What does the concept of 100 brachos a day have to do with fear of Hashem in general, and with this pasuk specifically?

“…What does Hashem, your G-d, ask of you? Only to fear Hashem, your G-d, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, and to serve Hashem, your G-d, with all your heart and with all your soul.” (Devarim 10:12)

T

he Gemara (Menachos 43b) says that the word “mah,” (what) in this pasuk, should be read “me’ah,” (one hundred). This is the source for the concept that a person should make 100 brachos every day.

What does the concept of 100 brachos a day have to do with fear of Hashem in general, and with this pasuk specifically? (Rav Yosef Elefant, Parsha Preview)

It was the height of Covid, and I was speaking to my mother on the phone. It was hard being thousands of miles away, knowing that visiting wasn’t even an option.

“So I’ve been reading a new sefer,” my mother told me. She managed to find a zillion things to keep herself busy with, even during lockdown. “It’s called Make Your Berachos Meaningful, by Rabbi Mechel Handler, and it’s divided into 100 daily messages. He discusses the midrash where Dovid Hamelech instituted 100 brachos a day, which stopped the plague during his reign that had 100 people dying daily. So I think I’m going to try to start aiming for 100 brachos a day.”

“Go for it, Ma!” I was seriously impressed. “I’ve tried to do this so many times in my life, but I always found that I never managed to get even close. Keep me posted!”

The Sfas Emes cites the Gemara in Shabbos that says that yirah, fear, is akin to the keys to the “outer entrance” of a palace. Yirah opens up the outer doors to enter the world of penimiyus, inner avodah, of dveikus, connection, and love for Hashem — all the levels which are discussed in the end of this.

A person who doesn’t have yiras Shamayim — meaning that he doesn’t live with an awareness of Hashem — is lacking those outer keys. Without them, he’s not even in the ballgame; he can’t begin to enter the realm of emulating Hashem’s ways. Yiras Shamayim creates an awareness that there’s a Creator in the world, that you have to think about Him, fear Him, and take Him into account.

Once a person brings Hashem into his world through the “outer keys” of yiras Shamayim, he’s able to peel away the chitzoniyus, the outer trappings, and access the world of penimiyus, the inner connection to Hashem.

A few days later, my mother was ready and raring to go. She explained to me how she would manage 100 brachos daily. She’d researched fragrances and the various brachos you can make on different types.

Not one to decide these things on her own, my mother contacted Rabbi Yisroel Pinchos Bodner, a well-known expert on brachos (the old-fashioned way; she reached him by phone). Apparently, there are five individual brachos that can be made on fragrances, and each of them can be made several times a day.

My niece bought my mother pure balsam oil, one of the ingredients in the Ketores that warrants its own brachah. I was pressed into duty to track down pure saffron oil, which is produced on a farm not far from my city.

Throughout an average day, a person eats and drinks, comes and goes, gets dressed and goes to work — engaging in all types of activities that can be mundane. He could be living in a world devoid of HaKadosh Baruch Hu, which is a world without yirah. Yet a person who says 100 brachos a day lives with a constant awareness that there’s a Ribbono shel Olam, and he submits himself to Him and clings to Him. The 100 brachos a day are what transform the mundane into opportunities for yiras Shamayim.

The purpose of the 100 daily brachos and the purpose of yiras Shamayim are one and the same: to enable a person to pass through the first step into the inner chambers of the more intimate avodas Hashem.

Together with various spices, oils, and fruits, my mother now has an olfactory brachos factory, and she’s kept this up every day since Covid. When the grandchildren come to visit (baruch Hashem, no more lockdowns!) they’re thrilled to take part and make all five of the separate brachos.

“A hundred brachos has changed my life,” my mother urges me. “You should do it, too!”

She’s shared this message with her friends and family, and whoever has tried it has agreed it’s been life altering.

Way to go, Ma! Till 100 — plus 20!

(Originally featured in Family First, Issue 854)