Birkat Hamazon, that is according to all opinions a berachah that is m'doraita from the Torah, because of this פסוק, ואכלת ושבעת וברכת את ה' אלקיך, that we have to bless Hashem after we eat. It is from this mitzvah of, say, making a berachah after we eat that the Chachamim learned out that you should make a berachah before you eat. Chachamim said like this, if when you're finished eating you have to thank Hashem, so certainly before you start eating, you have to certainly thank Him and ask Him to give you the food and thank Him for giving you the food. So this is the source of the Chachamim's reasoning why you have to make a berachah before you eat. But from the Torah you make a berachah after you finish eating, that's when you have to bless Hashem. The main berachah that Hashem commanded us to make was after you eat bread, which means it has to be food that satisfies a person. And we know that the only thing that really, really fills up a person is grain. Therefore, only bread, bread that is made from the חמש, one of the חמשת מיני דגן, one of the five categories, five kinds of grain, and you eat enough of it, you have to make a Birkat Hamazon, you have to bench after it. But there's another condition. If it is made to be full, if it's made, we call it לעידון ולתענוג, if it's grain, bread of grain made for the sake of pleasure, then you would not have to make Hamotzi on it, that's miderabbanan, and you would not have to say the regular Birkat Hamazon, which would mean cake. The reason, cake is also made from grain. The reason we don't bench after cake, the regular Birkat Hamazon, the regular benching, is because cake is considered לעידון ולתענוג, which means it's made for pleasure. It's made for a snack, for pleasure, but it's not made to fill, and the פסוק says ואכלת ושבעת, you have to eat in order to get full. I don't want to get into the details of the halachah of cake, but there is an argument in the poskim what is considered cake that you would not have to wash and make Hamotzi and then not have to bench.

One case is according to everybody considered cake, and that is pie. If you have dough with a filling inside of fruit, that is considered a food that is made for pleasure, that everyone agrees. And there's another opinion, which not everyone agrees, that if you make the dough with apple juice or with other kinds of juices, not with water, or at least the majority is fruit juice rather than water, then that is also considered that it's made for pleasure, not for filling. And therefore you would also on that make a mezonot, and you would not wash, and you would not have to bench the regular benching. For some reason, most people accepted that opinion. The halachah is according to that opinion, but it does say people should try to be machmir according to the other opinion also. But it is accepted that most people, I would say 99% of the people, follow this opinion that cake that is made with fruit juices is considered that it's not bread and you don't have to wash for it. Isn't there a din that if you eat enough of it, you got to get... you got to make... A din, then there is a din that if you eat enough of it you have to, you have to bench, that's- yeah, that's even from pie. But the original case of what you have to wash for and then you have to bench is if it's made for filling, fill the person rather than made for pleasure, and cake and pie and things are made for pleasure. And there are a lot of other conditions of when you have to bench, when you don't have to bench.

Even when you don't have to bench, but if it's made with grain, you have to make a berachah acharonah, you have to make a short after-berachah, which is called me'ein shalosh. It is a miniature, it is a a short version of the long blessing. If you're going to look into the Al HaMichyah and follow the words of Al HaMichyah, you will see that actually what we're doing here, we're mentioning the same things we mention in the regular benching, but just in short form. And that's why it's called berachah me'ein shalosh. Me'ein shalosh means מעין is similar or, yes, taken out of of the three brachot, of the three main brachot. But the real three brachot we say only after bread. Now the idea of benching is a very, very important thing. It's a mitzvah of the Torah obviously, just like any other mitzvah of the Torah is important, this is also important. But we see something interesting concerning the inyan of benching, how important it is for Klal Yisrael. We see like this:

According to the Torah, m'd'oraisa, from the Torah, you would only have to say the bentching if you ate enough that you are full. That's what the pasuk says: ואכלת ושבעת וברכת את ה' אלקיך. You will eat and get full. So that's if a person ate and he's still not full, you wouldn't have to bentch. The Rabbanan said that even if you ate a kezayit, you also have to bentch. So when you bentch after a kezayit, it's only a מצוה מדרבנן. M'd'oraisa, you only have to bentch if you are full. You find in the Gemara that there is a contradiction between two pesukim. There's a question, the Gemara says that the malachim, the angels, asked Hashem'. The pasuk says that Hashem' לא ישא פנים. Hashem' does not show favor, favoritism to anybody. If you do the right thing, and you deserve whatever you deserve, you're going to get it. But Hashem' doesn't show favoritism. Nevertheless, if you ever paid attention to the bracha that the kohanim give when they stand here and they duchan, when they say birkat kohanim, the bracha is ישא ה' פניו אליך. They say to the Yidden that Hashem' should show favor to you. So the malachim asked Hashem', \"Here you say that you don't show favoritism, and here you say that you will show favoritism to the Jews.\" So Hashem' answered them, \"Well, these people are special. To them I have to show favoritism. Why?\" And out of all the things that Hashem' picked to show is, He had like this: \"I said in My Torah that you only have to bentsch if you're full, and they bentsch even after they only ate a כזית. They're extra careful in the bentsching. They even bentsch, and they thank Me even after eating a כזית. So aren't they worthy for Me to show them favoritism?\" That's how Hashem' answered. So what do we see from here? That of all things, what did ה' choose to show them the greatness of a yid, of how yidden are special, is concerning bentsching, and in the bentsching itself, the fact that they bentsch after eating a little bit, and they don't wait till they are full like I asked them to. They are more machmir, more careful, they thank Me even before. So obviously, there's must be something special in this inyan of bentsching and the idea of bentsching even when you have a small amount of bread. Now

