Can Man Bless Others?

Howard Salamon & Rabbi Moshe Ben-Chaim

Avi: What is the idea regarding this “gift” that Hashem gave Avraham and then to Yitzchak that the blessings are in their hands to bless others? A special “power?”  Perhaps it means that their blessings are etched in stone to be fulfilled?

Rabbi: Rashi on Gen. 12:2:

[God told Abraham] Blessings are entrusted to you. Until now they were in My power — I blessed Adam and Noah. But from now on you shall bless whomsoever you wish (Genesis Rabbah 39:11).

A few questions arise. Primarily, what blessings are we discussing? Also, we have no evidence that man's speech (blessings) in anyway changes reality. Next, what is this comparison between Adam and Noah on the one hand, and Abraham on the other? And once we define the difference, how does this correlate to the change in blessings? Why can't God be consistent, maintaining the same relationship from Adam to Noah to Abraham, and all future generations? What demanded this change in blessings?

What is common to both Adam and Noah’s generations was that no other individuals were alive. But by Abraham's generation, the world was populated. How does this play a role in the change of blessings?

Let’s read the verse:

I will make of you a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you shall be a blessing.

The verse says that God will make Abraham great, and then he will be a blessing. There’s 2 important observations: 

1) Abraham's greatness is a prerequisite for mankind benefiting or being blessed; 

2) The verse does not say that Abraham “verbalize” any blessing, but that he “will be” a blessing: his existence alone—without his speech—benefits mankind.

How did Abraham “bless” mankind? As Howard Salamon explained, Abraham became a role model; that was his “blessing” to mankind. He taught monotheism to a generation steeped in idolatry. But during the generations of Adam and Noah, when mankind did not exist, God was the cause of good for these individuals, God directed these men. But once Abraham discovered God and taught monotheism, and God made him popular, this is how Abraham was a blessing to others. This is the clear meaning of  “I will make your name great, and you shall be a blessing.”  Through God’s promotion of Abraham’s fame, Abraham thereby benefitted mankind as a whole, and not merely a few individuals. (However, man is incapable of altering reality through speech/blessings. That is an infantile, false notion.)

Finally, why did God withdraw from personally blessing men directly, as He did formerly with Adam and Noah? 

Abraham was a prized example of how a person steeped in idolatry can use his mind alone without God’s directives, and distinguish truth from falsehood, and follow truth. A preferred method of instruction on human behavior is where the lesson includes an example of a person who attained perfection. Torah follows this model with its inclusion of the trials and successes of Abraham, the patriarchs and matriarchs. Adam and Noah had no other than God to learn from. But future generations had Abraham.