by Rabbi Amy Levin

Before You Get Up From the Table . . . .

Parashat Eikev (Deuteronomy [D'varim] 7:12 - 11:25)

23 Av 5758, 14-15 August 1998

It's my guess that your mother taught you to politely thank the host or hostess who has treated you to a meal -- even if you've just had a closer encounter with stewed codfish than you ever thought possible!

If the person who stewed the codfish is deserving of thanks, then it only seems logical that the One who created the ill-fated fish, and the onions and tomatoes (no, this isn't a recipe) is deserving of thanks as well. And so it would seem no more than common courtesy to thank the One who has provided us with all our sustenance. The halacha (body of Jewish law) teaches us that when we have consumed a meal that includes bread, we thank God for providing us our sustenance with a short series of blessings called Birkat Ha-Mazon before we leave the table. (If you are not familiar with this text -- a lovely one, by the way -- you can find the Hebrew with translations in any good basic bilingual prayer book. Look for "Grace after Meals" or something similar in the table of contents. )

In the first effort at written codification of the Halacha, the Mishna (edited in the land of Israel around the year 200 CE), we learn that it is a mitzvah (a commandment) d'oraitah (from the Torah) to recite the Birkat Hamazon after a meal that has included bread. The specific verse which is considered to be the basis for this mitzvah is found in this week's parasha: "And you will eat and you will be sated and you will bless Adonai your God for the good land which He gave you" (8:10). Indeed, the verse is quoted as the penultimate line of the second Birkat Hamazon blessing.

The choice of this particular verse, and a look at its biblical context, indicate that we are meant to relate to the Birkat Hamazon as an expression of much more than common courtesy.

There are probably several verses in the Torah that could have served as the biblical basis for acknowledging God's beneficence each time we eat. I'd consider the following verse, also from our parasha, to be a strong candidate: "He starved you and caused you hunger and fed you the 'mahn' (manna) with which you and your ancestors were not familiar, in order to announce to you that not by bread alone does humankind live but by all that was created by God's mouth does humankind live" (8:3). The image of "all that was created by God's mouth" is a reference to the B'reishit (Genesis) creation story by which each aspect of creation came into being at God's uttered command ("and God said: 'let there be light!' and there was light . . .").

The sages of the mishnaic period decreed that 8:10 and not 8:3, or any other verse, was to be considered the cornerstone of the mitzvah of Birkat Hamazon.

Why is the latter verse a theologically more appropriate choice? Having become familiar with some of the priorities of our early sages, I'd have to venture that the last half of verse 3 is too universal for their taste. It is true, of course, that God created a natural world that provides sustenance for all of humankind (and all other manner of life as well). But reciting specific blessings of praise is not a mitzvah that is incumbent on all life-forms. In order to reflect rabbinic values, the verse which is to establish the mitzvah must be more particular to the people of Israel: ". . . and you will bless Adonai your God for the good land which He gave you" (8:10). Once the connection is made between blessing God and The land, it is clear that the mitzvah can only be incumbent upon the people of Israel.

So far, I've only been able to establish that it is now part of the religious responsibility of the Jewish people to thank God for providing us with sustenance -- in other words it is common courtesy for Jews to say the Birkat Hamazon. I still contend that there is more to be valued in this mitzvah than developing a habit of common courtesy: Indeed, it is in the progression of ideas from verse 3 ("He starved you and caused you hunger and fed you the 'mahn' (manna) . . . . ") to verse 10 ("And you will eat and you will be sated and you will bless Adonai your God . . . .") that we will find the essence of this mitzvah.

Between verses 3 and 10, the people's dependence on God for their survival in the wilderness is stated graphically -- and for the people who were still experiencing the wilderness's harshness, the message must have been exceptionally strong (8:2-5). God makes it clear that He provided a protective, supernatural reality to ensure His people's well-being: "Your garment did not fall to pieces off of you, and your feet did not swell like rising dough for these forty years" (8:4). Subsequent verses describe in glorious terms the land that Israel is to receive from God. The deliberately lush description of the land about to be bestowed upon the people creates a sharp contrast with the stark wilderness in which they had been wandering for forty years.

Indeed, it is the richness of the land that concerns God. Immediately following verse 10, the verse which begins "And you will eat and you will be sated . . .", and its injunction to bless God for the Land, the text continues with a poignant revelation of God's concern: "Keep this [practice of blessing God] lest you forget Adonai your God . . . . " (8:11). It has occurred to God that once His people are no longer dependent upon Him for their daily existence, for their daily portion of mahn and for the clothes on their backs, they will abandon Him. The thought is intolerable to Him. And so, in times and places of abundance, we are to remember that God guarded our very existence when we were without resources. We owe Him our gratitude and our appreciation precisely when it is easiest to forget what He has done for us.

God's concern about being forgotten is an intriguing notion. It brings us back to the most basic questions about why God created at all. And why the created world was not sufficient to its Creator until humanity was added as the "finishing touch." Why did God create beings who are capable of independent thought and are capable of acting against His will? If God had created humanity without an independent will, as He created the angels, He would never have needed to be concerned about being abandoned in the thoughts and feelings of His creations. And beyond even this notion, is the question of why God needed to "adopt" a people to be His own. The brit (covenant) which Jewish people have maintained with God over the millenia was His initiative, not ours. God reached out and the people Israel responded. (If you are interested in pursuing this intriguing concept, I'd strongly recommend reading the works of the theologian Abraham Joshua Heschel, especially God in Search of Man)

No matter how much money we spend at the supermarket and how much time we spend in the kitchen we need to remember where our food really comes from. We owe God the few moments it takes to appreciate Him, for He depends on us not to forget that He is our partner in the brit.

Whether we "live to eat" or "eat to live", it is much more than common courtesy to acknowledge the Creator of our natural world, our healthy bodies, our creative minds and our identity Jews -- before we get up from the table.

**If you are interested in pursuing this intriguing concept, I'd strongly recommend reading the works of the theologian Abraham Joshua Heschel, especially God in Search of Man

Shabbat Shalom