(7) For God your God is bringing you into a good land, a land with streams and springs and fountains issuing from plain and hill; (8) a land of wheat and barley, of vines, figs, and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey; (9) a land where you may eat food without stint, where you will lack nothing; a land whose rocks are iron and from whose hills you can mine copper. (10) When you have eaten your fill, give thanks to God your God for the good land which God has given you. (11) Take care lest you forget God your God and fail to keep God's commandments, God's rules, and God's laws, which I enjoin upon you today. (12) When you have eaten your fill, and have built fine houses to live in, (13) and your herds and flocks have multiplied, and your silver and gold have increased, and everything you own has prospered, (14) beware lest your heart grow haughty and you forget God your God—who freed you from the land of Egypt, the house of bondage; (15) who led you through the great and terrible wilderness with its seraph serpents and scorpions, a parched land with no water in it, who brought forth water for you from the flinty rock; (16) who fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your ancestors had never known, in order to test you by hardships only to benefit you in the end— (17) and you say to yourselves, “My own power and the might of my own hand have won this wealth for me.” (18) Remember that it is God your God who gives you the power to get wealth, in fulfillment of the covenant that God made on oath with your ancestors, as is still the case.
What is the command/directions? When are you supposed to do it? Why?
What is God afraid will happen when people enter the land of Canaan?
While wandering in the wilderness God does not seem to be concerned that people will not be grateful. Why not? Why is God more concerned after they reach the land?
When in your life have you experienced extreme gratefulness for food? When is it more difficult to be grateful?
What makes it difficult to be grateful for food?
Can Birkat Hamazon work in making us more aware of being grateful for the food that is put in front of us?
One might have thought that after eating is precisely the moment when we need say no blessings at all. Does not a blessing imply some need which must be met? In this case, the opposite is true. It is when we do not "need" God for something that we should take the time to remember [God]. God should be connected in our consciousness with the experience of having fulfilled basic human needs. Such an experience should lead immediately to words of praise/thanks... Such an experience should lead almost immediately to words of praise/thanks... Having eaten enough, it is all too easy to forget the source of all we have and to take our comforts for granted.
Why all of the talk not just of people but of all creatures?
What is the person who wrote this prayer observing? What is the author in awe of--what observation does the author make and say "Wow!?
Do you ever stop to think about the food chain and how incredible it is and what would happen (and does happen) when its disrupted?
Blessed are You, O God our God, Ruler of the universe, who feeds the whole world with Your goodness, with grace, with loving kindness and tender mercy; You give food to all beings, for your lovingkindness endures for ever. Through your great goodness food has never failed us: May it not fail us for ever and ever for your great name's sake, since You nourish and sustain all beings and do good unto all, and provide food for all your creatures whom you have created. Blessed are you, O God, who gives food to all.
Context: This is the first paragraph of Birkat HaMazon, the blessing after we eat a meal.
How do you reconcile the idea that “G-d provides food for all” with the fact that there are people who don’t have enough food?
From AlephBeta:
The Meaning of Birkat Hamazon: Why We Pray After Meals
Jewish law commands us to make a short blessing on food items before we eat them. In addition to this, the Torah also commands us to make a blessing after we eat. It may seem excessive to say Grace twice, but this additional blessing after meals is actually very significant.
After we’ve eaten and are no longer hungry, our inclination may be to run on to the next thing without giving a second thought to the meal we just finished. However, the seemingly mundane act of eating is an incredible testament to God’s kindness; we are only able to satisfy our hunger because God designed a world which provides us with nourishing food. Saying Grace forces us to take a few minutes after every meal to recognize this, and show our appreciation for God’s blessings and care.
Our Sages take this idea a step further by explaining that the Grace After Meals is not just about being thankful, but about being humble. After feasting on a good meal, we feel full and satisfied. This contentment can easily cause us to become overly confident in our place in the world, and to relish in the power of being top of the food chain. When we are most at risk of forgetting God’s dominion over us, saying Grace After Meals reminds us of this important and fundamental religious principle.
א) בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה' אֱלֹקֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם הַזָּן אֶת הָעוֹלָם כֻּלּוֹ בְּטוּבוֹ בְּחֵן בְּחֶסֶד וּבְרַחֲמִים, הוּא נֹתֵן לֶחֶם לְכָל־בָּשָׂר כִּי לְעוֹלָם חַסְדּוֹ וּבְטוּבוֹ הַגָּדוֹל תָּמִיד לֹא חָסַר לָנוּ וְאַל יֶחְסַר לָנוּ מָזוֹן (תָּמִיד) לְעוֹלָם וָעֶד בַּעֲבוּר שְׁמוֹ הַגָּדוֹל כִּי הוּא אֵל זָן וּמְפַרְנֵס לַכֹּל וּמֵטִיב לַכֹּל וּמֵכִין מָזוֹן לְכָל־בְּרִיּוֹתָיו אֲשֶׁר בָּרָא בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה' הַזָּן אֶת הַכֹּל.
וְעַל הַכֹּל יְיָ אֱלֹהֵינוּ אֲנַחְנוּ מוֹדִים לָךְ וּמְבָרְכִים אוֹתָךְ, יִתְבָּרַךְ שִׁמְךָ בְּפִי כָּל חַי תָּמִיד לְעוֹלָם וָעֶד, כַּכָּתוּב: וְאָכַלְתָּ וְשָׂבַעְתָּ, וּבֵרַכְתָּ אֶת יְיָ אֱלֹהֶיךָ עַל הָאָרֶץ הַטּוֹבָה אֲשֶּׁר נָתַן לָךְ. בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְיָ, עַל הָאָרֶץ וְעַל הַמָּזוֹן.
וּבְנֵה יְרוּשָׁלַיִם עִיר הַקֹּדֶשׁ בִּמְהֵרָה בְיָמֵינוּ. בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְיָ, בּוֹנֵה בְרַחֲמָיו יְרוּשָׁלַיִם. אָמֵן.