A story is told about King Jannai. Elsewhere in the Talmud
(Kiddusin 66a) we learn that King Jannai had all the rabbis assassinated,
possibly because of an incident (told in Sanhedrin 19a) in which he was
humiliated before the rabbinic court. One who escaped the carnage was Simeon b.
Shetah – the Queen’s brother.
In our story, the king and queen are having a meal together,
and the king laments that since he has killed all the rabbis, there is no one
to say grace for them! (The very definition of chutzpah: the man who murders
his parents and then pleads for mercy from the court because he is an orphan).
The Queen invites her brother, after making her husband
swear he will be safe. Simeon b. Shetah is brought to the meal, but is not
invited to eat. Afterwards he is asked to say grace and is given a cup of wine
to say it on. The blessing he gives is a mocking one: “Blessed is He of whose
sustenance Jannai and his companions have eaten.” He then drinks the wine. They
give him another cup and he says grace over that one.
Thus one must have actually eaten something of a meal before
saying grace.
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