The Blessing After a Meal

Bentching? What does lifting weights have to do with eating and praying? Learn the secrets of the blessing after a meal. Click here to read more.

Bentching - the Secret of Cake

Do you know what bentching is? It doesn’t mean that you have to lift weights when you pray. Bentching is a fancy name for the “Blessing After a Meal.” It is a mitzvah to say a blessing after you finish eating.

Eating is great – especially when you eat a big fat meal with bread, meat, vegetables, and dessert – and most people forget that eating is spiritual.

Really? Eating is spiritual?

Yes. Most people think that spirituality means fasting (anti-eating), praying, and meditating. And it is true. Fasting, praying, and meditating are spiritual.

But so is eating.

Eating a good meal – and really enjoying it – is one of the most spiritual things you can do. Spirituality is about getting closer to God. Enjoying God’s world – being aware of the blessing of His world – is one of the best ways to get close to Him. There are other ways, too. But can you think of anything better than eating a big, fat, juicy, amazing meal and enjoying it? I can’t.

But it isn’t easy. Sometimes the food is so good – or you are so hungry – that you only think about the eating and enjoying and forget about God and spirituality.

And that is the reason for bentching.

When you say a blessing after a meal, you take a moment to reflect and say, “Wow. I just had this amazing experience like eating. I just had cake. I just ate a hot dog. I love broccoli. And isn’t it great that I can live in a world where I can have pleasures like cake, hot dogs, and broccoli?”

Bentching forces you to remember that eating is spiritual too. Eating is as important as praying and fasting. For some people, it is probably more important.

So don’t forget to eat. Don’t forget to enjoy what you eat. Don’t forget that eating is a spiritual experience.

But if you do, don’t worry. The blessing after the meal will remind you.

Blessings in Depth (posted by Sam)

In an earlier post, the Big Elephant introduced the idea of blessings. Here is the concept in more detail.

In Jewish life we are asked to say lots of brachos, blessings. For example, we say blessings before we eat; and these are very specific blessings (the Hebrew name for each blessing is in parentheses): One for fruit (ha’eitz), one for vegetables (ha’adama), one for cookies (mezonos), another for beverages (sh’hakol), and so on. There is also a blessing to be said after going to the bathroom, before smelling a rose bush, after one hears a loud clap of thunder, when one sees an unusually beautiful person, when one meets an exceptionally wise person, and at a marriage ceremony, to name just a few. The concept of verbally reciting blessings is prominent in Jewish life and is meant to make an indelible impact on our consciousness.

In Hebrew the word for blessing, brachah, is closely related to the word breichah, which means, a natural spring of water. A free-flowing spring of fresh, life giving waters is the Jewish image of a blessing. In many ways it is also the Jewish image of life.

The purpose of blessings is to call our attention to spiritually dramatic moments and experiences that often get overlooked.

When one sees a flash of lightning illuminate the sky the blessing to be recited is; Blessed are You God, Sovereign of the universe, Who constantly renews creation. Blessings are tools designed to enable us to truly see the wonders that are all around us. At the same time, in fact, there are not blessings for most of what we do in life. There is no blessing before you work in your garden, buy a card for an ailing friend, make lunch for your kids, or put your glasses on (although there is one for putting your shoes on).

The blessings that we do say are there to sensitize us to the fact that much of what we do is a blessing. In being directed to say some blessings, we are being guided to notice all blessings.

Here are the basics. How to say blessings:

Source in the Torah: “And when you eat and are filled, then you will bless G-d your Lord for the good land that He gave you.” (Deuteronomy 8:10)

Basic Ideas:

• Some blessings are said before we eat. These are called a bracha rishona.
• Some blessings are said after we eat. These are called a bracha achrona.
• Thank you God! It’s easy to just dig in to good food without thinking about where it comes from. Blessings remind us that without God, there would be no food to eat.

Let’s do it:

Bracha rishona, before eating:

• Different foods have different blessings: For fruit, the blessing is ha’eitz; for vegetables, it’s ha’adama; for cookies it’s mezonos. These are a few examples. Have fun learning all the blessings and matching them with your favorite foods.
• Remember, before taking the first bite of any food, make a bracha.

