Pivoting from Shemoneh Esrei to Qaddish to Shema and its berakhos, I will start with Borkhu. The segue raises the question of something Qaddish and Borkhu have in common. Both are called Devarim shebiQdushah — Ideas About Holiness.

Both the tefillos and Qedushah need to be said standing, because of that status of Devarim sheBiqdushah. Both need to be said in a minyan for that reason as well. Pesuqim and derashos are even brought to prove the idea that a Davar shebiQdushah requires a minyan. Which means that these prayers, written by Chazal, must have been seen as conforming to a pre-existing category that existed since Sinai.

So, what defines a Davar shebiQdushah? Isn’t every prayer holy? In what way are these different?

Here’s one person’s thoughts. And as usual for this section, I am not attempting to give an authoritative answer to this question. Just relaying how I relate to these tefillos those times that I think while saying them.

Let’s go back to Qaddish.

I should have said this outright at the beginning of the post about Qaddish, but some of my nusach choices were motivated by a single concept.

To me, based on how I understood the Vilna Gaon, Qaddish is about closing the gap between Hashem as He is experienced in this world vs how He could be experienced in the World to Come.

This world, with things we experience as tragic and evil in it, is limited. From this world, Hashem looks like Qudshah Berikh Hu, a name mequbalim associate with “Zeir Anpin” (literally, a metaphor meaning “the Small Face”). This is why we talks in seven words* of the lifting of QBH. Seven, as in the days of the week; six mundane ones, and the Shabbos, holiness as present within the current world.

(* There is an anomoly in that while we are told there are seven such terms, you can count them — there are eight. The Gra simply says two nusachos got merged giving us both versions’ last word, and one should skip “vayis-hallal”. The Arukh haShulchan suggests that “mevorakh” isn’t on the list, but it part of “Yehei Shemeih Rabba”. As is some people’s custom to say the response including “mevorakh” as the last word.)

“Y-ah”, a name of Hashem made of just two letters of the tetragrammaton, similarly refers to Hashem as we experience Him now. Like I said in the previous post:

The Arukh haShulchan says that many understand this to mean the full Y-HV-H name, the one Chazal say will only be used after the destruction of Amaleiq and the end of evil. As opposed to the shortened two letter version, Y-H, found in Shemos 17:16, “וַיֹּ֗אמֶר כִּֽי־יָד֙ עַל־כֵּ֣ס יָ֔-הּ מִלְחָמָ֥ה לַהֹ’ בַּֽעֲמָלֵ֑ק מִדֹּ֖ר דֹּֽר׃ – and [Moshe] said, ‘For a ‘Hand’ is upon the throne of Y-H, Y-HV-H’s war with Amaleiq from generation to generation.” (See Medrash Tanchuma, Ki Seitzei 11.)

When we get to Olam HaBa, whether we mean the after-life or the post-resurrected final universe, we will experience Shemeih Rabba, Hashem as described by Y-HV-H. Seeing through the appearence of tragedy and never feeling abandoned or hesteir Panim, we will experience the All-Merciful, the Omnipresent.

Yisgadeil veyisqadeish Shemeih Rabba!

---

When you say Borkhu, you refer to two the general concept of blessing two ways:

1- The Chazan calls on people to bless Hashem, and the people respond with Barukh Hashem

2- We call him HaMevorakh — the Blessed One.

Hashem as One we bless. Hashem as the inherently blessed.

I think there is a similar dynamic going on. In this world, where Hashem “steps back” to give us more room to act, we feel the need to bless Him. Chazal call the word “berakhah” a “lashon ribui — a term referring to increase”. We want His presence to be more felt. We pledge to dedicate ourselves to doing His Will, so that His Will is more present in that way.

And yet in reality, Hashem is inherently Blessèd. If we can only get through the veils that make this world separate, or perhaps only appear different (R Kook) than this world, we would see as much.

---

It would seem, therefore, that a defining feature of a Davar shebiQdushah is that it expresses the idea of making Hashem’s Holiness manifest in this world, as a part of getting to a more complete experience of Him.

In this world, we have different berakhos for major events: For good ones, “Shechiyanu” or “haTov vehaMeitiv” if many are impacted. And for ones we experience as tragic — “Dayan haEmes”. But when we get to Olam haBa, we get a clearer picture,

וְהָיָ֧ה יְ-הוָ֛-ה לְמֶ֖לֶךְ עַל־כׇּל־הָאָ֑רֶץ בַּיֹּ֣ום הַה֗וּא יִהְיֶ֧ה יְ-הוָ֛-ה אֶחָ֖ד וּשְׁמֹ֥ו אֶחָֽד׃

And Y-HV-H will Be King over the whole earth: on that day Y-HV-H shall be one, and His name One [… and how we experience Him, unified].