Judaism ritualizes mundanity. From how Jews should get dressed in the morning to how we spend our weekends, prescribed procedures direct every piece of the human experience. Our religion sees every action we take as meaningful and a chance to learn something, and how we eat is no different.
According to Jewish law, brachot (blessings) acknowledging the Creator of our food need to be recited before we eat anything. Furthermore, there are specific blessings thanking God that are required both before and after eating specific categories of foods, like grain-based foods, fruits, vegetables, and more. While an entire system of blessings for food may seem unnecessarily complex, it can engender a high level of mindfulness about what we are putting into our bodies and can be a useful tool for someone struggling with disordered eating (See our Brachot and Disordered Eating resource.). Brachot recitation can also nurture our sense of gratitude, hakarat hatov, in a moment when we can focus so easily on ourselves.
Eating can be a self-centered activity, wherein we fixate on our own needs and appetites. Of course, that doesn’t mean eating is a bad thing, but we should acknowledge how often our stomachs take on lives of their own, letting us forget about everything outside of our plate. This risk is especially relevant when we eat with other people (At a Jewish Shabbat or holiday meal, on Thanksgiving, or even a random weeknight.), who may not have gotten food when we are on our second course or who may have cooked the food we rush to put on our plates before thanking them. Jewish tradition’s system of blessings reflects its understanding of that aspect of human psychology and equally recognizes the benefits of gratitude for our mental health and wellness. While the blessings directly reference God as the ultimate source of our food, this system nonetheless invites us to see beyond our self-interest, so we can think more broadly about where our food comes from and feel grateful for it and the person who made it for us.
A talmudic sage named Ben Zoma often meditated on the gratitude he felt for the food and clothes he had, all of which were made by others. Regularly, he would look out at the crowds of people in Jerusalem and say, “Blessed is the Creator who knows all secrets and the Creator who made all that serve me,” expressing gratitude for his good fortune of living in a society with people who work hard to create his basic necessities, contrary to Adam who had to do it all on his own. He also used to say:
A good guest, what do they say? How much effort did the host expend on my behalf, how much meat did the host bring before me? How much wine did they bring before me? How many loaves did they bring before me? All the effort that they expended, they expended only for me. However, a bad guest, what do they say? What effort did the host expend? I ate only one piece of bread, I ate only one piece of meat, and I drank only one cup of wine. All the effort that the homeowner expended was only for their family.
A good guest at a table notices and appreciates the work that went into the food prepared for them, while a bad guest only sees the food prepared for the meal.
Sharing a meal with others can be a deeply meaningful experience if we can nurture the gratitude necessary to make it so. The next time you sit down to eat with other people, consider adding Ben Zoma’s bracha to the repertoire of blessings you might recite when you eat. (Check out our downloadable Brachot page) Try to make a habit of expressing your gratitude for the food in front of you and the people who made it. You can also let them know how grateful you are for them, and what you are grateful for, with our printable hakarot hatov cards and digital gratitude e-cards. Taking the time both to feel grateful and to express your gratitude can do wonders for your mental health and theirs, improving your community one todah rabah (thank you) at a time.
