Ending Gracefully: Birkat HaMazon
The Arizal (Rabbi Isaac Luria) explains the true essence of food. On the one hand, you have the physical food – the skin, flesh, bones, seeds, crust, etc. These are physical manifestations.
Just like our bodies are physical manifestations but are only an outer shell for the neshama, so too are the physical manifestations of the food an outer shell for a spiritual essence that exists in every food we eat. The food exists only because Hashem created it, not only during the six days of Creation but every day. A grape grows on Hashem’s command, as does a wheat kernel. Every food embodies both the physical shell and the spiritual essence.
When we eat food, it nourishes both parts of us, the physical nourishing the physical and the spiritual nourishing the spiritual. We cannot exist with only one part of the equation. We need both to feed our physical bodies and our spiritual neshama. To bring out the spiritual essence, we recite blessings, asking permission before and thanking Hashem after eating food.
“And you shall eat and be satisfied and you shall bless the L-rd your G-d for the good earth He has given you” (Devarim 8:10).
Birkat HaMazon (Grace After Meals) is the only blessing we are obligated to recite D’Oraita, from the Torah, after eating at least a kezayit of bread. (Some opinions say this also applies to Birkat HaTorah (the blessings recited before and after reading the Torah.)
The text we have for Birkat HaMazon today is a cumulative effort. The Gemara says that Moshe Rabbeinu instituted the first blessing, “HaZan,” when we first received the mann. Yehoshua added the second bracha, “HaAretz,” when we entered Eretz Yisrael.
Upon becoming king and making Jerusalem his capital, David HaMelech added “Al Yisrael Amecha Ve’Al Yerushalaim Irecha.” Shlomo HaMelech added, “Al HaBayit Ha’Gadol Veha’Kadosh” after the Beit HaMikdash was built. In Yavneh, they added “HaTov Veha’Meitiv” in memory of those killed in Beitar.
In the centuries that followed, addenda for Shabbat, Festivals, Rosh Chodesh, the series of passages beginning with HaRachaman, prefaces for weddings, brit milah, etc., were also added according to different customs.
The first to fulfill the mitzvah of Birkat HaMazon, according to our Sages, was Avraham Avinu. In Be’er Sheva, Avraham established an inn in order to spread Hashem’s message in the world and make converts. When a hungry traveler was offered a free meal, he would willingly accept.
After the meal, Avraham asked the guest to thank Hashem for the food. If he refused, he had to pay the full cost of the meal. It is not hard to figure out which option most chose. This prompted them to ask, “Who is this G-d you speak of?” and Avraham would explain: “The Creator of heaven and earth, the One who is responsible for the rain that makes the seed grow into our food.”
Sarah Imeinu would similarly teach the women. The text of Birkat HaMazon before Moshe Rabbeinu was different, but the essence was the same – thanking G-d for the food you had just eaten.
The Sages and commentators go to great lengths to emphasize the importance and awesome power of Birkat HaMazon.
Birkat HaMazon is one of the few mitzvot directly from the Torah that we have the privilege of fulfilling every day, sometimes more than once a day.
In the entire Birkat HaMazon, there is not one occurrence of the Hebrew letter “peh” at the end of a word. The reason it is absent (Rokeach 337, Tashbetz 315) is that the angels of destruction have names ending with this letter (Af, Shetzef, Ketzef, Anaf, Za’af, Negef, Reshef). According to the Mateh Moshe, the angel of death has no control over a person while he/she is saying Birkat HaMazon.
Someone who fulfills the mitzvah of Birkat HaMazon the correct way merits longevity (R’ Haim Palachi, Kol HaChaim) and good health (Maor VaShemesh).
The Sefer Hachinuch adds that someone who observes the mitzvah of Birkat HaMazon the correct way will merit livelihood with honor their entire life (from the verse in Proverbs 10:22).
The Maharsha says that providing a livelihood for a person is as difficult for Hashem as splitting the Red Sea because we all have prosecuting angels in Heaven and they pop up when Hashem wants to heap His abundance on us and they provide myriad reasons why He should not do so. Birkat HaMazon neutralizes these prosecutors.
The correct way of reciting Birkat HaMazon is:
- sitting down
- suitably attired
- without distractions
- with awe and reverence
- reading it from a written text
- saying it aloud
- with joy and singing
The Chassid Ya’avetz criticizes all those who invest lots of time and effort in preparing and eating/enjoying the food but not in saying Birkat HaMazon with the reverence it deserves.
With promises like that – guaranteed longevity, excellent health, livelihood and wealth – who wouldn’t want to bend over backward to fulfill this mitzvah the correct way as often as we possibly can? All it requires is for us to disconnect from everything else for seven minutes a day – no cell phones, no thoughts about anything except reading and singing Birkat HaMazon out loud with joy and in true appreciation for the meal we just ate.
Parshat HaShavua Trivia Question: What word is used for dates in the list of the Seven Species in the parsha?
Answer to Last Week’s Trivia Question: How many times did Moshe plead with Hashem to be allowed into the Land of Israel? According to our Sages, 515 times – the gematria of Va’Etchanan.
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