ברכת המזון בכוונה
וְאָכַלְתָ וְשָבַעְתָ וּבֵרַכְתָ אֶת ה' אֱלֹקֶ יךָ עַל הָאָרֶץ הַטֹּבָה אֲשֶר נָתַן לָךְ: (ח, י)
You will eat and you will be satisfied and you will bless Hashem, your G-d, for the good land He gave you. (8:10)
From this posuk we learn the obligation to say Bircat Hamazon [Grace after meals – bentching] from the Torah, as brought down in the Gemara (Berachos 21a), ‘It was taught, Rebbe Yehuda said, “Where is Bircat Hamazon mentioned in the Torah? As it states, 'ואכלת ושבעת וברכת' – ‘and you will eat and you will be satisfied and you will bless.”’
This mitzvah needs much chizuk [encouragement], even though it is a mitzvas asei – positive mitzvah, people do not think about it the way they are supposed to, and they bentch by heart, in a hurry, without thinking about the meaning of the words. The Torah addresses this (Vayikra 26:21) 'אם תלכו עמי קרי' – ‘if you behave casually with me’, that is, they do mitzvos casually without thinking about them and without the proper fear and love as one speaking before the king of the World. Sometimes this causes the person to be distracted which makes his berachos questionable, and instead of earning a mitzvah, he does several sins, R”l.
If we consider the essence of this mitzvah, we will merit to keep it with respect and a deep appreciation for our great Creator for His many mercies and kindnesses that He does with us. We believe in hashgacha pratis and acknowledge that HaKadosh Baruch Hu does not lose focus for the personal needs of every person. Therefore, every day he causes thousands of kernels of wheat to sprout for everyone since at the time of sowing He already knows how much grain will sprout and who will benefit from the sprouting grain. The initial intent is that every kernel is designated for the one who will eventually eat it. He similarly causes to grow other foods and fruit for everyone, and they grow for the animals as well, so their flesh will increase for people.
The deep thing to consider is that this growth is not just to satisfy our hunger, but rather to sustain our lives, since if there is no ‘food’ there is no ‘life’... This is comparable to one who is told by the doctor that there is no cure for his illness, and several days later he is informed that they found a medication, it is not possible to describe his joy. The same applies to food, since the life of the person is dependent on his food, and the food itself comes about only through the mercy of HaKadosh Baruch Hu Who can make something from nothing and sprout food. You have no greater benefit than this, and great is the shame of the one who is given life and does not acknowledge how deep this is.
In light of our words we can understand the story in ‘Sefer Chasidim’ (Siman 46), ‘There is a story of a man who died several years before his time. After twelve months he appeared in a dream to one of his relatives and his relative asked him, “How do you conduct there in that world?” The deceased replied, “Every day they judge me for not being careful to say ‘Bircas Hamazon’ and ‘Bircas Hapeiros’ [bracha on fruit] with kavana [proper intent], and they tell me it was just for my pleasure.” The relative asked him, “But isn’t the judgment for the wicked just twelve months, and more than twelve months have passed, why are they still judging you?” The deceased replied, “True, they do not judge me as harshly as the first twelve months.”’
This story demonstrates how sincere our words are, since food is what life depends on, it is fitting for us to thank from the depths of the heart.
One who is not careful with this does not know the value of that which the Creator Baruch Hu benefits him, and so he is not fit for life and it is possible to die young Rachmana litzlan. Even Heaven judges meticulously for this, for there is no greater contempt than this of one who is not grateful to the One Who gives life...
Since this is so, it is fitting for anyone with sense to acknowledge the great kindness he gets from the food, and to thank from the depth of the heart and with appropriate kavana. Anyone whose yiras Hashem [awe of Hashem] touches his heart should conduct himself like this. I never saw my father, my teacher zt”l bentch without proper kavana. First, he would always put on his coat, even though he had yiras Hashem and was stringent with the light as the severe, he did not rely on his yirah and he did not bentch by heart, but rather from a siddur and with patience.
I once told R’ Zundel Kroizer that I am accustomed to always bentch from a siddur. I say that if we do not eat ‘by heart’ rather everyone is careful to see what he eats, then certainly one should not bentch by heart, because we must think about the bracha to our Creator at least as much as we think about our food... But R’ Zundel did not agree with me and told me that I am saying right. Rather, the person must know that even if he eats by heart, and does not pay attention to his food, still, it is incumbent on him to bentch from a siddur with patience and kavana.
An acknowledgement like this arouses blessing and kindnesses on the person, as this is the segulah of thanking as brought down in many holy seforim. Mainly, it helps parnasah [livelihood], as brought down in the ‘Chinuch’ (Mitzvah 430), ‘Do I have received from my Rabbis, that anyone who is careful with Bircas Hamazon, food will be supplied respectfully for him all his life, and one who is meticulous, Yisbarach will repay him measure for measure.’
It is appropriate to also point out for you what the Bach wrote on Shulchan Aruch (Hilchos Bircas Hamazon, Orach Chaim Siman 185), ‘Why is the letter 'ף' not in Bircas Hamazon? Because anyone who bentches Bircas Hamazon with kavana will not be ruled over by 'אף שצף וקצף' – ‘anger, fury, and wrath’.’
Once we have been awakened to the obligation to be careful with this mitzvah as needed, it is fitting to also be awakened to the need to think about keeping other mitzvos as this mitzvah is no different than other mitzvos. When we can merit this then we cannot spoil it. This is similar to what I heard from R’ Yisrael Rosenzweig and the incident that happened to him. R’ Yisrael was very close to the Biali Rebbe, author of ‘Chelkas Yehoshua’, and once when he was in the Bais Medrash speaking with the Rebbe on topics of avodas Hashem, and when they finished the Rebbe went into his private room, and R’ Yisrael was hungry and wanted something to eat to satisfy his hunger. He went to a bakery close to the Bais Medrash and bought himself ‘mezonos’ [cake] and went back to the Bais Medrash to satisfy his soul.
Suddenly, the Rebbe showed up in shul and saw R’ Yisrael eating ‘mezonos’. The Rebbe approached him and asked, “If you are hungry, then you could satisfy your hunger by keeping several mitzvos with bread. First, with netilas yadayim, the bracha is also a mitzvah, then Hamotzi, dip the bread in salt, mayim achronim after eating, and last Bircas Hamazon which is from the Torah. You caused yourself to lose all these mitzvos by eating ‘mezonos’ which only has a bracha before it and after it?!”