what is the idea of bentsching? So I'll just explain what Chassidut says in different places concerning the idea of bentsching, which is really more an explanation in what the idea of eating is, rather than bentsching. We once had a special class and I explained what the inyan of eating is, came to a different subject, but this will be another point the way Chassidut explains. Because ברכת המזון, which is bentsching, the word itself, ברכת המזון, means the brachah of the food. By the way, the word brachah, we know, also means hamshachah, to bring down. So really what ברכת המזון, which is the Hebrew word for bentsching, means to bring down or in other words, to conclude, to finish off what the what the eating is supposed to do. So ברכת המזון really is the accomplishment, the climax of what a meal is supposed to be. And when we will understand what we're supposed to accomplish when we eat a meal, from that we'll understand what is accomplished when you say ברכת המזון, when you bless after the meal, and you are mamshich, you continue, not only continue, to finish off, you conclude what the meal is supposed to accomplish. And Chassidut explains it based on the pasuk: וברכת את ה' אלקיך. ואכלת ושבעת, you will should eat, you will eat, you will be full, וברכת את ה' אלקיך, and you will bless את ה' אלקיך, ה' your God, but it uses the term את ה' אלקיך. The

word את is made up of two letters: alef and taf. We all know that alef is the first letter of the alef bet, and taf is the last letter of the alef bet. And this includes all the letters of the alphabet. When we write bring the first and the last, it includes all the letters of the alphabet. When we talk about the letters of the alphabet, of the alef bet, what we really mean is the concept of speech. When you speak words, so you include all the different letters. The words contain all the different letters. So when it says את ה' אלקיך, so the word et, which means from alef to taf, means the fact that ה' אלקיך, that ה' spoke. When did ה' speak? Well, the first thing is we learned just in last week's parashah that Hashem' spoke, He had 10 statements and He created the world. בעשרה מאמרות נברא העולם, the world was created through 10 sayings of Hashem'. So the concept of speech, of letter letters, of words, when we apply it to Hashem, the first thing that it applies to is to the creation of the world that came through the letters, through the words which are made up from all the letters of the alef bet, from alef to taf. And that is not something that Hashem did only 5,758 years ago. Hashem constantly keeps on recreating the world. He constantly keeps on saying the same עשרה מאמרות again. Says in Tanya, brought down from the Baal Shem Tov, that Hashem keeps on resaying the same ten statements constantly, and if Hashem would stop, then the world would stop existing. He quotes a pasuk where it says לעולם השם דברך נצב בשמים, השם, your words forever stand in heaven. Just like the heaven, the sky exists because Hashem said, one of the statements was יהי רקיע, let there be a רקיע, let there be a heaven, those words are constantly there, he constantly has to repeat it. And same is with everything else, that the whole reason the world exists is because Hashem keeps on repeating it. And that's Chassidut explains another pasuk we say in davenen every day, it says ואתה מחיה את כולם, and you give life to them all. And this is referring to now, not the time of creation, now Hashem gives it all life. So Chassidut says an interesting peshat: the word ואתה means you, but אתה is made up of alef, taf, and heh, which means the alef and the ת is again from אלף to ת, which includes all the letters, which means all the words that Hashem said. The ה, ה is five, that refers to the ה׳ מוצאות הפה. There are five parts of the person's mouth where different category different groups of words come from. Certain letters come from the teeth, certain letters come from the lips, certain from the throat, so there are five ways. For instance, the בומ״ף מהשפתיים, בומ״ף is ב, ו, מ, פ, there you have to use the lips: ב, ו, מ, פ. Then you have other letters that come have to do with the teeth, and some are from the אח״ע מהגרון, א, ח, ה, ע come from the throat. Anyway, there are five groups of letters. So when we have the word אתה, that is another way of referring to speech, to words. You have the אלף and the ת which include all the letters, and then you have the ה which is the five ways of expressing these letters, these 22 letters or 27 letters because you have the double letters. And that's what the pasuk says: ואתה מחיה את כולם, you give life to them all, it means Hashem, through repeating the עשרה מאמרות constantly, he gives life constantly to everything in the world. The truth is that not always, and not only not always, usually people do not recognize the fact that Hashem is the one that keeps on recreating and making everything exist. So what's our job? Our job is that we have to take the truth, which is the words of Hashem which is there in the whole world, and we have to be mamshich it, we have to bring it down, we have to reveal it. That's the job of the Yidden. That's the job of every person, which is similar to the job of Adam HaRishon, and again we're coming from Parshas Bereishis. So we

