A Berakha for Good and for Bad
ברכה על הטובה ועל הרעה
The purpose of berakhot is to thank and praise God, may He be blessed, Who watches over His creatures at all times. Through berakhot we are reminded again and again that God does not dwell only in the hidden heights, but rather everything that exists in the world is given life and sustained by Him, and every event that occurs in the world has spiritual meaning and Divine purpose. Therefore, when a person merits something new and joyful, he should recite She-heḥeyanu. And if, God forbid, a disaster befalls him, he should know that this too is with Divine consent, and he should recite Dayan Ha-emet (“the true Judge”). Through berakhot, faith is revealed and spreads in the world, and consequently the life of the one reciting the berakha is blessed as well.
The knowledge that God governs the world, and that everything comes from Him and through His providence, gives value to all the events of life. When a person merits something joyful, his joy is deeper, because it did not come by chance but from the hand of Divine providence, and as a result he can properly use the abundance that God has bestowed upon him. And also when, God forbid, a disaster strikes him, he has more strength to accept it when he knows that it has meaning. For even if at the moment he does not understand what good will grow out of the bad, out of the knowledge that everything God does in the world is for the good, he will ultimately be able to rise up from the disaster and rebuild his life. But one who does not believe has nothing but his trouble, and the sadness pierces and penetrates his heart without remedy or meaning.
It should be known that one does not need a special, out-of-the-ordinary joy in order to recite She-heḥeyanu. Rather, even for a small joy that comes to a person when buying an ordinary garment or when eating a new fruit, one must thank God and recite the berakha. This outlook contains fundamental guidance. Many people wait for some great event that will uplift their lives all at once, and in the meantime their lives are gray and gloomy. But a person who becomes accustomed to noticing the small joys in his life and thanking God for them learns to recognize the value of life, which is composed of small details whose hidden content is great, and through this he will merit a full life, rich in content and meaning.