Ekev – “Eat, Pray, Love”

Our Sages derive the obligation of Birkat Hamazon (“Benching”; Grace after meal) from the last verse of the first Aliyah of Parshat Ekev:

The cantillation, in their role as musical punctuation marks, help us understand the verse’s meaning: “And you will eat and be sated” are joined into one clause, followed by “and you shall bless the Lord, your God …”  Thus, the p’shat is clear.  The Torah obligates us to recite Birkat Hamazon only after our bellies are full.

So taught Rambam:

That God expects a “thank you” for a full meal (only) can be seen in a remarkable midrash recorded in the Talmud (Berachot 20b):

The angels challenged God, asking Him to reconcile two inconsistent Biblical verses.  In the first, taken from our parsha, God Notes Proudly that He is the Ultimate Lady Liberty, Blind to favoritism and incapable of being bribed.  However, back in Parshat Naso, God bequeathed Birkat Kohanim, the Priestly blessing, wherein He Announced that He has a soft spot for Israel.   “Which is it”, ask the angels.   “Do You Favor no one, or do You Show Favoritism onto Israel?”

Caught in the conundrum of His own conflicting Words, God Must Choose, and the choice is not at all difficult:

Let’s ignore – for today – the problem(s) that:

• The angels point out a discrepancy in the Torah;
• God is (i) unable to reconcile the two verses or otherwise bring them into harmony and (ii) is unwilling to rewrite or edit the verses,
• God Admits that Israel is Blessed with “Most Favored Nation” status.

Why is it praiseworthy to recite Birkat Hamazon after eating a morsel of food since God’s Torah commands that we withhold such praise unless and until we are fully satiated?  Shouldn’t we strive to follow God’s actual words and assume that He meant that being satiated (וְשָׂבָ֑עְתָּ) was a prerequisite for benching?

In fact, isn’t this loose interpretation of God’s Will not just frowned upon but also a minefield of potential problems?  After all, God commanded man to refrain from eating from the Tree of Knowledge (Gen. 2:17, וּמֵעֵ֗ץ הַדַּ֨עַת֙ ט֣וֹב וָרָ֔ע לֹ֥א תֹאכַ֖ל מִמֶּ֑נּו) yet Chava went above and beyond, declaring to the serpent:

God said no such thing, and the serpent used Chava’s misquote of God’s Commandment to ensnare her.  The lesson (there) is that adding to God’s commandments is dangerous.

There are lots of good answers to this dilemma.  Here is one:  Chava didn’t merely expand on God’s Commandment, she attributed to Him something He did not say.  That is not at all what happened with the Sages’ handling of “eat, be sated, and praise God…”. Chazal expressly acknowledged that God’s command was limited to those circumstances when we eat a full meal.  However, they undertook to show thanks to God even for small morsels of food.

Of course, this begs the issue since we are not supposed to invoke God’s name lightly; therefore, reciting an unnecessary blessing remains problematic.

I suggest that Chazal directed us to bless God regularly – whether or not we were physically satiated – because they appreciated human nature.  As used in the Torah, the verb לִשְׂבֹּעַ means physical satisfaction.  The word first appears immediately after the newly freed slaves grumbled that their bellies were grumbling:

Chazal knew all too well that people who are full are not necessarily inclined to stop and say a proper “thank you”.  As the Prophet Hosea reported God saying:

How do we overcome this natural propensity to say “please” but not “thank you”?  Through daily practice.  The musician practices daily to prepare for his recital.  The runner trains for her marathon. We, who seek to hone our innate spirituality, must make a habit of saying blessings.

The ONLY way to be ready for those moments in life when we are truly satiated such that we are overcome with gratitude and turn to God to express a proper “thank You” is to practice, over & over again, especially when we are not fully satisfied.  That is why a pianist practices every day.  That is why we are assigned math homework.  That is why we daven & bench multiple times a day.

God’s Commandment is the Masterpiece, and Chazal’s expansion of it is the ornate framing.  It provides structure, perspective and boundary to the Divine Portrait.  The Masterpiece without a frame runs the risk of being damaged and crumpled, especially at the edges.  God therefore encourages us to “frame” his Torah; He just wants us to be careful so that we know where His Painting ends and our scaffolding begins.

By instituting Birkat Hamazon on even a small quantity of food, Chazal also redefined what it means to be sated.  Sure, the dictionary definition of satiated is when our brain tells our belly, “you’ve had enough!”.  But keep in mind that the Torah was given in an age of scarcity.  The Rabbis, too, lived in times of great hardship.  In fact, it was not until modernity that food became so plentiful that it could rot in our refrigerators without giving us pause.

Chazal wanted us to transform a ”stiff-necked people” into a grateful nation.  That is why, concerning the grace before eating, Rabbi Akiva taught that “a person is forbidden to taste anything before he recites a blessing” (Ber. 35a, אסור לאדם שיטעום כלום קודם שיברך).

We, who have so much, must learn to be appreciative of every taste, every sweet fragrance, every beautiful and awesome sight.  We must see Divinity and Holiness when we merely “lift up our eyes to the mountains” (Ps. 121:1) even if we haven’t climbed to the peak.  Yet.

When we wait for grand moments to express love, we allow ourselves to become ungrateful most of the time.  When we wait for special occasions say something kind, we’ve squandered an awful lot of opportunities to be compassionate and empathetic and hopeful, and prayerful.

Shabbat Shalom!