JTS Torah Commentary

How Can We Be a Blessing?

Nov 8, 2024 By Cantor Rabbi Shoshi Levin Goldberg | Commentary | Lekh Lekha

I have often pondered the meaning of the expression that a deceased person’s memory should be a blessing or will be for a blessing. Proverbs 10:7 teaches that “the name of a righteous person is invoked in blessing”—זֵ֣כֶר צַ֭דִּיק לִבְרָכָ֑ה . Originally, this likely referred to invoking the name of a well-known righteous person as an exemplar and conduit for our own blessing. The Babylonian Talmud also teaches (Kiddushin 31b) that after the death of a parent, we may continue to fulfill the mitzvah of honoring our parents, and by extension other beloved relatives and friends, by saying “zikhronam livrakhah,” “may their memory be for a blessing.”