בָּרוּךְ אֱלֹקֵינוּ שֶׁבְּרָאָֽנוּ לִכְבוֹדוֹ - What is the background of this prayer?

Question

What is the background of this prayer? I'd like to know who composed it, when, if there was any reason that it was composed, and what the intentions of the composer were that we should absorb when saying it.

Any additional information on the prayer is most welcome. Was it always part of ובא לציון?. Thanks!

Answer 1

As far as what to think about:

Firstly, note the Avudraham:

ואומר ברוך אלקינו שבראנו לכבודו על שם ולכבודי בראתיו פירוש לשבחו וזהו כבודו

We say: “Blessed is our G-d who created us for His glory, in His Name, and with His creation, its meaning is to praise Him, and this is His glory.”

So as a starting point the central kavana is to praise G-d, as we represent His creations and thus an extension of His glory.

Note the Sefas Emes on Shavuos which develops this point:

בנוסח התפלה ברוך אלקינו שבראנו לכבודו. ולכאורה קשה דהא תנן כל מה שברא הקב"ה לא ברא אלא לכבודו. אבל התירוץ הוא כי כל הבריאה בכלל בודאי לכבודו ברא כמ"ש שהכל ברא לכבודו וכ' וירא אלקים כו' כל אשר עשה והנה טוב מאוד. אבל בנ"י נבראו בפרטות לכבודו. ובאמת עי"ז שנבררו בנ"י נתקן כל הבריאה להתגלות כבוד שמו ית' בעולם. וכ' זכור ימות עולם כו' כי מקודם הי' כל הלשונות נכללין בלשון הקודש כמ"ש שפה אחת אם כי עתה אין יכולין להבין זאת. אח"כ מרדו. ורק בנ"י נשארו בהאחדות וכן איתא בדברות שנתחלקו לשבעים לשונות כי לכולם יש שורש בלשון הקודש ואיתא כל דבר שהי' בכלל ויצא מן הכלל ללמד על הכלל כולו יצא. וכן הענין בבני ישראל שנבררו מכלל השבעים לשונות הי' ללמד על הכלל כולו ונמצא שהכל לכבודו ברא על ידי זה שהבדילנו מן התועים ונתן לנו תורת אמת כנ"ל

We say in our tefilla: "Blessed is our G-d who created us for His glory." And at first glance it is difficult to understand, for it is taught that whatever the Almighty created, He did so only for His glory. However, the answer is that the entire Creation certainly reflects His glory, as it is said, "For all that He has created is for His glory" (Isaiah 43:7) and "And G-d saw that it was very good" (Bereishis 1:31). But specifically, the creation of the Jewish people was done for His glory. Indeed, with the creation of the Jews, all of Creation was perfected to bring His glory into the world. Remember the days of old, for from the beginning all languages were included in the Holy Language, as it is said, "One language, if only now we could understand it" (Bereishis 11:6). Then it was divided. Only the Jews remained united, and it is said that the words were divided into seventy languages, for all have their root in the Holy Language, and all that was included in the whole and came out of the whole to teach about the whole, it all came out. So too, with the Jews, who were distinguished from the seventy languages, to teach about the whole, and it was found that all was done for His glory by distinguishing us from the wicked and giving us the true Torah as mentioned above.

Finally note the Gemara in Eiruvin 13b which states:

תָּנוּ רַבָּנַן: שְׁתֵּי שָׁנִים וּמֶחֱצָה נֶחְלְקוּ בֵּית שַׁמַּאי וּבֵית הִלֵּל. הַלָּלוּ אוֹמְרִים: נוֹחַ לוֹ לְאָדָם שֶׁלֹּא נִבְרָא יוֹתֵר מִשֶּׁנִּבְרָא, וְהַלָּלוּ אוֹמְרִים: נוֹחַ לוֹ לְאָדָם שֶׁנִּבְרָא יוֹתֵר מִשֶּׁלֹּא נִבְרָא.

The Sages taught the following baraisa: For two and a half years, Beis Shammai and Beis Hillel disagreed. These say: It would have been preferable had man not been created than to have been created. And those said: It is preferable for man to have been created than had he not been created.

