Blessings After Food

CONCLUDING BERAKHA

 

Rav Ganzfried explicates when a blessing, and which blessing is required AFTER eating food.  In chapter 45 we learned about the Torah-mandated grace after meals, which is recited after a bread meal.  In this chapter the Kitzur explains the other two after-blessings:

 

1.  The blessing "me-ein shalosh" - "like the three [main benedictions of the grace after meals]."  As Rav Ganzfried points out in seif 7, this blessing is a kind of condensation of the regular grace.  It is said after eating of the seven species of fruit and grains which are specially mentioned in the Torah as the praise of the land of Israel.  The berakha is slightly different depending on whether it is said on baked goods, wine, or fruits.

 

2.  On all other foods, we say a short berakha, "borei nefashot."

 

BOREI NEFASHOT

 

This is the blessing said after all foods besides bread and wheat products and the five fruits (grapes, dates, figs, olives, pomegranates).  The wording of the blessing thanks Hashem "Who creates many souls and their deficiency; and everything He created, in order to enliven all living things.  Blessed is the Life of the Worlds."

 

Rav Ganzfried (basing himself on the Rishonim - see Tur Orach Chaim 207) explains that this berakha consists of three distinct parts, almost like three separate blessings:

 

FIRST, we acknowledge that Hashem provides the needs of all souls, of everything He created.  "Who creates many souls and [fills] their deficiency," that is, provides for their needs.

 

SECOND, we thank Him for EVERYTHING He created in order to enliven us.  This includes enjoyments which are not in the category of a need or lack, but rather are pleasures which enliven us.  "And [for] everything He created, in order to enliven all living things."

 

Finally, we acknowledge that Hashem is the "life of the worlds."

 

The first section, as we have translated it, seems straightforward.  After we have eaten, we thank God for having provided for our needs and by extension, for providing the needs of all His creatures.  But there are more subtle connotations. 

 

First of all, the wording of the phrase suggests that the main praise we are offering Hashem is that He has created "many souls." Without the additional word "and their deficiency," we would think that these "souls" refer to the food for which we are giving thanks!

 

Indeed, according to the Yerushalmi the body of this blessing says merely: "Who creates many souls in order to enliven the soul of every living thing." Here it seems clear that the term "nefashot" or souls refers to the food we eat.  According to the Yerushalmi's wording, the blessing explicitly refers to the hidden spirituality present in all permissible pleasures of this world; and even the customary wording IMPLICITLY hints at this spirituality and soulfulness.

 

Secondly, the plain sense of the berakha suggests that we are thanking God for our deficiencies! We INTERPRETED this as thanks for FILLING deficiency.  Yet the concepts are related, for we get a sense of satisfaction from eating only because we feel hunger.  And on the spiritual level, we are able to assimilate and absorb the "souls" of the permitted food only because they correspond to a particular spiritual hunger which we have exactly because of our "deficiency" - which is just another way of saying a potential for growth.

 

The second part of the berakha continues in the same vein, referring to the ability of God's creation to enliven and invigorate us spiritually - to enliven the SOUL of all living things.  Again, the emphasis is on the ability of MATERIAL pleasures to provide SPIRITUAL sustenance.

 

The closing of the blessing refers to Hashem as "the life of the worlds." In the Zohar, this particular appellation refers to that aspect of God's providence which provides an interface between the material and the spiritual worlds.  It is through this interface that the material world is enlivened, for without spiritual force from on high the world would wither instantly.

 

Paradoxically, this interface also enlivens the upper, spiritual worlds! Their light is meant to illuminate the lower worlds; when the door is open to this illumination then this Divine light is stimulated and augmented.  So this interface is indeed the life of the WORLDS - the spiritual and material worlds alike.  This is an appropriate closing for a blessing which refers to the presence of God's spirit in the seemingly base elements of our material enjoyments.

