Barukh (בָּרוּךְ), “blessed,” is the word that opens countless Hebrew blessings: Barukh atah, “Blessed are You.” It comes from barakh (בָּרַךְ), to bless, a root bound up with berekh, the knee. To bless HaShem in this register is to bend, to lower yourself before the One you are blessing. Tehillim [Psalms] 95:6 makes the posture explicit: “Come, let us bow down and bend the knee before YHWH our Maker.” Where halal raises the voice, barakh lowers the body.