Birkat Hamazon: Blueprint of Jewish Destiny (Part 4)
“Anyone who recites Birkat HaMazon is blessed through it.”
(Zohar HaKadosh to ParshatTerumah)
The first blessing continues: “And through His great goodness we have never lacked, and may we never lack, nourishment for all eternity. For the sake of His Great Name, because He is Hashem, Who nourishes and sustains all, and benefits all, and He prepares food for all of His creatures that He has created. Blessed are You, Hashem, Who nourishes everything.”
The Eitz Yosef explains that we are asking Hashem for an ever-plentiful supply of food, just as there was for the Jewish nation as they journeyed for forty years in the desert. And then we reveal our motives for requesting Hashem to be so benevolent with us. Not, as it may sound, because we want an abundance of food to satiate our physical beings. But, rather, for a more altruistic reason, to help us serve Hashem more effectively, for the “sake of His Great Name.” Because, as we all know, hunger makes it difficult to focus on that which is truly important.
Rabbi Binyamin Lifton, a Rabbi in the Yeshiva of Central Queens for decades, said that while in his teens in Eastern Europe, his parents wanted him to learn Torah in the illustrious Yeshiva in Grodno, Lithuania. It was headed by Rabbi Shimon Shkop (1860-1939), who was regarded as one of the most incisive, brilliant scholars of his generation. The young Rabbi Lifton traveled for days by train and foot to Grodno, hoping to be accepted by the Yeshiva. The entrance exam procedure was demanding, but surprisingly informal. The prospective student would give a short discourse on the part of Talmud he was learning, followed by Rabbi Shkop asking him questions about what he had just said. Based on the student’s answers, Rabbi Shkop would decide whether or not to accept him.
Rabbi Lifton finally arrived at the Yeshiva, exhausted and starving, late one evening. To his surprise and consternation, the very first person he met was Rabbi Shimon Shkop. Rabbi Lifton was so flustered to be met by the head of the Yeshiva, of all people, that he immediately began reciting the piece of Talmud he had prepared, without even remembering to return Rabbi Shkop’s greeting! Rabbi Shimon Shkop gently interrupted him, saying that he had two questions. Bracing himself for innovative, ingenious questions he would likely have no hope of answering correctly, Rabbi Lifton heard Rabbi Shkop ask, “When was the last time you ate a hot meal? And when was the last time you slept in a bed?” On hearing that Rabbi Lifton had not done either since leaving home on his journey to Grodno, Rabbi Shkop took him home to personally prepare a hot meal for him and arrange a bed for him to sleep in. On the following morning, the Rabbi accepted him into the Yeshivah.
Many years later, Rabbi Lifton would tell his students in New York that due to the difficulties and suffering he had endured in the Holocaust, he had forgotten much of the Torah that his Rebbi, Rabbi Shimon Shkop, had taught him. Yet, he said that he never, ever forgot those two questions that were his “entrance exam” into one of the most prestigious Yeshivas in the world at the time.
Exhaustion and hunger are not normally conducive to building a significant relationship with Hashem (or with anyone else, for that matter). That being the case, we ask Hashem to supply us with an abundance of goodness so that we will be more receptive and better able to achieve a lasting and meaningful connection with our Father in Heaven.
The Maharal of Prague explains that this is why the blessing states that Hashem, “nourishes and sustains all, and benefits all.” According to the Maharal, “He is Hashem, Who nourishes” means that Hashem provides a person’s minimum requirements. “Sustains all” means that Hashem also gives us more than just our minimum necessities. “And benefits all” means that Hashem is providing is with even more than that. He provides us with so much more. Finally, “He prepares food for all of His creatures who He has created” means that Hashem not only takes care of human life. He supplies food to all of His living creatures. Consequently, we conclude our blessing with the declaration, “Blessed are You, Hashem, Who nourishes everything.”
To be continued…