 

Let us construct a complete picture of the spiritual journey involved in kosher eating.  Before drinking a glass of milk, we say a benediction which acknowledges that this milk belongs to God, that it has latent sanctity.  Drinking the milk provides us with a bodily pleasure; but this bodily pleasure is meant to parallel a kind of spiritual fulfillment.  This is recognized in the final blessing, which acknowledges the surge of life we feel as our own souls encounter the complementary hidden souls in our food.  We are then able to bless God for making our simple snack into a unique interface between the material and the divine.

 

"THE SIZE OF AN OLIVE" (Seifim 2-6)

 

Rav Ganzfried explains that a final blessing on food is required only if we have eaten a quantity of a "kazayit" - approximately the size of an olive.  Whereas the blessing before eating is on "enjoyment" (hanaah), the blessing after eating is on "eating." In general, acts in halakha have minimum measures, and the measure of eating is a "kazayit." One who consumes less than this amount is not liable to punishment or sacrifice for any Torah prohibition on eating (such as milk and meat), and has not fulfilled any Torah requirement for eating (such as matza on Pesach).

 

This fits in with what we just said.  Saying the first berakha is a way of permitting the food by acknowledging that it is God's (and implicitly, Godly); this is required on any quantity, just as one may not steal even a small amount.  The blessing after eating is meant to recognize the impact the food has made on me - it has enlivened and sustained me both physically and spiritually.  A certain minimum amount of food is needed to create such an impact.

 

In seif 14 Rav Ganzfried rules that if enough time passes that the food is digested and I'm hungry again, it is too late to say the final berakha.  The impact of the food has worn off - there is no longer a consciousness of the food having filled my lack.

 

According to accepted practice, the "olive" in question is quite a large one, nearly a fluid ounce.  The Talmud (Berakhot 41b) connects this measure of an "olive" with the fact that the olive is one of the fruits which are the "praises of the Land of Israel." So perhaps the incongruous size of the "halakhic" olive is a reminder that the SPIRITUAL blessing of the land of Israel is reflected also in MATERIAL blessing - its fruits have the potential for being especially large and delicious.  (See Bwmbidbar 1:23 and Rashi there.)

 

THE SEVEN SPECIES AND THE LAND OF ISRAEL

 

The Torah praises the land of Israel as "A land of wheat and barley, and grapes and figs and pomegranates; a land of olives and [date] honey." (Devarim 8:8.) These seven kinds of produce are therefore referred to as the "praise of the Land of Israel." These species have special importance in various mitzvot, most notably the mitzva of the first-fruits or "bikkurim" which applies only to these crops.  (Mishna Bikkurim 1:3.)

 

As Rav Ganzfried points out in seif 7, the Torah seems to hint that these varieties merit a special importance in their final blessing.  They require a special long blessing "me-ein shalosh" - "like the three [Torah-mandated blessings]." This benediction is a kind of condensation of the grace after meals (seif 7).

 

Giving these fruits a special status in our blessings is a way of reminding ourselves of the special importance of the land of Israel.  After all, these fruits merit the special blessing only because they are the praise of the Holy Land.  Grapes from France and olives from Italy require this blessing only because the grapes and olives of Israel are so fine.

 

Indeed, this is just an extension of the message of the grace after meals itself.  The Torah tells us,

 

"And you shall eat and be satisfied, and bless Hashem your God for the good land which He has given you" (Devarim 8:10).

 

After a meal in Manhattan, we thank Hashem for giving us the land of Israel!

 

We have explained that berakhot are a way of connecting with the Divine potential in the material world.  Mankind's ability to make this connection began in Eretz Yisrael. 

 

According to Jewish tradition, before the time of Avraham human society was almost entirely pagan.  Avraham came to a recognition of God's existence and presence through what we call today the "argument from design" - it is impossible that this beautiful and complex world came into being by chance - there must be a Creator.  This level of belief doesn't imply any ongoing connection between the Creator and the creation.