Bracha achrona, after eating:

• Different foods also have different after blessings: For fruit, vegetables, and lots of other stuff, it’s borai nefashos: for cookies, pasta, and other baked foods, it’s al ha’michiya.
• There is a special blessing for certain fruits that grow in Israel, like grapes, olives, and others.
• Birkas Hamazon is the blessing said after eating bread.
• Even if your main course is something like spaghetti or a steak, if you also ate bread, then you say Birkas HaMazon.

Did you know?

Abraham and Sarah used to invite many guests into their tent for a meal. After eating, they would remind their guests that food is a blessing from God. Then, they would all thank God.

Blessings and Beautiful People

What is a blessing?

A blessing is something you say every time you witness or experience an incredible event.

• If you see lightening or hear thunder, you say a blessing.
• If you see a rainbow, you say a blessing.
• If you see a comet or the ocean, you say a blessing.
• If you eat or drink something, you say a blessing.
• When you get up in the morning, you say a blessing.
• When you go to the bathroom you say a blessing.
• If you see a friend for the first time in a long time, you say a blessing.

If you see an exceptionally beautiful person – like when you see me – you say a blessing.

And the list goes on and on.

That is a lot of blessings. Why do you need to say so many?

Here is a very heavy idea: God made the world. He created it from scratch. And because he made it, everything in it belongs to him. It is his world. But – and this is cool – when you say a blessing, the thing you bless becomes yours.

How does that work?

All blessings follow a simple formula. They all start the same way. All blessings start:

Baruch atoh: Blessed are you oh Lord…

Have you heard that before? I am sure you have.

The only problem is, that is not what the words really mean.

Think about it. Blessed? How can God be blessed? That is a silly thing to say. It doesn’t mean anything.

Take a look at a blessing in Hebrew.

It says, Baruch, Atoh…

It doesn’t mean that God is blessed. What the Hebrew words mean is that God is the source of all blessings.

Ah.

Now that is cool. When you say a blessing, what you are really doing is acknowledging that the thing – the comet, the rainbow, the meal, the experience, or whatever – is coming from God. God is the source. He made it happen. He made the event or experience possible.

Neat. But why do you have to say a blessing?

Let me give you an example.

Pretend that you really want a new bike. Like you really want one. And one day your grandma buys you one. You come home from school and there it is – wow – a brand new bike. And you are so excited that you put it together and ride it around all day.

How does your grandmother feel? She is thrilled. She kvels. She watches you. She smiles. She loves it. And she gets so much joy because you are happy. Your joy is thanks enough. And really, that is enough for her.

But is it really enough?

No way. You know it isn’t. You have to do something first. What is that?

You have to say the magic words. You have to say, “Thank you grandma.” You can’t just take your new bike and leave. (You probably have to kiss her too.)

Why?

Does grandma want to be paid? Is that why she bought the bike? Was it a trick, a ploy, a scam, a rouse? Is grandma a shrewd manipulator? Is grandma an operator? Did she buy the bike to make you say thank you?

No. And that is silly. The truth is like I said: grandma is happy because you are happy. She really is. So why do you have to say thank you? It isn’t for her. She doesn’t have to hear it.

You have to say thank you for you. It is for you. You need to say it.

When you say thank you, you acknowledge that your new bike didn’t just fall from the sky. You have a new bike because grandma thought about you. And she loves you. And she wants to give you things. And you realize – even if it is just for a second – that grandma is the one who made you happy.

And that is the reason you say blessings. God made a big, fat, amazing, wonderful, fantastic, beautiful world. And He gave it to you. He wants you to live here. And He wants you to enjoy it. And if you do enjoy it – that is enough. God is just like your grandma. He gets so much joy when you are happy. He loves it. He made this world for you to enjoy. And he loves it when you do.

God doesn’t need your blessing.

But you do.

Every time you say a blessing you realize – even if it is just for a second – that God is the one who made you happy. He is the one who gives you everything.

And all that cool stuff that you see – like rainbows, comets, food, and beautiful people – he put them in this world for you to enjoy. And when you say the blessing you realize just how much God loves you, how much he gives you, and how much he helps you. And you feel special and amazing and loved.

And that is the point. Every blessing reminds you that this incredible world was created just for you.

So enjoy it. And say blessings.