A State of Grace – Eikev
וזכרת את כל הדרך אשר הליכך ה' א-לקיך זה ארבעים שנה במדבר למען ענתך לנסתך לדעת את אשר בלבבך התשמר מצותו אם לא. ויענך וירעבך ויאכלך את המן אשר לא ידעת ולא ידעון אבתיך למען הודעך כי לא על הלחם לבדו יחיה האדם כי על כל מוצא פי ה' יחיה האדם (דברים ח, ב-ג).
In the 40th year in the Midbar, before entering Eretz Yisrael, Moshe reminds Am Yisrael of our journey in the desert, how Hashem tortured us and starved us and fed us the Mann that we had never encountered before.
Tortured us? Starved us? I certainly do not remember that part. When one thinks of the 40 years in the Midbar, it conjures up idyllic, romantic visions of something resembling Gan Eden – Clouds of Glory covering us, protecting us, laundering our clothes, Mann, miraculous food from Heaven that could taste like anything you imagined it to be. If that is torture, starvation, then I’ll have a second helping please! This is precisely why the ten spies did not want to enter Eretz Yisrael!
כי ה' א-לקיך מביאך אל ארץ טובה ארץ נחלי מים עינת ותהמת יצאים בבקעה ובהר. ארץ חטה ושערה וגפן ותאנה ורמון ארץ זית שמן ודבש. ארץ אשר לא במסכנת תאכל בה לחם לא תחסר כל בה ארץ אשר אבניה ברזל ומהרריה תחצב נחשת. ואכלת ושבעת וברכת את ה' א-לקיך על הארץ הטבה אשר נתן לך (שם, ז-י).
Moshe continues by exalting the beauty of Eretz Yisrael. It is a land with flowing rivers and bubbling springs, valleys and mountains. It sounds a little like Moshe is describing …. Switzerland. The Seven Species, wheat, barley, grapes, figs, pomegranates, olives and dates – a veritable paradise.
I live in Israel. I know a little about the tourist attractions available. Where are these numerous flowing rivers and bubbling springs Moshe was describing? Yes we have the Jordan, the Dan, the Yarkon, but with all due respect they look a little like something a landscape gardener put together, they are not exactly major rivers, like the Rhine for example (where they recently had floods), rivers of a magnitude that be seen from a plane 30,000m in the sky. Springs? Yes we have the Banyas up north, but again it is not such an extraordinary sight to behold, a little 1X1m fountain bubbling from the ground. The Seven Species? We would be more likely to find them in Turkey than in Israel today. In fact modern day Tu Bishvat celebrations are more like paying homage and celebrating the fruits of Ankara and Istanbul than the Galil and the Jordan Valley.
In this week’s shiur I would like to focus on the mitzvah of Birkat Hamazon. It is based on a shiur, one of the best I have ever heard, by HaRav Baruch Rosenblum שליט"א of Bnei Brak and amazingly (and heartwarmingly) correlates almost 1:1 with my own research into the Lechem Hapanim which deals with a parallel principle.
Birkat Hamazon is the only bracha that is מדאורייתא (some opinions say also Birkot Hatorah), all the others are מדרבנן.
"ואכלת ושבעת וברכת את ה' א-לקיך על הארץ הטבה אשר נתן לך".
תנו רבנן מנין לברכת המזון מן התורה שנאמר ואכלת ושבעת וברכת זו ברכת הזן, את ה' א-לקיך זו ברכת הזמון, על הארץ זו ברכת הארץ, הטובה זו בונה ירושלים וכן הוא אומר ההר הטוב הזה והלבנון, אשר נתן לך זו הטוב והמטיב (ברכות מח, ע"ב).
The nusach we have for Birkat Hamazon today is a cumulative effort. The Gemara says that Moshe Rabbeinu instituted the first bracha "הזן" when they first received the Mann. Yeshoshua added the second bracha "הארץ" when they entered Eretz Yisrael. David Hamelech added "על ישראל עמך ועל ירושלים עירך". Shlomo Hamelech added "על הבית הגדול והקדוש". In Yavneh they added "הטוב והמטיב" in memory of those killed in Beitar. In the centuries that followed, piyutim for Shabbat, Chagim, Rosh Chodesh, the series of הרחמן, weddings, brit milah, etc. were also added, according to the minhagim of the different eidot.
The first to fulfill the mitzvah of Birkat Hamazon, according to Chazal was Avraham Avinu. Avraham established an אשל – an inn, in Be’er Sheva for the purpose of spreading HKB”H’s message in the world and converting converts. When a hungry traveller was offered a free meal and drink, he would willingly accept. After the meal, Avraham asked the guest to thank HKB”H 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 HKB”H?” and Avraham would explain – “The Creator of heaven and earth, the One who is responsible for the rain that made the seed grow, from which the food came from”. Sarah Imeinu would similarly teach the women. Obviously the nusach of Birkat Hamazon prior to Moshe Rabbeinu was different, but the essence was the same – thanking G-d for the food you had just eaten.
