Bread, Blessing and Birkat (8/15/14)
Bread, Blessing and Birkat
Rabbi Amy R. Perlin, D.D. 8/15/14
New Adult Ed/LIFE year begins: Food for Thought
Parashat Ekev contains the reason we Jews have Birkat HaMazon
“Dt. 8:10 “When you have eaten your fill, give thanks to Adonai, your God, for the good land that God has given you.”
This is the basis for the Birkat Hamazon, the traditional grace after meals in Judaism.
Motzi was added after the Talmud instituted Grace after Meals, they became bookends of Thanksgiving.
Why are Jews taught to give thanks?
Talmud Brachot 35a: “it is forbidden to enjoy the fruits of this world without pronouncing a blessing.”
Blessings before and after our food:
1- To connect us to God (Drash on Hamotzi= God doesn’t actually pull bread out of the earth, but in a spiritual way God does.)
2-Transform feeding our faces from an act of physical need or gluttony to a religious and holy experience.
3- Remind us of our interdependence with other people who provide the food on our tables.
4- Remind us to look beyond ourselves to our world…to those who are hungry. The blessings are not for us alone, so we must make it possible for others to have those blessings. There is enough food on this planet. We just don’t work to distribute it fairly.
Most of us, myself included rarely say Birkat Hamazon outside of summer camps and TBS Shabbat dinners. Some of us try to remember to say Motzi, even when we aren’t here on Friday nights.
So what can we do?:
1-Take a moment to be grateful for your food/with motzi or even Birkat HaMazon
2-Make eating a holy experience… not fast food or rushed meals, no technology at the table, sit and eat with others. Slow down. We get sick when we gulp too much air with our food or forget to really chew.
3-For those with stomach conditions and special dietary constraints, be thankful that there is some form of sustenance that can enable you to live a healthy life, even if it means not eating things you might love.
4-Appreciate and consider the farmers and all the people who make your food possible.
5-Advocate against the growing hunger in America.
6-Live our portion:
“Dt. 8:10 “When you have eaten your fill, give thanks to Adonai, your God, for the good land that God has given you.”