Birkat Hamazon: Blueprint of Jewish Destiny (Part 5)
“Anyone who recites Birkat HaMazon is blessed through it.”
(Zohar HaKadosh to ParshatTerumah)
The second paragraph reads, “We thank you, Hashem, our
Rabbi Tzedikaya ben Avraham HaRofeh, one of the preeminent Halachists of the thirteenth century, explains this paragraph in his seminal work called Shibolei HaLeket. Yehoshua was so overwhelmed with emotion for meriting to enter the Land of Israel, something his Rebbe, and the Rebbe of the entire nation, Moshe Rabbeinu, was not permitted to do, that he was inspired to compose the second paragraph of Birkat HaMazon. That is why its opening lines praise the Land of Israel as being a “desirable, good and spacious land.” And that is also why Yehoshua uses the word nachalah, heritage, to describe the relationship between the Land of Israel to the Jewish People. A nachalah is something that is granted in perpetuity. Yehoshua declares that Hashem granted the Land of Israel to the Jewish People for eternity. True, at various times in our history, Hashem had no alternative but to send His chosen nation into exile due to refusal to follow His Torah. But our entitlement to the Land was, and is, never in question.
The Maharal associates the three descriptions of the Land of Israel: chemdah – desirable, tovah – good, and rechavah – spacious, to the three Patriarchs: Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov. Avraham connects to chemdah because he was beloved by all. His interactions with everyone, his kindness and his concern for each person, caused all who came into his orbit to want to remain near him and bask in his righteousness. Tovah corresponds to Yaakov, who is described by our Sages as being tov, good. Good means that there are no impurities. That everything is wholesome and uncorrupted. Just as Yaakov was righteous, so too he had twelve sons who were all righteous. The word rechavah is a reference to Yitzchak, who lived in the Land of Israel his entire life. The Maharal cites the verse in Bereishis (26:22) where Yitzchak says, “For now Hashem has granted us ample space – hirchiv – and we can be fruitful in the land.”
What was it that made the Land so spacious for Yitzchak? The Mishna in Pirkei Avot (5:7) lists ten miracles that occurred regularly during the First Temple era. The eighth miracle is that due to the masses of people who came to the Holy Temple for the Festivals and for Yom Kippur, everyone would need to stand squeezed together in the Temple courtyard, as there was simply not enough space to accommodate everyone comfortably. But, miraculously, when it came time to prostrate themselves, there was ample room for each person.
Rabbi Chaim from Volozhin writes in his commentary on Pirkei Avot, Ruach Chaim, that besides its literal meaning, the Mishna should be also understood metaphorically. When it states that the people stood crowded – omdim tzefufim – it refers to a person who “stands tall,” meaning being prideful and selfish. They end up feeling restricted and constricted since, by not affording them the respect they think they deserve, everyone around them is bothering them. But when a person humbles and adapts to the needs and desires of others, they will find that there is really plenty of space for everyone.
And this is why Yitzchak found the Land of Israel to be so spacious. He did not think about himself and how he could enhance his own stranding and wealth. Rather, his concern was for those around him. The more he accommodated others, the more spacious the Land became.
Therefore, in a display of Divine choreography, it transpires that the attributes and traits of the Land of Israel are completely aligned with the attributes and the traits of the Patriarchs.
To be continued…
