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Parashat Ekev - 5760

by Rabbi Shlomo Riskin

Efrat, Israel -

What does it mean to bless G-d?   We can all understand the concept of G-d blessing us, but the idea of humans blessing G-d is rather strange!

In this week’s portion of Ekev, the issue of blessing G-d comes to light in the following verse: “And you shall eat and be satisfied and bless G-d your Lord for the good land which he has given you.” (Deuteronomy 8:10)

Had the verse instructed us to ‘thank G-d’ (using the language of “HODA’AH” this would be perfectly understandable-everybody accepts the importance of expressing gratitude to the Creator of the universe for His munificence in sustaining us.   But for a human being to bless G-d sounds almost paradoxical; G-d may want our thanks, but why should He want our blessings?  What can we possibly give the Creator of the universe that He doesn’t already have?

It turns out that Grace After Meals (’bentsching’) is derived from this very verse, the commandment that if we eat bread we must ‘bentsch.’  Since the phrase ‘uverachta et Hashem’ (you shall bless G-d) does not appear anywhere else in the Torah, we can safely assume that the concept of blessing G-d must be associated with Grace After Meals which, from the point of view of Jewish law, is only required when we eat bread, fulfilling the verse, “you shall eat and be satisfied.”

But what then is so special about bread, moreso than any other food?  And even more to the point, only several verses the Bible praised a different category of sustenance: “For G-d your Lord, brings you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths…a land of wheat and barley, and vines and fig-trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey dates.”  (Deuteronomy 8:7-8)

There are the Seven Species for which the land of Israel is famous, the seven special fruits for which the seven hills of Efrat are named.  These luscious and colorful fruits are far more attractive and inspiring than a boring, prosaic and commonplace loaf of bread.  You will remember that the scouts brought back green juice grapes in order to demonstrate the uniqueness of Israel - not dry and crusty bread!

Rav Soloveitchik, my rebbe and mentor, once addressed the issue as to why bread should be singled out with three biblically ordained blessings (four in all, the first composed by Moses, the second by  Joshua, the third by David and Solomon, and the fourth by the Sages after the destruction of Betar) — while the Seven Species, even though they grace the land of Israel like a crown of glory, are honored with but a single blessing after they are eaten.

Not only that, but when three or more eat bread together, a formal ‘ZIMUN’ (literally invitation) precedes the actual Grace After Meals, in which one of the participants ‘invites’ the others present to respond to the praises of G-d.   On the Sabbath and Festivals, there is even a custom followed by many Jews to perform this ‘ZIMUN’ while lifting a cup of wine.  This ‘formal invitation’ is also exclusive to bread.

Rav Soloveitchik explained as follows: Concerning the Seven Species, the partnership between G-d and humans is limited, with the humans performing a largely custodial task.  Once we plant the seed, G-d does all the rest, with the possible exception of our watering and protecting the fruits; indeed, even the water is generally rain water from G-d.  The truth is that when an individual  comes across a pomegranate tree in an open field, and takes a bite into the fruit, he/she is almost experiencing the ‘manna from heaven’!  G-d does almost everything!   In contrast, bread’s extraordinary journey from the field to the mouth requires a series of specific procedures.   According to the Mishna’s categorization of the 39 forbidden activities on the Sabbath, eleven are devoted to the preparation of bread:

“Sowing, ploughing, reaping, binding sheaves, threshing, winnowing, selecting, grinding, sifting, kneading, baking….” (B.T. Shabbat 74b)

Clearly the production of bread is a major project, and even though the seed and the earth and sun and the rain are provided for by G-d, what comes up from the ground will turn into hay unless man first turns it into bread.  In the production of bread, the concept of partnership is evident, with human ingenuity and exertion very much in the foreground; the eating of a pomegranate, on the other hand is basically receiving a divine gift, is a function of G-d bestowing His loving kindness upon us.

Rav Soloveitchik suggests that the greater the degree of human input, the greater  the degree of sanctity.   I might suggest a further elucidation of this profound insight.   G-d might have created a world in which we were spectators and recipients - but then human beings would be no more than puppets or pawns in a Divine chess game in which the Almighty is the sole player.  G-d chose instead to create an imperfect, incomplete world in which we are to be His Partners, in which He waits for us to be perfect.  The world in the Kingship of G-d.  Insofar as we express our Divine-given function as His Partners, we do indeed “bless” G-d; and it is for the privilege of being G-d’s Co-workers, for the pride which comes from the Knowledge that He thinks us worthy of being His Partners, that we praise and bless Him especially when we are intimately involved in developing His creation.

When the Israelites leave Egypt, only one person gives praise to G-d, Yitro, the Midianite father-in-law of Moses.  In contrast, when the Red Sea is split, the entire nation sings the great song of Shira praise.  Should we therefore assume that the miracle of Egypt was any less great than the miracle of the splitting of the Red Sea?   Certainly both events are remarkable and unique, but the Exodus demonstrated an ongoing systematic destruction of the natural order in a series of ten supernatural and unexpected plagues that anyone could see came from the hand of G-d, whereas the splitting of the Red Sea happened once, and only following “a strong Easterly wind”!

So why greater praise at the Red Sea?   In Egypt, the miracles were wrought exclusively by G-d, with no human involvement whatsoever; the people were passive: they listened, they heeded, they waited.  G-d Himself, planned and executed the Exodus, “neither via angel or messenger.” At the Red Sea, on the other hand, no miracle would have occurred, the Sea would never have split, and Nachshon, and many other Israelites not jumped into the swelling waters and the dangerous waves.  Only after the Jews were willing to take the risk of drowning and make the first steps into the inundating sea, did the Almighty respond by revealing the dry land.  The greater song of praise is occasioned when the Israelites themselves are the initiators and co-actors in the drama of history.

Rav Soloveitchik goes on to contrast the two special mountains of the Bible, Mount Moriah and Mount Sinai.   Mount Sinai was the scene of Divine Revelation, the place from which we received the Bible.  Yet the sanctity of Mount Sinai was temporary.   Three days prior to the Revelation at Sinai, the Israelites were told to separate themselves from the mountain, “…Whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death.” (Exodus 19:12).   But once the Revelation was given, the mountain resumed its previous status without a ‘do not trespass’ sign adorning its peak.  And to this day, its exact location is unknown to us; indeed its probable site was given up to the Egyptians after the Yom Kippur War with barely a sigh of protest from the majority of the Israelis.  Mount Moriah, on the other hand, is the Temple Mount, the sacred spot from which Jerusalem emanates.  No Israeli would contemplate giving up Jerusalem, eternally sacred and the symbol of our glorious past as well as our redemptive future.

These two mountains, Sinai and Moriah, represent two aspects of our historic experience. At Sinai, our involvement in the Revelation was relatively passive. G-d gave His Torah to us - and wherever G-d takes over entirely, the sanctity of that place is muted.   In contrast, the holiness of Moriah, the location of the Temple in Jerusalem, is a sanctity which can never be extinguished or relinquished because it was at Moriah, that Abraham brought his beloved son Isaac to be sacrificed.  Abraham was the star actor at Moriah, placing his entire future at risk in a deed of ultimate commitment.  Sinai expressed G-d’s gift to us; Moriah our gift to G-d.  Only, the sanctity of Moriah is eternal!

The more the individual is involved, the greater the sanctity and the higher the praise.  G-d is constantly in search of humans to be His partners in perfecting the world and thereby to bless Him!