From the Cyber Torah Archives

I would like to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is a particularly appropriate time to highlight the importance of blessings before and after eating food. At Thanksgiving we as a nation explicitly thank God for the many blessings of wealth and happiness He has bestowed upon the United States. Today by virtually any material criterion we are truly blessed. This holiday calls upon us as a nation to remember to thank our Creator.

Whenever we eat food, we make a blessing after the meal. The Torah says that we should eat, be satisfied, and then bless. In other words, we should enjoy God's bounty. We should eat and enjoy the material physical pleasures available to us in this world. God gave us His world to enjoy. We profane our Creator if we entirely keep ourselves away from such pleasures. Once we enjoy that bounty, God asks us to engage in spiritual discipline: to remember the ultimate source of our food. To acknowledge at a moment of satisfaction, when we are least inclined to think about God, that we exist only in partnership with the Holy One Blessed Be He.

Many of us already know the liturgy for Birkat Hamazon, or the Grace after Meals. It touches upon four themes, with four blessings associated with each theme. First, we praise God for providing for the needs not only of humanity but of all his creation. We say "Barukh atah Adonai, Hazan et Ha-Kol, praised are You God for providing sustenance to all."

Second, we praise God for providing us, His people, with Torah and commandments. That is, we praise God for reminding us of the importance of injecting holiness into our everyday lives. We conclude this section by praising God for giving us the Land of Israel by saying, "Barukh Atah Adonai, al Ha-aratz v'al Hamazon," praised are You God for the Land for for the Food (which we have just eaten).

Third, we praise God for allowing us to witness the reconstruction of Jerusalem with the hope that the peace and security of Israel will be seen in our lifetime. Barukh Atah Adonai, praise are You God, Bonei Birkhamov Yerushalyim amen. Who in mercy rebuilds Jerusalem.

Fourth, we acknowledge a fundamental difference between our God and other notions of a Creator. Our God is good and does good - God act in partnership with us seeking to raise us up to learn and transcend ourselves. This blessing is incomplete because we are still in a process of finding meaning and holiness in our lives as we strive for human perfection. We begin the blessing Barukh Atah Adonai, praised are you God, Eloheinu Melekh Haolam, Our God who is the King of all the Creation, who hativ, who mativ who yativ lanu, who has caused, does cause and will cause goodness in the world.

Finally, we sing Oseh Shalom - praising God who has given order and peace into the world.

At this Thanksgiving, let us all take a few minutes at our dinner tables where we enjoy so much wealth and comfort, to praise God. Thanksgiving is a time to enjoy the material world. Let us at this time also remember the God that Created that world and whose continued partnership in our lives enables us to enjoy it.

Shabbat Shalom and Happy Thanksgiving