Chazal and the Mefarshim go to great lengths to emphasize the importance and awesome power of Birkat Hamazon.
Birkat Hamazon is one of the few mitzvot דאורייתא 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 letter peh sofit – ף. The reason it is absent (רוקח, שלז; תשב"ץ, שטו) is because the מלאכי חבלה have names ending with ף - (אף, שצף, קצף, ענף, זעף, נגף, רשף). According to the Mefarshim, the מלאך המוות has no control over a person while he/she is saying Birkat Hamazon (מטה משה).
Someone who fulfills the mitzvah of Birkat Hamazon the correct way merits longevity (הרב חיים פלאג'י, כל החיים) and good health (מאור ושמש).
The Sefer Hachinuch (מצוה תל - "פרנקרפורט", תכח – "ויניציה") adds that someone who fulfills the mitzvah of Birkat Hamazon the correct way will merit parnasa with כבוד their whole life, from the passuk ברכת ה' היא תעשיר (משלי י,כב). The Maharsha says that providing parnasa for a person is as difficult for HKB”H as קריעת ים סוף because we all have מקטרגים and they pop up when HKB”H wants to heap His שפע on us and provide Him myriad reasons why not to give it to us. Birkat Hamazon neutralizes the מלאכי חבלה.
The correct way of reciting Birkat Hamazon is -
The חסיד יעבץ, 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, parnasa and wealth, it is unfathomable why most of us (me included), do not bend over backwards to make sure we fulfill this mitzvah the correct way, as often as we possibly can. The reality is unfortunately that very few of us do. I am not talking about those people who do not say Birkat Hamazon at all, I am talking about those of us that do!
Before I address the root of the problem, I would like to backtrack a little to try answer some of the questions from the beginning of the shiur and develop the principle that is the raison d’etre behind Birkat Hamazon, embedded in which we find - the solution to the problem.
Moshe Rabbeinu says that HKB”H “tortured” us and “starved” us in the Midbar. This obviously was untrue, quite the opposite, Am Yisrael were pampered and well fed. So what is Moshe referring to?
The ראש and the דעת זקנים explain what it means by ויענך – torture. Today most of us have fridges and freezers, with frozen chicken, fish, bread, pizza, milk, cheese, vegetables, fruit, etc. We have pantries with cans of tuna, pickles, bags of flour, sugar, rice, etc. If chas vechalila there was an apocalyptic event, most of us would have enough food to survive for at least a week (more if we rationed). Am Yisrael in the Midbar never had that. They had food just enough for that day (and on Friday enough also for Shabbat). There were no pantries, no freezers, no fridges. Even if you did try store food, it became worm ridden the same night. Am Yisrael went to sleep every night not knowing what was going to be tomorrow! Will there be Mann, won’t there be Mann? HKB”H demanded from Am Yisrael in the Midbar a degree of emunah that involved no small measure of “torture”.
The חיד"א explains what it means by וירעבך - starving. Prior to receiving the Mann, Am Yisrael in Egypt were accustomed to eating regular food, cucumbers, melons, fish, meat, bread, etc. Suddenly they go outside their tent and what do they find? a jar with one omer of Mann, which looks like white coriander seeds. Very soon they discover that it is miraculous and can taste like anything you want it to, hamburgers, pizza, T-bone steak, Caesar salad - all you have to do is imagine it and SHAZZAM! that’s what it tastes like. There was only one problem. When we say in Birkat Hamazon הזן את העולם כלו בטובו בחן בחסד וברחמים, what does that mean בחן? Ever been to a supermarket, the produce section? There are green apples, red apples, yellow apples, watermelon with dark green skins and dark red centers, pear shaped avocados, round oranges, oval lemons, yellow U-shaped bananas, clusters of grapes, red radishes, green cucumbers, purple eggplant – it is a feast for the eyes! When you go on vacation in a hotel, the buffet is deliciously arranged on platters, with the vegetables sliced in zigzags, like stars, the desserts, layered cakes with cherries, icing, apricot glaze, cream. Just looking at all of that - makes you full. Yes, the Mann could taste like all of that, watermelon flavored white seeds, goose liver pate flavored white seeds - but it always looked like white coriander seeds! Am Yisrael were deprived of the visual stimulus of their food in the Midbar, because HKB”H wanted to make them look beyond appearances and recognize the true essence.
The Midbar was a crash course for what would follow in Eretz Yisrael. When Am Yisrael entered Eretz Yisrael, ארץ זבת חלב ודבש – they would enjoy every type of food and abundance, including the visual stimulus, the colors, the textures. But HKB”H wanted them to see beyond that and recognize food for what it really is.
