KEY FEATURE OF JEWISH LIFE IS THE RECITING OF GRACE AFTER MEALS. It concludes, and is in some ways the climax of the main Shabbat meals. It is an important feature of a traditional Jewish banquet, such as for a wedding. It is also recited whenever a person eats a certain minimum quantity of bread: the size of an olive.
The ruling from the Torah that one should recite Grace after Meals is in this week’s Sedra. “And you should eat and be satisfied and bless Hashem your G-d, for the good Land which He has given you”. The Sages explain that this refers to the three main blessings of Grace after Meals: the first thanks G-d for food, in general (‘eat and be satisfied and bless’); the second thanks Him for the Land of Israel (‘for the..Land’), and the third is a prayer about Jerusalem (‘for the good Land’).
The fourth blessing, thanking G-d who is good and does good, was instituted by the Rabbis in the year 148 CE when finally, on 15 Av, the Jews were able to bury the thousands of followers of Bar Kochba who had been killed by the Romans at Betar, 15 years earlier.
An intriguing passage in the Talmud says that the angels asked G-d: Master of the Universe, doesn’t it say in Your Torah (in Sedra Ekev) that You do not show favour to anyone? But in the Priestly blessing, it asks You to show favour to the Jewish people?
G-d answers, and shouldn’t I show favour to them? I commanded them to say Grace after Meals when they are satisfied, and they are careful to do this even when they have eaten only an olive size of bread.
Earlier Chabad discourses ask two obvious questions. What is so special about saying Grace after Meals after eating only an olive size of bread rather than being ‘satisfied’? Further, why shouldn’t people say Grace after Meals after eating only the smallest amount of bread, instead of insisting that they have to have an olive size?
The Tzemach Tzedek explains that the first three blessings represent the flow of blessing from first three Sefirot, Kindness, Severity, and Mercy. These are the three blessing from the Torah. The fourth blessing, which was instituted by the Sages, represents the flow of blessing from Kingship.
Originally there were only three blessings, and they are the ones from the Torah. They included the aspect Kingship, which did not have to have a separate blessing. Then when the Sages instituted the fourth blessing, this manifested the blessing from Kingship.
The idea of three which includes four is found in a number of areas of Jewish thought. For example there are the three Patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and then later David was added, and they form the four feet of the Divine Chariot. Also, in the Book of Creation, only three Elements are listed: Fire, Water and Wind, but in the Midrash, the Zohar and Maimonides a fourth is added: Earth.
Now the purpose of Grace after Meals is that Divine blessings should be drawn down into the physical world. The Jewish people achieve this through Mitzvot such as Tzitzit and Tefilin, which involve physical things, and of course saying Grace after Meals relating to the physical act of eating.
This explains why the Jewish people are praised for trying to make the blessing even when they are not yet ‘satisfied’ by the food, and only an olive size of bread has been eaten. They are concerned to bring Divine blessing into the world.
But on the other hand, the Divine blessing associated with the physical action of eating must fully enter the tangible physical world. In this it is different from the power of the Mitzvot such as Tzitzit and Tefilin. Through a Mitzvah, a Divine connection is established with the physical world: but it is still beyond the world. [The person does not ‘use’ the Tzitzit or Tefilin in any way. He simply dons them in order to fulfil the Mitzva.] Eating, on the other hand, is a way in which the Divine really enters the tangible physical realm: the person eats and is sustained by the food.
This explains both why the Jews are commended for wishing to say Grace after Meals on a relatively small quantity, and also why this quantity does have to have a certain tangible size. The goal is to bring blessing into the world, and for this to happen there must be a certain minimum of worldliness.
This discussion shows that G-d justly shows favour to the Jewish people in the Priestly Blessing. This blessing concludes with a plea for Peace. The ultimate blessing is indeed Peace, and that will be achieved with the coming of Moshiach, when the Jewish people will come to the Land which is טובה ורחבה, the Good and Broad Land, as it says in Grace after Meals.
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