learn in Parshas Bereishis an interesting thing: it says there that Hashem asked Adam HaRishon to name all the animals. When we spoke about names I mentioned this Midrash, and it says that the malachim, complaining, said, \"What's so special about this human being that you made?\" So Hashem said to them, \"Let's see if you could name the names of all the animals,\" and they tried and they couldn't. Then he asked Adam HaRishon, and Adam HaRishon said yes. So an ox, it says he called a shor, and a cow he called a parah, and a horse he called a sus, everything he gave a name. Hashem said to the malachim, \"You see? חכמתו גדולה מחכמתכם, his chochmah, his wisdom is greater than yours.\" So the mefarshim ask a question: what's so special about giving a name? Why couldn't they think of a name? Anybody could make something up, if you want to decide that this is called shulchan, they could have decided also, why do you have to be so smart, what's so special about doing that? So the Shelah, of the greatest mekubalim, answers: you can't just give a name, and I explained it when we spoke about names, you can't just give a name to decide that this and this word will mean this and this thing. The name that he that you're supposed to give is supposed to fit, the name is supposed to fit to the characteristics of the object. The word shor for instance, שין ואו ריש, fits to the source of the ox. In other words, Adam HaRishon was able to look into the higher spiritual into the higher worlds and see what is the root, the spiritual root of an ox, and based on that he was able to decide that the word shor expresses the root of the ox. And that's the specialty of his chochmah. It wasn't just a decision. Chassidut says that's why a name that's given in English or in any other language doesn't mean anything because that's just a decision made by human beings. We decided that these and these three letters will mean this. Chair, c-h-a-i-r, means a chair. But there's no connection between the word chair and a chair, and there's no connection between the word chair and the root of the chair in the higher worlds. But in Lashon Kodesh the name of every different thing is because that's in the shoresh. That's what the Shelah says. So the Rebbe asked the question, well, why couldn't the malachim see the shoresh? Malachim are up there and they're closer to the root. So they should certainly certainly see the shoresh. How is it possible that Adam Harishon could see and they couldn't? So the Rebbe says a different peshat. He adds a deeper peshat to what the Shelah meant. The Shelah didn't mean that they couldn't see. They could see just as well as him. What you needed by the name was that the name should be able to be mamshich, should be able to bring down from that high level into the physical object the way it's down here, that the root of the object should be felt, should be seen in the object the way it's down here. And that the malachim can't do. The malachim are in a higher level. They're very high, they're very spiritual, but they have no connection to this physical world, so they cannot be mamshich, they cannot bring down that spirituality into this physical world. Point number two. Probably a gilgul neshamah of some We need a doctor for this. Yes. The job never ends. Something with nothing. And this is what Adam Harishon was special about. Adam Harishon was able to be mamshich. Not only was he able to see what's going on in the shoresh, in the root of every physical object, he was able to connect it to bring it down. And that's what Hashem said is the job of Adam Harishon, of the human being, to connect the spiritual shoresh, the spiritual root, and bring it down in a physical way that it should be felt in the physical thing. And he was able to do it by giving it a name. That was said about the first human being, and that was the mission given to every human being, to every Yid, throughout all the later generations. The idea is to be mamshich, to bring down from the ruchniyut, from the spiritual source of every object, to bring it down in a physical way, it should be felt in a physical way. And this is the idea of actually of eating. When Hashem wants us to eat, and he wants us to eat, he created the world, and if he created the world like you have to eat, obviously that's what he wants, the reason for that is that by doing that we are mamshich, we bring out within the food its shoresh, its root. The root of everything is the Dvar Hashem or the words of Hashem, like we said before, from the Aleph to the Tav, that Hashem is the one that makes it exist. So in every physical object you have the Godliness that's there, the Dvar Hashem, the words of Hashem, but it's hidden. And you have to be mamshich it, you have to reveal it. And to reveal it you have to work, and the work is by the eating. When a person eats leshem shamayim, when a person eats with the proper intentions, eats with the kavanah that he will serve Hashem because of the food that he ate, that itself reveals, brings out in the food its true shoresh, its true root and what is really hidden in the food, which is the words of Hashem. Now we don't see it with a physical eye, but it transforms it because he uses it for the sake of Hashem. That's the reason it says that you have to eat only after davenen. You're not allowed to eat before davenen. The only time you're allowed to eat before davenen is if it helps you daven, which is the reason why by chasidim they're very lenient in this ide- idea of eating before davenen, because in our generation people are generally weaker than they used to be and therefore davenen, daven a little later, you're hungry and if you're hungry, disturbs your concentration. So that's why we're lenient in the idea of eating before davenen. But it's not because we hold that you're allowed to eat before davenen. There is no such thing. The Shulchan Aruch says the halachah is you're not allowed to eat before davenen. And who are more than chasidim who keep halachah, that you have to keep the halachah. The halachah says that if the reason you eat is because it should help you daven, you're allowed. But otherwise you can't. What is the reason why you can't eat before davenen? The reason is because in order to have this koach of what eating is supposed to accomplish, the idea of revealing the spirituality within the physical food, that you could only do after you daven. Because when you daven, that's when we are fighting with the evil forces of the world, so to speak, which means we think of evil forces as terrible things, as the devils. Evil forces is every physical thing is an evil force. Every physical thing which covers up on the truth, everything that doesn't reveal the truth, which is Hashem, which is the source of everything, that is called an evil force. And during davenen it's a time when you actually fight with the, we call it in lashon kodesh the העלם והסתר, with the concealment of godliness. And during davenen a person is supposed to think and try to reveal in his mind the truth. And that's the fight with evil forces, and that's why they compare davenen to a fight with a sword. We say, it's a pasuk in Tehillim and we say it in davenen every day: רוממות קל בגרונם וחרב פיפיות בידם. רוממות קל בגרונם means the praise of Hashem is in their throat, which is davenen, וחרב פיפיות בידם, and you have a sword with two, both sides, what's it called, a double-edged sword in your hand. What's the connection? You have the praise of Hashem in your mouth, in your throat, and a double-edged sword in your hand. Because when you daven, you have a double-edged sword. It's to symbolize that we are fighting a war. You're fighting a war with the kelipot, with the yetzer hara, you're fighting a war with evil forces, with the העלם והסתר, with the concealment of godliness. And during davenen you're supposed to reach a level where you

recognize the truth. The end is, when you come to the end of davenen, closer to the end, you come to שמע ישראל, ואהבת את השם אלקיך, you realize the truth of השם אחד, השם is one. ואהבת את השם אלקיך, you shall love Hashem your God, and you're supposed to reach a level of loving Hashem your God. The word ואהבת, interesting, the word אהבה, which means love, comes from a shoresh, the root word is אבה. אבה means to want, because that's what the idea of love is: when you want something badly. ואהבת את השם אלקיך means a yid is supposed to reach a point where he really wants Hashem, and he realizes the truth that everything is Hashem. Well, after you finish davenen, then when you reach that level, then you first can sit down to eat to accomplish what you're supposed to accomplish for eating. Before you start davenen, it says you're still on a low, low level. It says in the expression in the Gemara is why can't you eat before davenen? Because before davenen your neshama is still in your nose, it says. And after davenen, that's when your neshama goes into its proper place.

