In the Kitchen/At the Table
Food is essential to Jewish spiritual life. So too are food preparation, cooking, eating, and enjoying the experience of eating. As the Rabbis wrote centuries ago in the Talmud: "In the world to come, we will be asked to give an account for all things which were excellent to eat that we did not enjoy!" Here you will find articles about food, about its preparation, consumption, and spiritual significance. Here too you will find our favorite recipes and food-related rituals.
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Eating
Our rabbis created different blessings for each kind of food. For delicacies, our
rabbis said: "Blessed are You who created all kinds of delicacies for delight."
For meats and eggs, they said: "Blessed are You who created life to give life."
For bread: "Blessed are You, who brings out bread from the earth." While some
rabbis taught that only the proper "formula" could be recited over specific
foods, others took a more pragmatic view, saying, "If you were to see a loaf of bread
and say, ‘What a fine loaf this is! Blessed is the Holy One who created it!’ you
would have fulfilled your obligation to bless."
(Babylonian Talmud: Brakhot 40b)
Meditation
When I sit down at the table, the Divine Presence stands behind me. When I say a
blessing, the Divine Presence pushes forward to receive my words.
(adapted from Zohar iv 186b)
Ritual
Before you are about to eat, pause just long enough to compose a blessing that
recognizes the specific food that you are about to enjoy. As an example, our rabbis offer
the blessing of a simple shepherd named Benjamin who made a sandwich and said, "Brich
rachamana malka d’alma marai d’hai pita." "Blessed be the Master
of this bread."
(Babylonian Talmud: Brakhot 40b)
Blessing
Barukh…she’hakol n’hi’yeh b’dvaro.
Blessed are You whose word calls all things into being.
(Offer the traditional blessing for specific foods, or add your own blessing which
heightens your awareness of the source of your food.)
Teaching
Rabbi Jose the Elder would not have his meal cooked until he prayed to God for
sustenance. Then he waited a moment. Then he would say, "Now that the Sovereign has
sent sustenance, let us prepare it."
(Zohar ii, 62)
When you have eaten and you are satisfied, bless God for the good earth that has been
entrusted to you.
(Deuteronomy 8:10)
Let us take time to bless that which gives us life–sweet as the fruit from
Eden’s tree, filling as Sarah’s cakes, savory as Yaakov’s stew, plentiful
as the manna in the wilderness, liberating as the crunchy matzah,fresh as the first
harvest brought to the Temple, heavenly as the taste of the World to Come in the Shabbat
challah.
(CLAL faculty)
Barukh…she’hakol n’hi’yeh b’dvaro.
Blessed are You whose word calls all things into being.
(CLAL Faculty)
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