Blessings Over Food – Bought for a Song
Toward the end of Parshas Bechukosai, the Torah discusses the laws of consecrating items to the Beis Hamikdash, as well as the parameters for redeeming such items. These topics seem somewhat remote to us as we are currently without the Beis Hamikdash. However, in a certain respect, they relate to something that we do many times each day.
The Gemara famously raises a seeming contradiction between two verses in Tehillim:
- One verse says: “The world and all that fills it is Hashem’s.”[1]
- A second verse says: “The heavens are the heavens for Hashem, and the earth He gave to the sons of man.”[2]
Which is it? Does the world belong to Hashem, or has He given it to man?
The answer, says the Gemara, is that it depends. Before the berachah, all that fills the world belongs to Hashem; after the berachah, He gives it to man.
In this vein, the Gemara further states that one who eats without making a berachah is actually considered to be guilty of meilah — stealing consecrated property. This normally refers to one who steals from the Temple, but the Gemara extends it to anyone who eats without a berachah, for if the food initially belongs to Hashem, then he too is stealing from “on High.”
It is interesting to ponder this matter further. If indeed one who eats without a berachah is considered stealing consecrated property, how exactly does making a berachah relieve him of this problem? To be sure, in any other setting, if one is guilty of stealing, offering a berachah toward the owner will hardly be of any help!
The simple answer is that once one has made a berachah, presumably Hashem consents for him to partake of the food, in which case it is no longer stealing. On a deeper level, though, the Maharal[3] offers a fascinating explanation.
If an object belongs to the Temple, it can become the property of an individual through a process called redemption (פדיון). This takes the form of a person giving its monetary value to the Temple (and, in some instances, adding a fifth), thus acquiring it. What exactly has happened here? The person has replaced what it is that the object was giving to the Temple, i.e., its monetary value, thus releasing the object to his individual domain.
When we say that everything belongs to Hashem and has the status of consecrated property, what is it that it contributes to Hashem’s domain? The answer is, its very existence gives praise to the One who created it. This praise is its contribution. Therefore, in order to redeem it from that state, one has to provide Hashem with the element that was being contributed by the food. This is the idea of making a berachah. The praise which one offers to Hashem as the One “Who creates the fruit of the tree,” etc., redeems it, as it replaces the praise which was being given by the fruit; and now it is his.
This idea provides us with a truly beautiful insight in the concept of berachos, and is one that should give us due pause for thought. Blessings over food are a natural part of the eating process for any mitzvah-observant Jew, and that is a good thing. However, as we know, it is not hard for a blessing to be exit a person’s mouth in hurry or without too much thought. Once we encounter the explanation of the Maharal that a blessing is in fact a song with which to replace the praise given by the food, we may do well to ask ourselves: “Whose song was better, mine or the food’s?”
[2] Ibid., 115:16.
[3] Nesivos Olam, Nesiv Ha’avodah, chap. 14.