What do you mean the neshama is in your nose? It's an expression. What it means is the neshama did not enter the person. The neshama means the holy soul that a yid has. It didn't enter the person means that the person doesn't feel what the neshama feels. It didn't penetrate into the person. The neshama feels the truth, feels godliness. And a person who doesn't feel it, that means his neshama didn't penetrate, he didn't absorb it. So in the beginning, when you wake up, before you daven, your neshama, you didn't absorb your neshama yet. That means you don't see the truth. That's why it says when you start davenen, davenen is like a ladder, it says, that stands on the floor and you walk up. It says in Zohar that the ladder of Yaakov Avinu in his dream was davenen. So it starts off with the ground, because when you start off you're still low, you don't feel the truth. But when you start walking the ladder you say that you reach shamayim. So when you reach that level, then you're able to sit down and to eat, because then you could accomplish with the food what you're supposed to, what is expected to accomplish by eating. That's why it says during the meal, we also continue that same fight. The

Zohar says: נהמא אפיק חרבא ומיכול, that when you come to eat bread, and bread is only a symbol of any other food, you're eating it while you're holding a sword. The same way it says by davenen, that davenen is חרב פיפיות, a double-edged sword in your hand when you daven, it says when you eat, you have a sword in your hand. Why? Because you're continuing what started by davenen. When you daven and you reach the point when you really understand the truth, then you have to take that and sit down by the meal and utilize, take that, take that feeling that you got, that level that you reached of understanding the truth of godliness, and now you have to apply it to the food. So you're you continuing your fight now when you're actually involved in gashmiyut. See, during davenen it's more theoretical, because you're you're a person that's involved in gashmiyut, and you start in your mind to realize the truth of Godliness. But when you sit down to eat, it's more practical, you're actually involved with food. And what you have to do is realize the truth that the food is only created by Hashem, and it's the whole existence is only through Hashem. So you again, you're continuing your fight, and that's why it's like a sword. I

mentioned last time, I believe, that the Rebbe once said that that's the reason why, when we eat, we should use a knife. You eat with a knife and a fork. What's the idea of using a knife? Because when you eat with a knife, it reminds you that you have that sword in your hand, and you're fighting klipah when you're eating. This is the whole idea of food. This is what's to accomplish with food. The main food, it says, I mean, nowadays it sounds like a, but oh the way it used to be is bread. Everything else was considered together with the bread. Everything else was called מלפפת את הפת. Fish and meat and all the eggs, everything else was to eat with the bread, to give the bread some taste. But the main part of the meal was bread. And that's why, whenever it talks about a meal, doesn't always use the term seudah, which means a meal, uses the term bread, לחם, because the main part of a meal is bread. And bread is the only thing, the main thing that satisfies. Actually, it says a person should not eat meat till he's full. He should never become full on meat, even if it can make you full, but you shouldn't. Why bread? Because bread is צומח. We know that the world is made up of דומם, צומח, חי, מדבר. צומח is the plant life, and then you have the animal life, and then you have human being. Meat and fish, these are חי. It's a higher level. We're talking here about elevating and realizing the truth not only in something which is a higher level, we have to penetrate into the lower level. So by bread, which is lower, which is צומח, that's where the meal is really, and that's where a Yid is able to accomplish of eating l'shem Shamayim.

When you sit down to bench, what you're really doing is, is Birkat Hamazon. That finishes off what you were supposed to accomplish throughout the meal. When you bench, and you thank Hashem for everything, then you finish off what you started with the meal. What's the idea of benching? Benching is, you say ברוך אתה השם אלקינו מלך העולם הזן את העולם, you say, you tell Hashem, thank Him, and He is the one that feeds the world. In other words, you express in words what you were supposed to have in mind when you eat. You express in words what the accomplishment of your meal was supposed to be. The accomplishment of the meal was supposed to be to realize that everything comes from Hashem, and the food comes from Hashem, and there's nothing but Hashem, and He is the one that gives you everything. So when you eat, that's what you're supposed to think, and then finally at the end you say it in words, הזן את העולם כולו, you know, Hashem is the one that feeds the whole world. Hashem gave me this food. So then here you bring out the fact of what's hidden within the food and what's hidden within the person's purpose of why Hashem wants him to eat. It's interesting, it says that the

