A Treasury of Blessings

By Bogi Takács

​On Pride Month, 2019

Blessed are you, G-d
                            Our L-rd
                            King of the Universe
who has enlivened us
               sustained us
               and enabled us
to reach this season.

                                                                              Blessed are you, G-d

Our L-rd
King of the Universe

Blessing on the rainbow
     (seeing it on television does not count) 

who remembers the covenant
and is faithful to his covenant
and who holds by his promise

Blessing on lightning
     and also on tornadoes
     which do happen in Kansas
     in this season

who performs the works of creation

Blessing on thunder
     just in case
     as this is also frequently needed

whose power and severity fill the universe

Blessing on a secular scholar
    of which there are many
    given this is a university town
    with not one but two universities

who has given from his wisdom to flesh and blood

Blessing on the prime minister
    or any political ruler really
    originally intended for kings or queens
    but I have only ever seen a prime minister
    and I hope not to be seeing him again

who has given from his honor to flesh and blood

Blessing on an unusual person or animal
    like the author I suppose
    or an elephant
    if you’ve never seen an elephant before
    and you can go to the zoo
    solely for this purpose
    but you cannot visit the author
    solely for this purpose

who has made creatures different

Blessing upon seeing the Atlantic Ocean
    only said by Ashkenazim
    of which the author is one
    yet the author wasn’t aware
    that there was a separate blessing
    for this purpose
    before moving across the ocean
    this must be a blessing
    of a different diaspora
    where the author now
    supposedly belongs.

who has made the great sea

Blessing on a miracle
    that happened to an individual
    who was your ancestor
    at the location of the miracle
    mine is now a continent away
    but you can also say this for yourself
    and yours might be on this continent
    and you need to remember
    (always remember)
    survival of the extremes
    is a miracle in itself

who performed a miracle for me in this place

Note: All the blessings in italics are traditional and are provided in the author’s own translation from the Hebrew.

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Bogi Takács is a Hungarian Jewish agender trans person (e/em/eir/emself or they pronouns) and an immigrant to the United States. E is a winner of the Lambda award for editing Transcendent 2: The Year’s Best Transgender Speculative Fiction, and a finalist for the Hugo and Locus awards. Eir debut poetry collection Algorithmic Shapeshifting was published by Aqueduct Press, and eir debut short story collection The Trans Space Octopus Congregation was published by Lethe, both in 2019. You can find Bogi talking about books at http://www.bogireadstheworld.com, and on various social media as @bogiperson. Bogi lives in Kansas with eir spouse - writer R.B. Lemberg -, child, and an assembly of books.