The first brocha of the Birchas HaShachar that we say every
morning blesses Hashem Who gave the heart(rooster)
understanding to distinguish between day and night.
The simple translation of the words and the fact that it is
recited at the beginning of a new day shouldn't divert our attention from this
brocha's true essence and the reason that it precedes the remaining fourteen
brochas of the Birchas HaShachar.
The act of distinguishing
between day and night is a template for all things that must be
distinguished one from the other. It's
the act of discernment. And as Rabbi
Tuvia Lieff tells us, discernment is the key factor in human behavior.
All of life is about choosing. It's about tip toeing through an infinite minefield
of possible failings courtesy of your Yetzer Hora, and the only GPS that will
take us safely through it is the power of discernment that Hashem planted
within us.
There are those, like the Rosh, who hold that discernment
doesn't come pre-installed, but rather is a by product of the sechel that
Hashem has given us. The sechel is wired
to be able to distinguish between the Yetzer Hora and the Yetzer Tov in that it
has the ability to think things through so as to clearly see the wiles of the
Yetzer Hora for the spiritual three card Monti game that it actually is, but how
we use our sechel is up to us.
Therefore, the first brocha we make is to thank Hashem for
this ability (either naturally or through sechel) to make a determination in
life as to good and bad and right and wrong.
It's certainly the greatest challenge in life and maybe the
only one because everything else may well be derivative from it.
But before we can cut through the confusion with which life
presents us, we first have to know that we have been given the ability to do
so.
And for this we thank Hashem every morning in the very first
brocha of the Birchas Hashachar.