first bracha of benching, which is הזן, ברכת הזן, was established by Moshe Rabbeinu. See, in Chumash it doesn't say which words to use when you bench. All it says is ואכלת ושבעת וברכת, you should eat and you're full, וברכת את השם אלקיך, you should bless Hashem. Now, according to that pasuk, what do you have to say? Whatever you want. You could make any bracha, just as long as you're blessing Hashem. But the Chachamim came and they established a certain nusach, a certain form of words, a certain structure. Which one of the Chachamim, who of them did it? So it says like this: The first bracha of הזן את העולם till ברוך אתה השם הזן את הכל was established by one of the greatest Chachamim, none other than Moshe Rabbeinu. Moshe Rabbeinu was one who received the Torah, but he was also one of the Chachamim. So right away, he established the bracha. When did he do it? When they had the man. The man that came from heaven and they ate the man, so there was, some say they made a bracha, first bracha, that they made ברוך אתה השם אלקינו מלך העולם המוציא לחם מן השמים. But we say המוציא לחם, you take out bread from aretz, and they used to make מן השמים. But that's not a commandment of the Torah. Even if they made it, it was already then, right in the desert, already considered a mitzvah d'Rabbanan. But benching was a mitzvah of the Torah. But the wording of benching, so the first bracha Moshe Rabbeinu established for the man, when they ate the man. The second bracha, which is על הארץ ועל המזון, נודה לך, and then a ברכה, ברוך אתה השם על הארץ ועל המזון, that was established by Yehoshua, also one of the great people. He was the successor of Moshe Rabbeinu. And the others were established later. But we see an interesting thing that the bracha that we make now, the benching, the first bracha of benching that we say now now is basically, not basically, is the same bracha that they said for the man. The idea is that we have to feel that the food that we have now is like the man. That's really what it is. When they had the man, it wasn't hard to feel everything comes from Hashem. First of all, there was no other way. The man came min hashamayim. They knew they didn't grow, they didn't plant, it came from from heaven. It was very, not only very easy, everyone felt and knew that this came from Hashem. And especially that it came every day. See, the one question that's asked in the mefarshim, why did Hashem make the man come every single day? Why didn't he make come once a week, once a month, you'd store it in your storage and then you'd have for a month? You know what would happen? It would come once a month, so the first day you would see it comes min hashamayim, wow, the next day you get used to it, and then you forget. Then you think, where did the man, no it comes from the storage room, you know. So you forget from where the source. Like they once asked a kid, \"Where does milk come from?\" \"Comes from the bottle, comes from, you know, from the dairy.\" Oh, it comes from a cow. So Hashem made that man should come every day, so every, so it will remind constantly that you should know you have to rely on Hashem. That's the man. What we're supposed to feel when we eat is exactly like the man, that in truth it's like the man. The fact that a person planted it and it grew because of the laws of nature doesn't change the fact that really this is from Hashem. And that's what we're supposed to feel when we eat, and that's what we express at the time when we bentch. So the bentching is the end result or the climax of what the whole meal is. And it's only made by bread mainly because bread is the thing which actually satisfies a person. Now, m'd'Oraisa we said you only have to bentch if you are full. Rabbanan said you have to bentch even if you eat just a kezayit. Because the whole accomplishment of bentching is that a person is supposed to feel that his whole being comes from Hashem, everything he has comes from Hashem. So when you eat and you are satisfied and you are full, then you really feel that my whole being, now that I am full, your, my being is full from the food, and that's when you're supposed to recognize the truth of Hashem. But the Yidden, Chachamim who represent all the Yidden, are on such a level that even when they're not full, they also reach a point where they realize and recognize everything comes from Hashem. And that's why Hashem was so proud of the Yidden just for that. And when he told the malachim, \"Don't they deserve that I should show them favoritism?\" So what did he pick out of everything? So many things that the Yidden do special, out of everything, that they bentch even when they don't eat till they're satisfied, even when they just bentch when they, where they just ate a כזית. Because to Hashem that shows a lot. That shows that they recognize the truth of Hashem at every point. Not only when they're full and then they, then they say, \"Well, this is my whole being,\" and then, then they start thinking that this all came from Hashem. Even for a little bit, they also recognize the truth and it brings out within them then this feeling that Hashem is הזן את העולם, השם is the one that gives it to the world, feeds the world, and you recognize the truth. So that's why Hashem was specially proud of that berachah. Now it's interesting that in bentching the way we have it now is that we have four berachot. Now it

says that four berachot are כנגד, they're parallel to the four letters of שם הויה, of Hashem's name. The word berachah, as we said before, means המשכה, to bring down, because the bentching is the part that brings down the truth of what's hidden in the food, brings it out into the open, what you're supposed to think during the meal and this brings it out. And since Hashem who created the world, his name is made up of four letters, so therefore the bentching is also made up of four ברכות, כנגד the four letters of שם הויה. We also find that we, at one point we mention four expressions: we say Hashem gives everything to us מידו המלאה הפתוחה הקדושה והרחבה, from his full hand, from his open hand, from his holy hand, and from his broad or wide hand. It's interesting that the Baal Shem Tov, in the Baal Shem Tov Siddur, that the, there is a siddur that the Rebbe has that is handwritten, that the Baal Shem Tov used to use. Actual, that's the one that the Baal Shem Tov used to use. And there it doesn't say הקדושה with a קוף, which means the holy one, but it says הגדושה with a גימל, which comes from the word גדוש which means overfull, overflowing. So it means מידו המלאה, from his full hand, הפתוחה, the open, and הגדושה, holy one or overflowing, and בהרחבה, the wide hand, and he gives it to us. He gives, Hashem from that hand gives us the food. But these four expressions it also says is כנגד the four letters of the שם הויה. And the reason is for the same thing because since we have to reveal Hashem within the food, that's why we say these brachot and that's why we have these four letters keneged these four, because this is what reveals. There are other

details when it comes to bentshing, for instance that if we have three people together, then we should make a mezuman. You have to say in the beginning let's bentsh and then you say יהי שם השם מבורך. There's an extra part to the bentshing, and this combines all three and makes them into one, which means because it's when you have three people together, then and you discuss basically what's the truth, what's hidden in the world, the truth of the world, it's much easier to get there. One helps the other. So that's why by bentshing there's a special thing of making a mezuman, because the mezuman, the fact that we combine ourselves, we one eat with another and we discuss it together, basically that's really what it is, that reveals, brings out within the person the feeling and understanding even better. So there are other details and bentshing halachot which we're not going to go through, just want to mention one thing, that it says that a guest when he bentshes, he should give a blessing to the baal habayit. Now we don't actually have in our nusach, in the nusach HaAri, in other nuschaot, the special prayer that is said by a guest for the baal habayit. Other siddurim do have it. But even if we don't have those words, but the idea is there. And that's also for the same idea, because if someone invited you to eat, you have to show appreciation to the person that gave you, which is not a contradiction to the fact that you believe everything comes from Hashem. But you know that what Hashem gave you was through this shaliach. So you have to thank Hashem and you have to thank the shaliach, because if he's the one that gave you, so he's the one that brought you to connect yourself to the truth of what's hidden in the food, which is understanding Hashem. We

