The Blessing for What Goes Into our Food
讘诪讚讘专 专讘讛 (讜讬诇谞讗) 驻专砖讛 讻讙
讻讬 讗转诐 讘讗讬诐 讗诇 讗专抓 讻谞注谉 讛诇讻讛 注讚 砖诇讗 谞讻谞住讜 诇讗专抓 讻讬爪讚 讛讬讜 诪讘专讻讬谉 注诇 讛诪讝讜谉 砖谞讜 专讘讜转讬谞讜 注讚 砖诇讗 谞讻谞住讜 诇讗”讬 讛讬讜 诪讘专讻讬谉 讘专讻讛 讗’ 讛讝谉 讗转 讛讻诇 诪砖谞讻谞住讜 诇讗”讬 讛讬讜 诪讘专讻讬谉 注诇 讛讗专抓 讜注诇 讛诪讝讜谉 诪砖讞专讘讛 讛讜住讬驻讜 讘讜谞讛 讬专讜砖诇讬诐 诪砖谞拽讘专讜 讛专讜讙讬 讘讬转专 讛讜住讬驻讜 讛讟讜讘 讜讛诪讟讬讘 讛讟讜讘 砖诇讗 讛住专讬讞讜 讜讛诪讟讬讘 砖谞转谞讜 诇拽讘讜专讛
Numbers Rabbah 23
鈥淲hen you enter the land of Canaan鈥� (Numbers 34:2) Before they entered the Land, what blessing did they say after meals? Our Rabbis taught: Before they entered the Land of Israel they used to recite one blessing, viz., 鈥淲ho feeds all.鈥� When they entered the Land of Israel they recited also the blessing, 鈥淔or the land and for the food.鈥� When the Land was destroyed they added the blessing, 鈥淲ho rebuilds Jerusalem.鈥� When the people slain at Betar (during the Bar Kochba revolt, 132鈥�135 CE) were given burial the blessing, 鈥淲ho is good and does good鈥� was added, 鈥淲ho is good鈥� being said because the bodies did not decay and 鈥淲ho does good鈥� because they were given burial.
Are blessings over food spontaneous or rote? Do we bless our food out of gratitude for nourishment鈥攐r do we use the moments surrounding that most basic animal act of eating for spiritual uplift?
The midrash invites us to see that we are not just blessing our food. Indeed there is a stark difference between the blessings before the meal鈥攊n which we focus on what is on our plates鈥攁nd the blessings recited afterward, which as the midrash suggests have very little to do with eating. The first blessing, over 鈥淕od Who feeds all,鈥� should be enough. But as history marched on, generations felt the need to add to that blessing, to use the excuse of mealtime as the jumping-off point for a spiritual check-in. Layer upon layer, our liturgy grows.
So too at the personal level: the midrash invites us to thank the God who feeds all, and then to layer upon that blessing other ideas, ultimately arriving at a place where we can bless God who is good even during our darkest moments. For a time my own practice was to bless 鈥淕od Who feeds all鈥� and then move backward through the food production cycle, offering thanks for each of the miracles that is eating in contemporary America: the body to digest the food; the money with which to purchase the food; the cafeteria workers or restaurant staff or family members who prepared the food for me; the blessing of living in an economy, in a time and place and country, in which food is abundant on the shelves of stores; giving thanks for those whose business it is to provide the food to the stores, the truck drivers and supermarket staff; the construction workers who kept the highways clear so food can be shipped; the farmers and farm workers; and behind all of it, the Creator God. At other times, the liturgically prescribed food blessings have been the very dear: during the stark years of motherhood when my own davening time was nil, I found that the blessings around meals were the few regular blessings I uttered. What this midrash opens up for us is the possibility of using the moment of eating as a moment of spiritual check-in; that we use it as a moment to layer upon layer our own sense of blessedness precisely at the time our bodies are satiated.
