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The Power of a Blessing - Parashat Acharei Mot-Kedoshim - May 5, 2017

In the second parasha, Kedoshim, of this week’s double parasha, the Torah teaches, “When you will come to the land and plant any food tree, you will treat its fruit as forbidden; for three years they will be forbidden to you; they may not be eaten. In the fourth year, all its fruit shall be sanctified to praise Hashem.”

The final phrase of these verses, “all its fruit shall be sanctified to praise Hashem,” is understood by our Rabbis to be the source verse for the obligation to make a blessing prior to eating food – the obligation of bracha rishona. Based on this understanding, our Rabbis teach in Masechet Berachot that it is forbidden to eat food without first making the appropriate initial blessing.

This Gemara in Berachot makes a further point. The Rabbis teach, “Anyone who benefits from this world without making a blessing first is like stealing from the holy things of heaven as the verse states, ‘To G-d is the land and everything that fills it’”.

The Gemara further analyzes this teaching. There are two verses in the Book of Psalms that discuss the relationship between Hashem and the land. L'ashem ha’aretz u’mloa – to Hashem is the land and all that fills it – and another verse – hashamayim shamayim la’Hashem veha’aretz natan livnei adam – the heavens belong to Hashem and the land He gave to mankind.

On the surface, these two verses contradict each other. The first verse conveys that G-d owns the land and everything in it. The second verse conveys that G-d owns the heavens, but that He gave the land to mankind. Both statements cannot be true. Who owns the land and its content – G-d or mankind?

The Gemara offers a curious resolution: the first verse refers to the state of affairs prior to man making a blessing and the second verse refers to the state of affairs subsequent to man making a blessing.

How does a blessing transfer this “ownership” from Hashem to mankind?

Apparently, according to the first verse – everything in this world is identified exclusively for the service of Hashem. Every food, every animal, every human has a purpose – for serving Hashem. A beracha – a blessing in which man acknowledges Hashem as being the ultimate Creator of the food and hence the One who defines its purpose – gives man the right to use it. This beracha gives man the right to use the food because he has now recognized Hashem as the Creator and that the food is now an object that is being used in the service of Hashem.

The bounty of Hashem’s kindness is all around us. Through regular recognition of this kindness, the recitation of a blessing sensitizes us to this reality and helps us realize Hashem’s constant benevolence.

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