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Two lessons may be derived from this brachah: the positioning of it in the sequence of Bircas Shemoneh Esrai; and its content. First, as the ninth brachah, it follows immediately after Bircas Refaeinu, the blessing for healing. We derive from here that good health – physical and emotional – takes precedence over a living. In other words, one should not place his concern about the means he employs for earning a living over his health. If earning a living takes its toll on his health, it is not a “living.” Indeed, it is the opposite. Second, the brachah addresses the…

Sforno comments that, as long as any member of the original generation that had descended with Yaakov Avinu to Egypt was still alive, the present generation was able to maintain the proper spiritual level. Once they were gone, however, the spiritual decline which led to slavery and persecution accelerated. In his commentary to Shemos 6:16, Rashi teaches that, as long as a member of the original group of immigrants was alive, the Jews enjoyed freedom. The slavery commenced with the demise of the last one. This seems inconsistent with Rashi’s commentary to the beginning of Parashas Vayechi (Bereishis 47:28), where…