Eikev
Rabbi Jablinowitz
We read in this week’s parsha the mitzvah of Birchas Hamazon. The pasuk reads (Chapter 8, Pasuk 10), V’Achalta V’Savata U’Veirachta etc. You will eat, you will be satiated, and you will bless. The commentaries ask, why is it that the Torah doesn’t state the obligation to “bentch” in a manner indicative of an obligation. Instead it refers to the blessing as a natural response, as an automatic continuation of the process of eating and being satiated.
The Ramban teaches that making a blessing after eating bread is an obligation from the Torah. And he brings other illustrations where the Torah states an obligation using language similar to the pasuk here. However, the language used here, of an automatic response, is to be understood in context. The pasukim previous to the mitzvah of bentching describe the journey from leaving Mitzrayim to spending years in the desert, which are described by the Torah as an “inui”, a oppressive experience despite the miracles experienced. Now when they finally reach Eretz Yisrael and sit down and have a meal, the contrast between their prior experience and having reached the Menuchah and Nachalah of Eretz Yisrael, will certainly result in a blessing. Yes, the need to bless is an obligation from the Torah, but the thanks that Clal Yisrael will feel will naturally result in a blessing.
The Sfas Emes gives a similar explanation. He points out that the Gemarah in Brachos 35A teaches that the obligation to make a blessing before eating is a logical one. One may not receive benefit from this world without making a blessing. It is illogical to enjoy food without giving thanks first. The Sfas Emes extends this principle to blessing after eating. Though it isn’t necessary as a source for an obligation like it is before eating, nonetheless it explains why the Torah mentions the blessing as a natural response. It is certainly not logical to eat and be satiated without giving thanks first.
The Sfas Emes gives other deeper explanations as well. And just as the Ramban explains the pasuk in context, the Sfas Emes does as well, though for him the proper context is the description of Eretz Yisrael. In the pasukim immediately previous to the mitzvah of bentching the Torah describes the beauty and the bounty of Eretz Yisrael. It describes the land as a place of flowing streams from the mountains, representing the flow of bracha from Hashem. In such a context, one surely blesses. If the Ramban felt that the contrast from the servitude in Egypt and the wandering in the desert causes blessing, the Sfas Emes feels the experience of eating in Eretz Yisrael itself is sufficient to cause a natural response of blessing.
But he explains the natural blessing in an even deeper manner. The pasuk by the mitzvah of Challah teaches V’Hayah B’Acholchem M’Lechem Ha’Aretz Tarimu Serumah L’Hashem. The pasuk teaches that when you eat bread, you must separate a portion to Hashem. The Sefarim point out that the term used for separating Challah is Tarimu Serumah, which means you shall lift up. The point is that when you eat from the bread of the land, you are being lifted up. It is a holy and spiritual experience to be eating from the bounty of the land. This how the Sefarim understand the pasuk by Challah.
The Sfas Emes reads the pasuk by bentching in the same manner. When the Torah tells us, V’Achalta V’Savata U’Veirachta, it is teaching us that when you eat in Eretz Yisrael you are automatically blessed. Eating in a state of holiness creates its own bracha which is automatically sensed by those experiencing the eating. Just as the pasukim previous teaches us of the spiritual and physical beauty of Eretz Yisrael coming together in the topography of mountains and valleys and streams, this same beauty comes together in the process of eating as well. And the response is an automatic and natural feeling of blessing and thanksgiving.
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