Rabbi Howard Morrison

Did you know that the Torah's basis for reciting blessings after meals appears in today's Parsha? "You shall eat; you shall be satisfied, and you shall thank the Lord your God for the good land He has given you."

Birkat Ha'Mazon contains three Torah based blessings, or themes, which were originally three before a fourth was added on. According to the Sages, the three primary blessings are attributed to Biblical figures. The first blessing is attributed to Moses and deals with nourishing those who are hungry. The attribution to Moses makes sense as the people were fed miraculously while wandering in the desert for forty years.

The second blessing which deals with having independence in the land of Israel is attributed to Joshua. This too makes sense as Joshua was the first to lead our people into an independent sovereign land of Israel.

The third blessing which deals with the holiness of Jerusalem is attributed to Kings David and Solomon. This too makes sense as David conquered the city, and Solomon built the first Temple of Jerusalem.

Notice that when we thank God after eating a meal, we do more than acknowledge gratitude for food. Rather, we thank God for the land which produces the food, and for the spirituality of the land. Our thanks to God are for physicality and spirituality. 

After the third blessing, there is a grand AMEN. One would think that is the ending. After all, in general, the recitation of AMEN signifies an end or a response to a blessing or a series of blessings. At one time, the blessings after meals ended after the three themes I have discussed, with a grand Amen.

For nearly the last two thousand years, there is an additional fourth blessing, considered D'RABBANAN, added by the Sages, and not D'ORAITA, based on Biblical attributions. The fourth blessing is called in short "Tov U'Maitiv - God who is good and beneficent." It was added after the fall of Beitar around the year 135 CE at the end of the period of the Bar Kokhba revolt when thousands of our people were slain by the Romans. A miracle happened in that all of the dead were properly buried. Since the third blessing in Birkat Ha'Mazon focused on the building of Jerusalem and its holy Temple, the horrors of the Bar Kokhba revolt brought a conclusion to the second Temple period.

Notice the miracle for which we are grateful - All the dead were properly buried. While there is sadness in the genocidal brutality perpetrated by the Romans, there is gratitude that all the bodies received dignity and respect. Contrast that to the Shoah and other atrocities in our history when bodies were left to rot.

Birkat Ha'Mazon teaches a number of fundamental values: All people should be fed. The first blessing which is attributed to Moses is directed to all who are hungry, not merely Jews. The text is couched in universal terms. The second and third blessings assert the Jewishness of the land of Israel from the moment that Joshua entered it some 3500 years ago, and when David and Solomon established Jerusalem and the Temple over 3000 years ago. The fourth blessing speaks against Roman genocide of our people and the importance of proper Jewish burial.

Given the tradition of Birkat Ha'Mazon, it is just ludicrous to think that Israel would starve another people. To the contrary, Israel does its best to feed others, even when it has to fight a hostile enemy which is stealing the food that Israel is trying to provide for the local population. I wonder - where are Egypt, Jordan, and other Arab countries caring to feed hungry brothers and sisters?

It is just ludicrous to consider Israel of committing genocide when it is continuing to warn civilians ahead of time to get out of harm's way. If one wants to see examples of genocide, look at what is happening in the Sudan, Syria, Yemen, and other places - Where Muslims are slaughtering fellow Muslims, as well as Christians, and Druze. 

It is Hamas who perpetrated genocide on October 7 and which vows to do so in the future. In this context, it is just absurd and scary that this past week, TIFF, the Toronto International Film Festival, had initially banned the showing of the documentary, The Road Between Us. It is a film showing the bravery of an Israeli family on October 7. Why was it being banned? Because the Hamas terrorists in the film did not consent to their being shown in public? Is this the world in which we are now living? During the Nuremberg Trials, were the faces of Nazis withheld because they did not consent? Ultimately, the unified collective voice of protest from the Jewish community forced TIFF to change its position, teaching us that we need to raise our voices when the Jewish community is being treated unjustly.

Birkat Ha'Mazon is a lesson about much more than food. It is a four-chapter lesson about central moral and spiritual principles for all time.

Shabbat Shalom,

Rabbi Howard Morrison