Elevating Eating

This Shabbos being Rosh Chodesh Elul, it is a good time to be reminded of this custom associated with this time of year. The chart can be printed and used following the Elul dates, as the month of Elul this year begins on the 28th of August (30th of Av is 27th of August).

Parshat Re'eh

by Rabbi Avi Billet

In the beginning of Chapter 12, the Torah describes for us a proper form of serving God most directly in the “place God will have chosen.” This references the Temple in Jerusalem (while not mentioning those specific details) as it describes the concept of Aliyah L’Regel (ascent to the Holy Mountain for the holidays) and general celebration at that space.

“And there you shall eat before the Lord, your God, and you shall rejoice in all your endeavors you and your households, as the Lord, your God, has blessed you.” (12:7)

While the verse clearly has two separate clauses, one about eating and one about rejoicing, they are nevertheless right next to each other, suggesting at the very least a connection through semichut between the concept of eating and rejoicing. 

 Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch notes this link in his commentary:

 

“The pinnacle of the worship of God is the feasting and the joy of life in the presence of God, in His Sanctuary. This is one of the most characteristic features of Judaism. In this respect Judaism differs from ancient heathenism, whose gods, born of fear, are inimical to man’s joy and happiness. In this respect Judaism differs also from the modern misconception, which splits the human personality and seeks God only through the spirit, but relegates the life of the senses to an unconsecrated, sunken state.” 

While Hirsch goes on to describe an element of joy that simply accompanies being part of a community, there is no doubt that he is suggesting that there is a service of God to be found in joy, and specifically through eating. 

 Seforno also connects what is taking place before God (eating) and the concept of joy, as he writes “serve God with joy, as is worthy of everyone who serves out of love.” 

Another comment similarly aimed comes from Rabbi Moshe Alshikh, who writes that eating from your offerings and tithes is like eating from God’s plate (in a good way!). 

 “Recognize how you ought to consider your eating as if you are before God, for your joy comes from ‘all your endeavors.’ It is known that the blessing of a person’s food is demonstrated by what is on his table. When the food on his table is what he wants to be eating he must see it as a blessing as if he is eating from God’s table.”

It is such a simple idea, yet how beautifully profound, if we could only recognize that “God has blessed you” by Himself, without even an angel or agent, “through the abundance you experience you will see that his hand provided the expanse” of your table. 

 Alshikh notes that this is not a competition. Not everyone is blessed in the same way, which is why the verse is written in the singular, as if spoken to an individual. The blessing is individualized with each person being blessed according to his/her deeds. 

 But then he highlights an important concern anyone should have when considering their food and the prospect of eating. And while the instruction is specific to eating in the place God has chosen, the instruction is nevertheless quite relevant. 

 “When people are eating with the perspective that they are before God [per the language of the verse], they’ll have reverence for the activity. Through words of Torah shared at their table, their joy will be enhanced. This is the opposite of any place where eating and drinking makes an impression because the Satan then has a hand in the joy [which makes it less pure]… This is why one should always be careful that whatever one is eating comes from that which you have earned, and not from anything that has been stolen.” As a result of this recognition of God’s blessings upon you, he concludes, you will automatically have an abundance of joy. 

Joy is also raised by the Vilna Gaon as an important part of the holiday experience, in particular for women. Quoting Rabi Yehuda who would note 5 מצוות עשה שהזמן גרמא (time bound mitzvoth) that women were obligated to fulfill – Matzah on Pesach, Simcha on Yom Tov, Hakhel (Gathering the whole nation) once every seven years, sanctifying the day (Shabbos and Yom Tov), and the Korban Pesach – note that SIMCHA (rejoicing) on the holiday is quite important, even if the woman is not obligated to be Olah L’Regel (to go to Jerusalem on the holiday). 

It’s not very hard to tell people to enjoy their food, or to convince people that eating is a joyous activity. What we are being told here is that eating can be an activity which is elevated into a joyful service of God through a mindfulness of what the activity is meant to indicate to us. 

 That we are the recipient of God’s bounty is an awareness we should always have when things are going well and we are blessed with plenty. And when we are struggling or when things are not as good as they could be, we can still ask if we are managing to eat that which we want to eat, or are we being forced to eat that which is beneath us because we have so little? If it’s the former, Alshikh is saying, it is still God’s bounty. If the latter, it still comes from God, and our task is to find joy in that God is watching over us all the same. 

 One way we can do this is through focusing on a word which appears close to 50 times in the book of Devarim, 15 or so of them in our parsha, and that is the root word ברכ. Bless or blessing. 

 On the one hand, we have been reminded that what we have is a blessing from the Almighty. On another definition of the word, we have a subtle reminder that the way we bring joy and reverence into our lives over food is being reminded constantly from where our food comes. 

 Maybe some of us are very good about it. Maybe some of us are better about it over a Shabbos table. But we can all use a little chizuk in being better about saying Brachos before and especially after eating food. Kabbalists explain that reciting a bracha before eating is like asking permission from God for eating from His food. Reciting blessings after eating is a way of giving acknowledgement and thanks for that which we have enjoyed. 

 In our home, the littlest talkers have taken to Brachos in a manner which is honestly inspiring. Before eating everything we hear, “What’s the bracha?” followed by a loud bracha. And if we are distracted and don’t respond we are chastised, “No AMEN?!” Many adults who are good about saying brachos tend to say them in an undertone, not allowing others the opportunity to answer Amen to the blessing. This is unfortunate – an opportunity lost in helping other recognize God’s role in the food which makes it to our tables and our mouths. 

Much of the simcha we have in our lives must come from the awareness that God is watching over us, that we are part of His plan, and that we make room for Him as much as we can. R Hirsch’s comment should also be a source of inspiration that we need not look at our connection with God as something that only manifests itself in the realm of what people might call “the spiritual,” but that it can be seen in so many activities in which we engage regularly. 

Marriages are called Kiddushin, and for those who are married, that reality is meant to serve as a constant reminder of how what could be the deepest of human relationships between two people is elevated into the realm of holiness if it is founded in respect, love, and honor for one another. And this is true even though a significant component of the relationship is a physical one. 

And our topic, food and eating, is to similarly be seen as a clearly physical act which can be elevated through the Torah shared while eating, the brachos recited before and after eating, and the awareness of God’s bounty and grace in whatever finds its way to our table through our own efforts at getting it there, ever blessed by the Almighty Himself, directly without an agent, Who cares for us, loves us, and wants us to eat well so we can further serve Him with the joy that comes from having a body that is physically satisfied from the meals we are blessed to eat.