In our last essay, we unpacked a debate between Ramban and Rambam about how to understand Birkot ha-Shachar. Are those brakhot like a blessing on enjoyment and only to be made when having that specific experience or are they meant to respond to the ongoing natural cycle of a given day?
What is the sechvi?
The opening brakha of this list is, “who gives the sechvi wisdom to distinguish between night and day.” What does the word sechvi actually mean? The challenge with this word is that it appears once, and only once, in the entirety of the Bible. As with any hapax legomenon, we struggle to understand its meaning, as language has significance in context. With only a single context to work with, we will have a hard time. The debate around the meaning of this word seems to also be behind the debate between Rambam and Ramban.
The word sechvi appears towards the end of the 38th chapter of the Book of Job. This chapter begins God’s response to Job after his friends are unable to offer comfort. It begins with the phrase, “Then the Lord replied to Job out of the tempest…” God asks a series of rhetorical questions to show the greatness of divine power, “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundations?” (Job 38:4). God continues in verse 12, “Have you ever commanded the day to break? Assigned the dawn its place?” reminding Job that God is in control of nature. Then God goes to celestial bodies, “Can you tie cords to Pleiades? Or undo the reins of Orion?” (38:31). There are also references to lightning, snow, rains and other natural weather events. These things are all clearly outside of human control.
Finally, we come to our verse, “Who put wisdom in the hidden parts? Who gave understanding to the mind (sechvi)?” These translations are all taken from the JPS 1985 edition as it appears on Sefaria. In typical JPS fashion, they add a little note next to the English “mind” which says, “Or “rooster”; meaning of Heb. uncertain.” The BDB dictionary (from alhatorah) offers, “perhaps a celestial appearance, phenomenon…perhaps of clouds”. This translation seeks to make the word sechvi fit into the context of Job 38.
The JPS translation is in good company as Chazal also struggle to understand what exactly the word sechvi means. The Gemara (Rosh Hahanah 26a) describes R’ Shimon ben Lakish going to a place called Kan Nishrayya in order to learn that the word sechvi means rooster. The Midrash (Vayikra Rabba 25:5) claims that the Arabs refer to the sechvi as a rooster. The Rosh (Brakhot 9:23) refers to both potential translations; perhaps the word sechvi is Arabic for rooster alternatively it may refer to wisdom or intellect.
If we translate sechvi as rooster, which is the convention of most contemporary Siddurim, then perhaps the Rabbis meant the brakha to refer to an individual or personal experience of the benefits associated with the crowing of the rooster–as Rambam argues. If the word sechvi is best understood as the more abstract notion of wisdom or understanding, then perhaps the Rabbis meant this brakha to refer to a broader awareness of divine gifts in the world–as Ramban claims. Their debate might come down to a simple question of Biblical translation.
The halakha must reach a final conclusion and so general practice is in line with Ramban and against Rambam. This series of blessings is recited as a unit regardless of my own personal experience of the world. We have paskened this debate as a community. However, the bigger debate about the aggada behind these brakhot is not finished and “decided.” The spiritual messages of both the Rambam and Ramban are sorely needed in the 21st century. Learning to slow down, being in the moment and appreciating the divinity in each interaction, is part of what it means to be a prayerful human being. Reflecting on the divine wonders of the world from a more detached perspective is also helpful as we learn to appreciate the beauty of nature. May we all be blessed to be able to do both.
Rabbi Jeffrey S. Fox, Rosh HaYeshiva and Dean of Faculty at Maharat, was the first graduate of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah. Upon graduation he served as the Rabbi of Kehilat Kesher: The Community Synagogue of Tenafly and Englewood for seven years. In Rabbi Fox’s tenure at Kesher, the community grew three-fold from 30 families to nearly 100. During that time Rabbi Fox also taught at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah as well as in the Florence Melton Adult Education School in Bergen County. He also served on the board of the Synagogue Leadership Initiative of the UJA of NNJ. Rabbi Fox was a Senior Rabbinic Fellow of the Shalom Hartman Institute and has also been a member of the faculty of the Drisha Institute, the Florence Melton Adult Education School in Westchester County, and Hadar.