see Avraham Avinu, when Avraham Avinu was mekarev many Yidden to Hashem, to recognize Hashem, one of the main things how he did it was through bentshing. He used to feed them in the desert, and at the end when they would thank him, he would say, \"Don't thank me. ברכו למי שאכלנו משלו, thank השם, בענטש השם.\" And it was through the bentshing that he proved to them, showed them that Hashem is Hashem, and then you have to recognize as the truth, and etcetera, etcetera. So this again shows the strong force of what bentshing is. And that's why this brachah is a brachah from the Torah, because this is basically, this expresses basically the whole foundation of what Hashem wants with Yiddishkeit as a whole. The whole idea of Torah and mitzvot and Yiddishkeit is to bring out the truth of Hashem in the world, or using the term of the Midrash which Chassidut brings, to make a דירה בתחתונים, to make a dwelling place for Hashem in this world. In the bentching that's where we see it, because that's where we express the fact that the food, which is a most, very, very important part of the person's being, in the food we say and we recognize the truth, that actually brings out within the person that he should feel the truth of Hashem. And when you feel the truth of Hashem in your most important part of your life, automatically it'll be felt in everything else that you do. So comes out that bentching is a fundamental mitzvah in Yiddishkeit. And therefore, it is very important to follow the halachot of bentching and do the bentching in the proper way. And bentching also has a connection to Mashiach, because we see in bentching we also mention מלכות בית דוד, ועל מלכות בית דוד משיחך, and we mention the kingdom of Dovid, and we thank Hashem for the land He gave us, which means Mashiach will bring us back to Eretz Yisrael. Actually the pasuk says, \"ואכלת ושבעת וברכת את השם אלקיך על הארץ הטובה.\" You'll eat, you'll be full, and you'll thank Hashem, bless Hashem on the good land that He gave you. So it's connected to the land which we will have 100% back when Mashiach will come. So it says that bentching is also something which hastens Mashiach, hastens the geulah. And therefore, if we're careful with bentching, Mashiach will come very, very soon. Yes. You mentioned the word וברכת את השם אלקיך, את. What is it? אלף תו, the letters אלף תו, the letter wouldn't it have been more appropriate, just in speculation, wouldn't it have been more appropriate to add a מם, then if you have the word אמת instead of אלף תו you have an אמת, אלף מם תו, and Hashem is אמת? Yeah, but it wouldn't fit to the pasuk. What should it say, וברכת אמת השם אלקיך? The word, the פשוט פשט has to remain. You have to be able to read the pasuk in simple פשט, which means את השם אלקיך, you should thank Hashem. But the remez, the hint that's hinted in the pasuk is for the letters אלף תו. You said before about the ברכת התורה, you made a comparison between birkat haTorah and the bentshing. Now, if you wash and you eat with bread, eat with bread three times a day, so you got to bentsh three times. Exactly. Birkat haTorah, you make the berachah of לימוד התורה in the morning, covers the whole day. So Torah comes before bentshing, the bentshing comes from Torah like as you said, mide'oraita, so why you only need one berachah on לימוד התורה as opposed to bentshing? Okay, I'll repeat the question. We make a berachah for Torah, and that's mide'oraita, according to most poskim. We make a berachah when we eat, bentshing, and that's also mide'oraita. Birkat haTorah we make once a day in the morning. It says like this: The reason we make once a day is because every moment of the day a person is obligated to learn, whenever you have a free moment. So, therefore, there is never a time when we consider an interruption from the berachah, because the obligation is always there. But by bentshing, it's not like that. When you finish bentshing, you're finished with the meal. Finished. If you decide to eat again, it's a new thing, so you have to do the thing over again. You have to make a berachah again, you have to bentsh again. Because there is nothing that connects the previous one with this one. While learning, if you learn now and you learn five hours later, even though there is a lapse of five hours, but the obligation was still there, and therefore that connects it, and one berachah is enough. Now there's something, you mentioned hemshech. Yeah. Now there are, particularly bachurim, before they take a bite, a coffee in the morning or with a cake or whatever, some of them will put on will put on tefillin and say Keriat Shema before they eat. What's the What's the mekor of that, or what's the what's the sevara of that? Okay. We're not allowed to eat before davenen. Right. But if

it's for the sake of davenen, it helps you daven, then you're allowed. Then there's another din: You're not allowed to eat before you do a mitzvat aseh, a positive commandment that you have to do, you can't eat before. Now in the morning, we have a positive mitzvah of saying Shema, which is a מצוה מדאורייתא from the Torah. We have a positive mitzvah of putting on tefillin. And therefore we cannot eat before we say Shema or before we put on tefillin. And therefore, that we could do by just putting on tefillin and saying Shema, and that's it. And therefore, you should say Shema before you eat. See, putting on tefillin already, some say since tefillin goes together with Shema and you will put it on later by davenen, you don't have to put on tefillin. Some say you do, some say you don't. But before Shema you can't eat. Just like, here is another example: We eat before davenen because it's for the sake of davenen. Rosh Hashanah we don't. Why? Because it's before shofar. You can't eat before a mitzvah. That's a different reason. The same thing here: You can't eat before Shema. Therefore, you have to say Shema and then you can eat. But the fact that you can't eat before davenen, that is overweighed by the fact that this will help you daven. If it will help you daven, then really when you eat, it's not eating, it's really part of your davenen. And

I'll repeat the story again, that story that, I think it's the the the Alter Rebbe's, no, the Mitteler Rebbe's daughter-in-law, think so. Sarah Rivka? הא? Gita? That was the Mitteler Rebbe's sister. Mitteler Rebbe's daughter-in-law. She was very frum and she used to daven every day, and she obviously wouldn't eat before davenen. She was very sick at one point and the doctors told her that she has to eat as soon as she gets up in the morning, not as soon, has to eat early in the morning. So what did she do? She didn't want to eat before davenen, so she got up very early, she davent very, very early and so she would be able to eat. So her father-in-law, the Mitteler Rebbe, told her she shouldn't do that. She should daven regular time and she should eat before davenen. And this is what he said to her: ס'איז בעסער עסן צו דאווענען ווי דאווענען צו עסן. It's better that you eat so you should daven, than you should daven so you should eat. What she was doing, she davent so she should be able to eat right away. So the whole purpose of the davenen is to eat. While if you eat first, then your purpose of eating is davenen. So when you eat before davenen, really it's part of davenen. But before Shema, there is no reason, you could say Shema and then eat, so therefore you should say Shema. Before shofar, shofar is pashut. Yes. Now you

