize that challenges, pain, suffering – these are also a part of life. When we say “Blessed is the true judge” in moments of hardship, we’re not blessing the suffering itself; we’re affirming our faith in God’s wisdom and justice, even when we cannot understand it.

– Rabbi Eve Posen

Source: The Blessing of Life