The Ben Ish Chai writes on this:

נח לו לאדם שלא נברא יותר משנברא - נראה לי בס"ד, שישראל נשמתם מן הבריאה שנקראת כסא הכבוד שהיא בסוד הבינה, כמ"ש רבינו האר"י ז"ל בסוד כונת ברוך אלהינו שבראנו לכבודו, מה שאין כן המלאכים הם מן היצירה. וידוע דהמעשה היא פועלת בעשיה, והדבור ביצירה והכונה בבריאה והמחשבה באצילות

It would have been preferable had man not been created than to have been created - It seems to me, that the souls of Israel come from a spiritual creation called the Throne of Glory, as our teacher the Arizal said is the secret of intention behind "Blessed is our G-d, who created us for His honor", which is not the case with the Angels, who come from creation. It is known that action is done through creation, and the speech in creation and the intent in creation and the thought in eternity

Answer 2

The Origins
This is a tremendous and thought-provoking question My answer is going to focus on the background of why we say this Tefillah. Like most good things in Judaism, it is a disagreement. The siddur of the Raavon brings sevreal reasons why we say the second part of uvu ltzeiyon (ברוך אלקנו...)

The Gemora in Sotah 49B says https://www.sefaria.org/Sotah.49a.8?lang=he&with=all&lang2=he

וְאֶלָּא עָלְמָא אַמַּאי קָא מִקַּיַּים אַקְּדוּשָּׁה דְסִידְרָא וְאַיְּהֵא שְׁמֵיהּ רַבָּא דְּאַגַּדְתָּא שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר אֶרֶץ עֵיפָתָה כְּמוֹ אֹפֶל צַלְמָוֶת וְלֹא סְדָרִים הָא יֵשׁ סְדָרִים תּוֹפִיעַ מֵאוֹפֶל But if everything is deteriorating, why does the world continue to exist? The Gemara answers: By the sanctification that is said in the order of prayers, after the passage that begins: And a redeemer shall come to Israel, which includes the recitation and translation of the sanctification said by the angels, and by the response: Let His great name be blessed, etc., which is recited after the study of aggada. As it is stated: “A land of thick darkness, as darkness itself; a land of the shadow of death, without any order” (Job 10:22). Therefore, it can be inferred from this verse that if there are orders of prayer and study, the land shall appear from amidst the darkness.

Which Rashi adds:

אקדושה דסידרא - סדר קדושה שלא תקנוה אלא שיהו כל ישראל עוסקין בתורה בכל יום דבר מועט שאומר קריאתו ותרגומו והן כעוסקין בתורה וכיון שנוהג בכל ישראל בתלמידים ובעמי הארץ ויש כאן שתים קדושת השם ותלמוד התורה חביב הוא וכן יהא שמיה רבה מברך שעונין אחר הגדה שהדרשן דורש ברבים בכל שבת היו נוהגין כך ושם היו נקבצין כל העם לשמוע לפי שאינו יום של מלאכה ויש כאן תורה וקידוש השם:

My translation: The Rabbis made this prayer of Kedusha Desidra (uvu ltzyion) so people should learn a little Torah in. Also, the Yeheyi Shemi Rabbah which is said after the agada is said in public on Shabbos...
Reason 1
The first answer is that after learning Torah one should say Kaddish, this is the Kaddish we say after davening. This is brought down here Rav Naturai Gaon says that this was the minhag when you finish learning you say Kaddish we ensure to first say several passukim from Nach the Kaddish, followed by a small Teffilah that we should continue having the strength to learn Torah.
this is also found here: From https://hebrewbooks.org/64815

Reason 2

The enemies of the Jews would not allow the Kaddish to be said, this was implemented at the end of davening as a way of saying kedusha and kaddish after the enemies left the shul The source for these 2 reasons are found in the siddur of the Raavon.

Answer 3

First …….I want to add that this posuk is always used to express huge gratitude to hashem

ועיין בספר שלמי צבור(hebrewbooks.com pages 300-350)מהרי״ט אלגזי שמביא מהרישונים הטעם לומר פה ברוך…..כי פה זה גמר התפלה ולכן כאן אומרים קדיש תתקבל צלותהון ,ואחריו הוא הוספות , ולכן אומרים ברוך הוא ……to show our deepest gratitude that we are able to stand before hashem and he listens to us mortals

In siddur בית יעקב (reb yaakov emmden )before this posuk he writes in small letters “the arizal says that when one says it in prayer he should add lots of simcha and gratitude for giving us the torah that makes us so special

Second…….This part of va ltzion is similar to the two brachos we say on the torah asher …hoamimm,,,,vnusan …tora torah emes,,,,,,chayei olam nota and also the tefilla of yom tov אתה בחרתנו מכל העמים and what they imply is the posuk of והייתם לי סגולה that is the order of our being chosen ….because first we were chosen to be his people (for no reason) then we were separated from all others in mitzraim like a wash and rinse then we got the torah then he let the torah and benei yisroel actually become one

which is the purpose of the creation …….. in reality it’s a full circle

בראנו לכבודו,

הבדילנו, נתןתורה, נטע בתוכנו,