This week’s parsha, parshas Eikev, contains the mitzvas asei of Birkas HaMazon (Devarim 8, 10): "ואכלת ושבעת וברכת את ה' אלקיך על הארץ הטובה אשר נתן לך"—you will eat, and you will be satisfied, and you will bless Hashem, your G-d, for the good land that He gave you. Our blessed sages deduce from this passuk that a person is required by the Torah to recite Birkas HaMazon after he has eaten and is satiated. As we have learned in the Gemara (Berachos 21a): "מנין לברכת המזון לאחריה מן התורה, שנאמר ואכלת ושבעת וברכת." — from where in the Torah do we derive the obligation to recite Birkas HaMazon after meals? For it is written: “And you will eat, and you will be satisfied, and you will bless.”
It behooves us to focus on the beginning of this passuk: “You will eat, and you will be satisfied.” Clearly, we are not being commanded to eat and be satisfied. Nevertheless, Chazal emphasize the importance of eating with kedushah and taharah l’shem Shamayim; it is considered a vital avodah. This is stated explicitly in the following Gemara (ibid. 55a):
"כל זמן שבית המקדש קיים מזבח מכפר על ישראל, ועכשיו שלחנו של אדם מכפר עליו" —so long as the Beis HaMikdash stood, the mizbeiach atoned for Yisrael; now, a person’s table atones for him.
For this reason, it is necessary to say words of Torah at the dining table. As the Mishnah teaches us (Avos 3, 3):
"שלשה שאכלו על שלחן אחד ואמרו עליו דברי תורה, כאילו אכלו משלחנו של מקום ברוך הוא, שנאמר וידבר אלי זה השלחן אשר לפני ה'"
But three people who ate at the same table and did speak divrei-Torah at the table, it is as if they had eaten at the table of the Omnipresent, Blessed is He, as it is said (Yechezkel 41, 22): “And he said to me, ‘This is the table that is before Hashem.’” Similarly, this is the reason for the halachic ruling in the Shulchan Aruch (O.C. 231): All pleasure and benefit a person enjoys in this world should not be intended for one’s own personal pleasure but rather should be for the purpose of serving the Almighty. As it is written (Mishlei 3, 6): "בכל דרכיך דעהו"—in all your endeavors know (emulate) Him. . . This applies to all mundane and optional activities such as eating, drinking, walking, sitting, rising and satisfying all of a person’s bodily needs. A person who adheres to this directive is always serving his Creator.
The Purpose of Eating Is to Separate the Food from the Waste
In this essay, we wish to present to our royal audience an important, practical insight from our master, the Arizal, that applies to each and every one of us. His remarks are found in Sha’ar HaKavanos in relation to the passuk from our parsha cited above. Here is a translation of one excerpt: The goal of eating is to sift out the good from the food and extricate it and elevate it from the klipos and dross mixed in with it . . . Hence, when a person eats, he should do so with great care and not like animals who cannot distinguish between good and bad. Therefore, our blessed Rabbis elaborate on this subject and compare one’s table to the mizbeiach.
Further on, the Arizal teaches us something remarkable. He explains why HKB”H created man with sixteen upper teeth and sixteen lower teeth with which to chew food. He says that the 32 teeth correspond to the 32 “paths of chochmah” that make sense of everything. Similarly: The food is processed by the 32 teeth. The 32 teeth grind up the food and separate the essence of the food from the refuse just like a millstone grinds up grain. Afterwards, the chaff and bran, which are the klipos (literally: shells), separate from the flour that is the essence of the food. This was not so before they were ground up; then they were stuck together as a single entity.
The Arizal also asserts that the teeth are divided into sixteen upper teeth and sixteen lower teeth akin to the letter “aleph.” How so? The Tikunei Zohar (Introduction 15b) explains that the letter א' is formed by the letters יו"י. There is a “yud” on its upper right side, another “yud” on its lower left side, and a diagonal “vav” in between them.
Additionally, the Arizal asserts that the diagonal “vav” is actually made up of two “vav”s. Thus, the letter “aleph” is formed by the letters י-ו-ו-י, which are divided up into a י"ו (16) on its upper right side and a י"ו (16) on its lower left side. This is precisely the division of the 32 teeth in a human being’s mouth—16 above and 16 below. This is the deeper significance of man’s 32 teeth, and how they correspond to the letter “aleph.”
Accordingly, the Arizal says that when eating and chewing our food, we should focus on separating the true food from the refuse with our 32 teeth that correspond to the letter “aleph”; because the letter “aleph” alludes to the supreme chochmah that sifts out the food from the waste, and the sparks of kedushah from the klipos.
It is my aim to explain in this essay the intriguing insight of the Arizal in a way that is practical and pertinent to everyone, according to the revealed Torah. We will endeavor to explain why our 32 teeth are divided up into two groups of 16, akin to the letter “aleph,” enabling us to separate the food from the waste in our food. We beseech Hashem to guide us on the path of “emet”!