 

As a result of this recognition, Avraham merited to receive prophecy from Hashem and to know Him directly.  (Bereshit Rabba beginning of Lekh Lekha).  There is now a connection between man and God, but it is direct, and not mediated through the world.

 

In Egypt and the desert, the Jewish people experienced Hashem's involvement in the natural world through supernatural phenomena, miracles such as the plagues, the splitting of the sea, the falling of the manna, and so on.

 

Only when we entered the Land of Israel did we learn to experience God's providence through the natural, and not the supernatural.  As soon as we entered the land, the manna stopped falling (Yehoshua 5:12).  This doesn't represent a spiritual decline but rather an ascent: in the desert we could connect with God only through the miraculous manna, but here in Eretz Yisrael this connection could be made even through ordinary bread.  (This is similar to our explanation in chapter 35 of the special connection of the mitzva of challah to the land of Israel).

 

The same parsha which commands us to bless the grace after meals describes the Land of Israel as "A land which Hashem your God seeks after; the eyes of Hashem your God are constantly upon it, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year." (Devarim 11:12.)  The Torah then continues with the verses that are familiar to us from the second paragraph of the Shema, telling us that if we do God's will then we will be rewarded with rain and abundance in the land of Israel, whereas if we defy His will the rain will be withheld and the crops will fail.  The Land of Israel is where Divine providence makes itself manifest in everyday existence - and particularly in eating.

 

The Midrash tells us that all other lands receive their providence via the Land of Israel (Sifri on Devarim 11:12; and see Taanit 10a).  This is a mystical principle, but it has a historical parallel: mankind's awareness of God's role and presence in our earthly blessings began in Israel.

 

The special mystical and historical ability of the Land of Israel to make the spiritual manifest in the material is also the reason that the main importance of the mitzvot is in Israel.  (See Rashi and Ramban on Devarim 11:18.)

 

"KUNTRES ACHARON" (ADDENDUM)

 

To deepen our analysis of the blessings on eating and other pleasures, consider the following analogy:

 

It is generally agreed that the pleasure of marital relations is among the greatest human enjoyments.  At the same time, it is a fundamental moral and psychological principle that this pleasure is meaningful only as an expression of the love and commitment between the sides.  Despite what popular literature presents to us, the fact is that very few people cheat on their spouses, even fewer do so just for pleasure, and many who ARE tempted are stricken afterwards with deep feelings of guilt and remorse.

 

In Judaism, there is a parallel principle.  Eating, drinking, smelling and the like are permitted and even positive pleasures - but they are meaningful only as an expression of Hashem's love towards us.  It is a very unfaithful Jew who would pass up a kosher corned beef sandwich for a ham sandwich merely because the latter seems to him a bit more tasty, and if his commitment is genuine then his ham sandwich will create feelings of guilt and remorse.

 

We pointed out that the blessing "borei nefashot" - "Creator of souls" - hints that kosher food embodies souls which encounter and complement our own, and this parallels on a small scale of the affinity of souls which exists between a happily married couple.

 

The consciousness that our eating or other enjoyments are an expression of Hashem's love is created by making a blessing beforehand.  Such a blessing acknowledges that this enjoyment comes from Hashem, and not from the "other side" - the side of matter and sensuality without sanctity.

 

Rav Ganzfried in chapter 50 seif 1 cites the expression of our Sages that one who benefits from this world without a berakha "ma'al." Rav Ganzfried explains, according to an additional saying in the Talmud (Berakhot 35a) that  such a person has embezzled sanctified property - one meaning of the word "ma'al." But if we examine Bemidbar 5:12 we learn that this word has an alternative, related meaning.  Translating according to this meaning, we learn that one who benefits from this world without a berakha "ma'al" - he has committed adultery.  He has detached the physical pleasure of eating or drinking from its meaning as an expression of Hashem's love and commitment.

 

Try to think about this the next time you make a blessing.