The Ari z”l explains the true essence of food. On the one hand you have the physical food, the skin, the flesh, the bones, the seeds, the 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 HKB”H created it. When He said תוצא הארץ דשא, עשב מזריע זרע, עץ פרי etc. the food was created on His command. Not only during the בריאה but even today, a grape grows on HKB”H’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 only with one part of the equation, we need both to feed our physical bodies and our spiritual neshama-
כי לא על הלחם לבדו יחיה האדם כי על כל מוצא פי ה' יחיה האדם
HKB”H taught this lesson to Am Yisrael using the Mann, so that when they finally entered Eretz Yisrael they would take this lesson with them for ever more.
The Mefarshim say that before the churban, Eretz Yisrael was like Switzerland, like New Zealand, like Scotland and all the other countries that are known today for their natural beauty and abundance. When Am Yisrael went into galut, the natural beauty and abundance that was in Eretz Yisrael departed with them and was transferred to the lands they were exiled to. When the Mashiach comes, this natural beauty and abundance will return to Eretz Yisrael and will again resemble the paradise Moshe was describing and that Am Yisrael enjoyed for almost 1000 years before churban Bayit Sheini. We will each have a bubbling spring of sparkling mineral water in our back yard and the figs will be grown in Israel, not Turkey and will not have bugs.
But all these things are only the outer “shell”. We have to recognize the essence and the inner spirituality in the view and in the food. This is what Birkat Hamazon (and all the birkot hanehenin) is all about. It is applying the lesson that HKB”H taught Am Yisrael in the Midbar with the Mann. From ויענך וירעבך comes ואכלת ושבעת וברכת.
This incidentally is encapsulated in the Korban Lechem Hapanim that combines the physical bread eaten by the Kohanim and the spiritual burning of the levonah to give thanks to HKB”H. It is a lesson in understanding the essence of food, since the bread itself, its shape, quantity, ingredients, etc. embody both a physical element and a spiritual element.
Getting back to the mitzvah of Birkat Hamazon and the reason so few of us fulfill it correctly –
It is all very well to say Birkat Hamazon on Shabbat, taking your time, singing and going the whole nine yards, with the whole family around the table. However during the week most of us do not have the time or the yishuv hada’at to fulfill Birkat Hamazon adequately. We have other things on our minds and are easily distracted. This is a malady that affects not only Birkat Hamazon, but tfila in shul. Most of the time instead of having kavanah what we are saying, we are thinking about our appointment with the doctor, the 8am bus we have to catch, the report that we have to complete by the end of the week, etc. We are physically present, but our attention is elsewhere.
Part of it is about priorities. For example we have a 30 minute lunch break, of which we allocate 27 minutes to enjoying our meal and schmoozing with our colleagues and 3 minutes to Birkat Hamazon.
Part of it is about not understanding the reality. The crispy schnitzel we just enjoyed with French fries and salad, was not “created” in the company kitchen, nor in the food company that manufactured the ready-made frozen schnitzels, nor by the farmer who grew the chicken, nor by the farmer who grew the vegetables for the fries and the salad. Food just appears on our plate and we haven’t got the slightest clue where it really came from and how, or we are simply not interested. More than any time in history we are today – totally disconnected from our true food chain.
When do we become interested? when we suddenly lose it. When we are fired from our job, when a natural disaster destroys all the agricultural crops in the country - then we suddenly find the time to daven with lots of kavanah to ask HKB”H for ישועה and then if we are blessed and are redeemed, we invest more in giving thanks for what we have.
HKB”H taught us this lesson in the Midbar – focus on the true essence and show gratitude to HKB”H at the same time enjoying the physical, thereby nourishing your body and neshama simultaneously.
If someone offered you a “get–rich” or “get-healthy” quick scheme that all you needed to do was to invest 7 minutes of your day, that’s it! 7 minutes out of 24 hours! And all you had to do in those 7 minutes was to totally focus on one thing and one thing only, without distractions and truly give thanks with all your heart and soul. Seven minutes out of your day and you are ensured health and wealth, not from some shyster con artist, but from HKB”H Himself and taught by Gedolei Yisrael throughout the generations.
We are fast approaching Chodesh Elul. We are looking for things to fix in ourselves that are feasible and within our reach (actually anything is within our reach if we try hard enough). This should be on the top of everyone’s Elul to-do-tshuva list. With a little effort we can be perfectionists in Birkat Hamazon, not only because we will personally benefit from it (אל תהיו כעבדים המשמשין את הרב על מנת לקבל פרס), but simply because HKB”H told us so, out of love for Him.
All it requires is for us to disconnect from everything else for seven minutes a day – no cell phones, no kids in the background, no thoughts about anything else except reading and singing Birkat Hamazon out loud with joy and in true appreciation for the meal we just ate.