mentioned that the Rebbe said that we should eat with a knife in our hand. Yeah. And yet we see many tzadikim who not who ate without utensils. Not a knife, not even a fork. Okay. There are a few There are a few פרטים to what you said. First, tzadikim used to eat fish Shabbos without without utensils. For one reason was they should, since it's a mitzvah to eat, Shabbos is a mitzvah to eat, so the mitzvah should be done without any chatzitzah, without any separation, should be their hand, their hands. There's a remez, there's a pasuk that says: וכל דגת הים בידכם נתנו, and the fish of the of the water was given to your hands. So they used to eat with That's number one. That's for that, because it's a mitzvah to give the mitzvah to the hand. It's similar to They once asked one of the, I think it was the Alter Rebbe, he used to go to his Rebbe, to the Maggid. He didn't go by wagon, he used to go by foot. Took him a long time, so they asked him, \"Why do you do that?\" So he says, \"Going to the Rebbe is a mitzvah. Should I give the mitzvah to the horse?\" Same thing, I should give away the mitzvah to the to the fork? So they ate with the hands. That's one thing. The other thing, that some tzadikim, many did not use a knife. And always chasidim always used to look on eating with a fork and a knife like, you know, very balebatish, very very gashmiusdike. So I remember, ask The truth is, I must say that Baruch Hu, Baruch Hashem, in yeshivah, the yeshivah didn't even serve any knives. Just they ate, you know, like a, like you would imagine of a bachur. Till that time when the Rebbe said that, when was it? It was Pesach, once by the Seder, the Rebbe used to eat upstairs. And the bachurim and other people used to come to watch. I remember I was standing there and the Rebbe, in the middle of by the meal, they were talking, so the Rebbe said this. And this is what the Rebbe said. The

Rebbe said: Don't look at me that I don't use a knife. And he explained himself: Why don't I use a knife? He says because my father didn't use a knife. Why didn't his father use a knife? So he said, because in order to use a knife when you eat, you have to use both hands. His father did not want to use both hands for the meal, why? Because ערב יום כיפור is a mitzvah to eat, to show the chavivut, the the the love for the mitzvah, he would use both hands when he ate. In order to make a difference between ערב יום כיפור and the whole year, he made sure a whole year not to eat with both hands. That's why you would see by the Rebbe also when he would eat soup, and some people eat, and you eat with a spoon, and then when it gets very low, dip the the plate with your hand and then eat, the Rebbe wouldn't do it. Cuz when you did that, you would use two hands. So the Rebbe said, I don't use two hands like my father didn't. And I have a mitzvah, he said, of kibbud av, and that kibud av applies even after he passed away, so I won't do it. But he turned around, I remember like today, turned around, the Rebbe said to the bochurim, says: But you, he said, should eat with a knife. And he said, and the Munkatcher write that this reminds us of נהמא אפום חרבא לאכול, that when you eat you're holding a sword in your hand. Then our yeshivah started serving knives, and they started eating with a knife. So you ask why some tzadikim didn't, because, for this reason maybe, but otherwise you should. Yes. Yeah, the

Rebbe said that we should eat before davenen because it'll help you daven. But the Rebbe gave out mezonos before dav- When did he give out mezonos before davenen? No, what did he- No, I don't think it's not true, but like this: Maybe what they say that before he became Rebbe, they say, like this, who would ever see him eat? No one would see him eat. But if, but it came Sukkos, he would come to the sukkah in 770 to bentch etrog. And you- see this is another example, you can't eat before etrog, just like you can't eat before shofar. So he couldn't eat his cake, if he wanted to eat before davenen, he couldn't eat it at home before he bentched etrog, because he bentched etrog in 770. So what he used to do, he used to come with the etrog, bentch etrog, and then sit down in the sukkah, open up his his package of cake, and eat the cake in 770 in the sukkah before davenen. And then they say, not only he ate himself, if there were people around, he would offer them to eat. And they say that somebody asked him then, this was before he was Rebbe yet, \"No, how could- if you want to eat before davenen in private, privately, but in public? Son-in-law of the Rebbe, he was a son-in-law of the previous Rebbe.\" So he answered: \"I have nothing to be ashamed about. If this helps davenen, then there is no no problem, then you're allowed to, then it's a-\" So maybe that's what they mean that he gave out cake, like this. Maybe then he gave some people cake, yes. On the mezonos, certain products with fruit juice, if it was let's say their constituents considered mezonos, or is there a certain amount that... No, the majority should be juice. The majority has to be... The majority of the liquid has to be... Real fruit juice. Real fruit juice. Yes. Two quick questions. Yes. Is there a minimum amount of bread that you can have without having to say... The blessing before you eat you have to say no matter what, but the blessing after the meal, if you don't eat a kezayis, which is the size of an olive, which is an ounce, solid ounce, an ounce of solid or whatever you call it, solid, then you don't you don't have to say the after-blessing. So a slice of bread... No, a slice of bread... A half a slice of bread, let's say a waiter... A half a slice of bread, you takeh wouldn't have to bentch after it. You wouldn't have to bentch after. But it feels pretty funny. I advise people, if you eat a half a slice, eat another piece and then bentch. The second part is: I've seen

