Birkat Hamazon: It is written in theZohar that by participating in thezimmun¹²¹ is the introductory lines which are recited before the grace which can only be said if there is at least three people present. before the Grace after Meals, we weaken the demonic forces which might attack us in the world. This idea is based on the belief¹²² that doubles are unlucky. For instance, one should not drink two cups of wine – rather, one should drink a third. Similarly two people should not walk in the streets together lest they be attacked by spirits. Evil spirits have no power over threes. Perhaps the reason for this that the evil spirits are formed from two elements – fire and wind – therefore they have the ability to have control over twos, but not over things that are made up of threes. We learn that the Grace should be introduced by three from the verse, gadlu ladonai itee…¹²³ “Ascribe greatness to the Lord with me.” Gadlu is plural so it counts for two and the word itee, “with me,” refers to one; together they equal three. We ascribe greatness to the lord in the presence of three. So when three are together blessing God we in fact weaken the sitra achra,¹²⁴ the demonic realm. The different blessings of the Birkat Hamazon resulted from historic events in Jewish history. The first passage, that, God feeds everyone, was composed by Moses in response to the bestowal of manna for the people of Israel in the wilderness. Joshua decreed the second paragraph, “For the good land and the food” when the people began the conquest of the land. Jewish law discusses the obligation of a master toward his servant. Jewish law states that a person who has a non-Jewish slave can say to him, ‘you shall work for me but I am not obligated to feed you.’ For an Israelite slave, however, the master has an obligation to provide him with food, based on the verse, “But should he say…I don’t want to leave you…and he is happy with you.”¹²⁵ was treated differently than a Israelite slave. For the purpose of this discussion, this is the assumption that Rabbi Ginzburg makes – the discussion of why this is the case will have to reserved for another time. This is the reason for the statement of the sages, “One who acquires an Israelite slave, acquires a master for himself.”¹²⁶ The Torah tells us that we are like Israelite slaves in relation to God. The Torah says, “For it is to me that the Israelites are slaves: they are my servants who I freed from the land of Egypt.”¹²⁷ Since we have the status of Israelite slaves in relation to God, God has an obligation to provide us with food. The Midrash tells us that it is the way of the world for a servant to serve his master: to carry a lantern before him, etc. God said, “I have changed the general custom of the world. Generally the slave does for his master; I do for my servants,” as it says “The Lord went before them…to give them light.¹²⁸ It is generally the custom for the servant to carry the burden for his master, but with regard to Israel the Torah says, ”I shall carry you on the wings of eagles.”¹²⁹ Following this line of reasoning, why did God change the general custom with regard to the Israelites and make himself a servant to them? When the Israelites left Egypt God treated them like Hebrew slaves: God fed them manna, the food of angels, and he gave them fresh bread each day just as the master of servants would receive¹³⁰ is after all, ‘bread from heaven.’. Not only that, but he gave them food every day rather than once a year as one might do with slaves. But God also called the Israelites ‘children,’ a term which would have had a different status in the eyes of Jewish law. The Torahsays, “Israel is my first born.” And yet a parent has no obligation to provide food for his son once he reaches the age of Bar Mitzvah. It is not an obligation but it is a mitzvah to do so if the child is going to study Torah.¹³¹ commandment and mitzvah obligation. From his perspective, they are not the same! Similarly, the master of a non-Israelite slave has no obligation to provide food for his servant. The Israelite, then, received food from the perspective of an obligation but not as a son or as a non-Israelite. It seems strange that the son who is similar to one who serves out of love receives less than the Hebrew slave, who serves his master out of fear! We can now understand the language of the first blessing of the Birkat HaMazon. The passage begins by saying that, “God gives bread to all flesh, with grace, with kindness and with compassion;” that is, God supports all human beings freely and unconditionally, be they non-Jewish slave or Israelites. He supports non-Jewish slaves out of compassion and He provides for Israelites who serve Him out of love because they are like His ‘children,’ even though he has no obligation to do so. And lest one think that God provides food because we are his servants who serve God out of fear rather than love, the first paragraph goes on to say, “You provide bread for all your creatures; as your love endures forever.” This is a reference to one who serves God out of fear. God provides because His kindness is ‘forever.’ So what is the difference between one who serves God out of love and one who serves God out of fear? The Midrash says that one who serves God out of fear is protected for one thousand generations while one who serves God out of love is protected and provided for two thousand generations. Both receive God’s love but the one who serves out of love is more deserving of God’s blessing.¹³²

footnotes: ¹²¹ A zimmun ¹²² Talmud Pesachim ¹²³ Psalm 34:4 ¹²⁴ The Other Side is the term used in Zohar for the demonic realm. In Kabbalistic thought there is a strong belief in the existence of the a demonic realm. This realm is not anti-god but actually is an outgrowth of the Sephirah of Gevurah or Din, stern judgment, so that even the demonic is a part of God. Kabbalists discuss why evil is part of the divine plan for the universe. ¹²⁵ Deuteronomy 15:16 – the assumption seems to be that for an Israelite slave it is actually good to be a servant since his master has an obligation to properly provide for him. We may be troubled with the idea that a non-Jewish slave or an Eved Canaani ¹²⁶ Talmud Kiddushin 20a ¹²⁷ Leviticus 25:55 ¹²⁸ Exodus 13:21 ¹²⁹ Exodus 19:4 ¹³⁰ Manna ¹³¹ Ginzburg makes an interesting contrast here between mitzvah and hiyyuv, ¹³² I don’t claim to understand what Rabbi Ginzburg is getting at here or how this ties into the first paragraph of the Grace after Meals. Whichever type of servant we are talking about here – either the one who serves out of love or the one who does so out of fear of God is the recipient of God’s kindness. God feeds us not because we are worthy of His goodness but because God is compassionate and kind to all his creatures. In the end we are all unworthy – the non-Jewish slave, the Hebrew servant who serves God out of fear or the one who does so out of love. We are all recipients of God’s constant love.