Well, the truth is I cannot be considered a “foodie” even
though I live in Portland (!). I like to eat well enough, and appreciate a good
meal (especially when Ida Rae makes it – my wife is a wonderful cook and I am a
lucky man!) But when it comes to ingredients and sources of food, my eyes glaze
over. Grocery stores are a source of anxiety to me. I am a stranger in a
strange land.
All of which makes reading some of this section of Berachot
a little difficult for me. This page, for example, has lists of various kinds
of fruits and herbs and the appropriate blessings for each. We learn, for example, that
morils and truffles are included in the generic blessing (sh’hacol bara
lichvodo – “by whose word all things are created”) rather than the specific
of blessing of things growing from the earth (borei pri ha’adama – “creator
of the fruit of the earth”) because those fungi “spring from the earth but do
not get their sustenance from the earth.” Who knew?
But the beginning of the page talks about breaks in
benedictions. This caught my attention.
Usually, when one says a benediction for food, a least a
morsel of it must be eaten right away so that it is not a “wasted blessing.”
Action immediately follows prayer. However the case is given of a host who says the
blessing and then invites the company to eat – he does not have to repeat the
benediction. However, if he says the benediction and then instructs that
condiments (“salt and relish”) be brought for the bread – he has to say the
benediction again (R. Johanan disagrees).
If after the benediction and before eating he says “mix
fodder for the oxen” R. Sheshet says he does not have to repeat the
benediction. Why? Rab Judah says in the name of Rab: “A man is forbidden to eat
before he gives food to his animals.” How do we know this? Because it says in
the Torah: And I will send grass in your fields for your cattle, that you
may eat and be full. (Deut. 11:15). Note the order: animals eat first, then you
can eat.
Feed your animals – pets or cattle. Even if you forgot and have already sat
down to your meal - even if you have already said the blessing (!), get up and feed your animals first.
Even to a non-Foodie, this makes sense.
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