I've seen both ways with somebody that eats, let's say, a slice of pizza. Some people say hamotzi, some people say mezonos. First of all, depends what the pizza is made out of. Dough and cheese. I know, but what is the dough made out of? If the dough is made with apple juice, then it's a mezonos. If the dough is made with water, then the dough is hamotzi. Now, I can't speak for different pizza shops, but many Nowadays, many pizza shops started making their pizza with water, and therefore you would have to wash. The only thing is, there is an sevara that because it's covered with cheese, it's like a pie. Now Yeah, but the Alter Rebbe says clearly in ברכת הנהנין that fruit is called a snack, is called mezonos. He has He mentions: cheese is not called a snack. If you have a pie filled with cheese, you have to wash. But it's because it's that's called food. But some do want to say that since the time of the Alter Rebbe... to now, things change. See, halachah doesn't change, but gashmiyus changes. And halachah is based on the facts. And therefore you would, according to to some say that nowadays to eat pizza that's called like a snack, because it's covered like a pie, and therefore even if it's made with water, the fact that it has the cheese on it makes it makes the mezonot. And that's the difference of opinion. What about cheesecake? A cheesecake is made basically with with fruit juice. Yes or no, but we're talking about if it's made with water and it's made with a regular dough, but it's a filling of cheese. A filling of cheese doesn't make it into mezonot. But a cheesecake does. But it has oil. Ah, yeah, that's different. But it's again, it's made in a different way. It's not like, we're not talking about a dough with a filling of cheese. That's not cheesecake. Cheesecake is that you make the dough of the cheese, that's a different story. Oil is not like water? Oil is like juice, yeah. Yeah. Rabbi? That's what I understand, based on what you That's, see this doesn't really depend on the individual. When we talk about things that you don't have to wash, they are mezonot, then there is a measurement, a minimum amount of how much you could eat and not have to wash, and not have to bentch. But then there is a certain amount that if you eat that much, that's called a קביעת סעודה, that's called it's an established meal, so it doesn't depend on the individual, it depends on what the halachah is. So, there is two things:

there is a certain amount that if you sit down to a formal meal, even if you eat mezonot, you have to wash. It's a a certain a certain amount. Then if you don't sit down for a formal meal, still if you eat a lot of it, it's also considered a meal and you have to bentch, but that doesn't depend on the individual, that depends on the שיעור that the שולחן ערוך says, and that would have to, that is a part of the halachah. Rabbi, if you eat bread Bread with some other things. Bread with other things. Right. But you have to continue, not more than 72 minutes, right? Right, right. Yeah. Yes. Rabbi, birkat hamazon, the brachot you make beforehand, you said it was, isn't it more so, more of a of a רשות that you're asking permission to eat God's, it's God's food? Right, right, right. Rather than than you you said you were thanking. The word baruch means to thank, to bless, to thank. But it's also, it also includes, right, asking permission. It says if you don't make a brachah beforehand, it's like you're stealing. That's why I'd like you Right, right. Both things, yes. Bread stuffing. I always wondered, you have meals where you sit down, you don't have bread, you have bread stuffing, okay, the turkey, you have that stuffing, and you have quite a bit of it, and it's the same thing? What happened to the bread stuffing? They they grind it and they mix it with other stuff, it becomes something else. It's like matzah meal, when you make All pieces of bread, all kinds of pieces of bread, it's still, they don't deter it, so they And you still could tell it's bread? Oh, yeah, it's like bread with more moisture, it's like dough. Like pieces of bread, then it's a, yeah, then you might have to wash, yeah. Yeah. Earlier you earlier you said that the dough with a piece of cheese on pizza can be mezonot According to some, thing. How about take a piece of, mamash take a piece of cheese and melt it on a piece of bread, what's the difference? That's not baked together. That's not baked together. Here we're talking when you bake it, you're baking it as a pie. What is it, you take a piece of bread and you put some strawberries, some some some grapes on it, some some fruit on it. Here the the the the cake itself is made that way, yes. Are the four,

four brachot of birkat hamazon, we're told the three first were were, uh, attributed to Moshe Rabbeinu? One is, you're right. The other ones were made later. The third one was made by the chachamim, by the Anshei Knesset HaGedolah later. The fourth one it says clearly was made by the הרוגי ביתר. There was a city Beitar that was killed, so many Yidden were killed. And then later, after they died, they wouldn't even allow them to be buried. And many many years later, the government gave her a permission to be buried, and the bodies were all complete. They didn't decay. So, that's when the chachamim made the ברכה הטוב והמטיב, ברוך אתה, thanking Hashem for that. So, it's thanking for the food, but they made it after they decided to thank Hashem for what happened then, that's 50 years later. So, there were three stages: first brachah משה, then Yehoshua, and the chachamim later decided to add another brachah, and then by הרוגי ביתר they decided to make the fourth brachah. How is it attributed to Moshe Rabbeinu, food? I mean, the man in the midbar? How did they eat it? Yeah, yeah, sure. Yes, he was Croutons, okay, and you use them in a salad or a soup, and you eat them, is it just like eating bread? Yeah, yeah. Yes. There was there's one halachah that sort of split by if you wash for a piece of bread and you have very little of it, but you have enough with the rest of the food to to make an after-brachah, eating and then bentching? What? Yeah, yeah. Well, על המחיה, yeah. Yeah. I have a question. They have like they sell a meal and and I don't satisfied because I ate, I usually eat that— No, no, no, no, no, no. When we say that you make, even if you're not satisfied, it's all bread. Mid'Oraita, it's bread if you're satisfied; derabbanan, it's bread even if you're not satisfied. But if it's not bread, then you don't have to say Birkas Hamazon. Yes? Is there a shittah, first of all, is there a shittah to hold that when having finished eating fleishigs, and that doesn't count, no six hours, it's just— Between fleishigs? Between fleishigs and milk. Fleishigs and milk, but that's you have to bentch. But it doesn't say six hours counts to bentch? No, no, I'm saying is there is there an opinion that if she didn't or let's say you didn't say Birkas Hamazon, right, you're allowed to hold off until six hours? You're allowed to? Between 7:00 and 8:00 to eat a piece of pastry? Ah. Wait, no, but I'm saying some hold that if you don't bentch, until you don't bentch, you cannot count. That's for the others, right? But

not that the six hours starts from bentching. You have to have six hours plus bentching. That's true. That's true. Yes. All right. But bentching, is that where the six hours start? No, that's not. You have to wait six hours, but let's say you wait six hours and you didn't bentch yet, then you can't. You got to bentch anyway. Six hours plus bentching. Then, no, it's no good. All right, thank you everybody for coming. Again, next week from now on it will be 8:00. Two weeks we hope to have the arrangement for the tapes. Please there's plenty of refreshments left, eat. We are looking for