July 2023
We have brachot/blessings for different kinds of foods: those that come from trees, from the ground (as in vegetables), liquids, dairy, eggs and meats, bread and baked goods other than bread. Some months ago, we looked at the “shehakol” bracha, the one that covers anything that isn’t tree-grown, ground-grown, bread or baked goods.
This time, it’s about bread, לֶחֶם lechem.
Torah tells us to thank Adonai for the food we’ve eaten after we are sated. That led to birkat hamazon, our encyclopedic prayer of gratitude recited after a meal that includes bread. Shorter blessings cover less “full” meals.
The sages gave us brachot to recite before eating. Perhaps they knew that, having eaten, we would be in a hurry to move on to our next thing or things and not take the time to follow the Torah dictate. Also, reciting a bracha each time before eating even a wee snack helps keep us mindful of our place in the universe, that, for sustenance, we are dependent on myriad things that we did not invent and sometimes cannot control.
Before eating bread, we recite a specific bracha through which we appreciate that Adonai “brings bread forth from the earth.”
בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יי אֱ׳לֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם הַמּוֹצִיא לֶחֶם מִן הָאָרֶץ
baruch atta adonai eloheinu melech ha’olam hamotzi lechem min ha’aretz
Praised are You Adonai our God, Sovereign of all there is, who brings bread forth from the earth.
Last I looked, loaves of bread were not hanging from trees, nor were they taking over the garden on vines like the zucchini. So why this wording?
Perhaps we are to be reminded that this staple food is not as simple as farm-to-table; rather, it is the product of a partnership (unequal as it may be) between Adonai and us. God created the earth, sun, water and wheat stalk. With our God-given curiosity and smarts, we figured out how to turn the stalk’s hard little seeds into bagels and baguettes, pita and pumpernickel, soda bread and sourdough. Great teamwork, no?!
בְּתֵּאָבוֹן b’teiavon / bon appetite / enjoy !
Okay, you’ve had a snack or a salad, you’re in a hurry, you want to say thanks to the Ultimate Provider. Here’s a brief bracha that fits the bill:
בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יי אֱ׳לֹהֵינוּ בּוֹרֵא נְפָשׁוֹת רַבּוֹת וְחֶסְרוֹנָן עַל כָּל מַה שֶּׁבָּרָאתָ לְהַחֲיוֹת בָּהֶם נֶפֶשׁ כָּל-חָי. בָּרוּךְ חֵי הָעוֹלָמִים
Baruch atta adonai eloheinu melech ha’olam borei nefashot rabbot v’chesronan al kol ma shebarata l’hachayot ba’hem nefesh kol chai. Baruch chei ha’olamim.
Praised are You Adonai our God, Sovereign of all existence, Creator of myriad beings and what they need to be complete, to meet the needs of all creatures and sustain in them the breath of life. Blessed is the Sustainer of all worlds.
To me, the beauty of this bracha is in acknowledging Adonai’s prodigious imagination at creating so many different living things and foods for them all, including us. (Of course, many are sustenance for others!)
In rabbinic literature, there is some debate about the authorship of the coda. The short of it is that the source is not clear, but better to include it anyway — couldn’t hurt! We can see the two-part bracha as first recognizing what God has done, i.e., nature, then hoping God will continue sustaining all life forever.
We might also see this bracha as an admission (and apology) that we humans, in our profligate exploitation of God’s world, are messing up the sensitively calibrated balance of life on this planet. May we recite this bracha often, always take it to heart, and do what we can to preserve God’s work since we can’t replicate it.