Doing the Pigeon Walk

In Jewish folklore, there is a story in which a rabbi was asked, “What is a blessing?” His answer began as a riddle involving the creation story in the Book of Genesis. The rabbi begins:

After finishing His work of creation on each of the first five days, “God saw that it was good,” the Bible tells us. But the Bible does not say that after the sixth day’s work, when the human person was created, “God saw that it was good.” What conclusion do you draw from that?”

One person volunteered, “We can conclude that the human person is not good.” But the rabbi rejected that conclusion, saying that the Hebrew word translated as “good” in the Book of Genesis is the word “tov,” which is better translated as “complete.” Thus, after the sixth day’s work, God did not imply that the human person was not good but that the human person was incomplete. What is a blessing, therefore?…