We're all familiar with the pasuk in Devarim וְאָכַלְתָּ֖ וְשָׂבָ֑עְתָּ וּבֵֽרַכְתָּ֙ ה׳ אֱלֹקיךָ עַל־הָאָ֥רֶץ הַטֹּבָ֖ה אֲשֶׁ֥ר נָֽתַן־לָֽךְ׃
You will eat and you'll be satiated on the good land He has given you, which is the source for Torah blessing of Birkat Hamazon.
Eat, be satiated and bless. What most people are not familiar with is the next four pesukim, which say,
הִשָּׁ֣מֶר לְךָ֔ פֶּן־תִּשְׁכַּ֖ח אֶת־יה אֱלֹהֶקיךָ
Be aware lest you forget Hashem your God…
פֶּן־תֹּאכַ֖ל וְשָׂבָ֑עְתָּ וּבָתִּ֥ים טֹבִ֛ים תִּבְנֶ֖ה וְיָשָֽׁבְתָּ
Lest you eat and you are satiated and beautiful houses, you'll build
וּבְקָֽרְךָ֤ וְצֹֽאנְךָ֙ יִרְבְּיֻ֔ן וְכֶ֥סֶף וְזָהָ֖ב יִרְבֶּה־לָּ֑ךְ וְכֹ֥ל אֲשֶׁר־לְךָ֖ יִרְבֶּֽה
And your cattle on your sheep will multiply. And your silver and your gold will multiply. And everything you have will prosper.
And then what happens?
וְרָ֖ם לְבָבֶ֑ךָ וְשָֽׁכַחְתָּ֙ את ה אֱלֹקיךָ הַמּוֹצִיאֲךָ֛ מֵאֶ֥רֶץ מִצְרַ֖יִם מִבֵּ֥ית עֲבָדִֽים׃
You're going to become arrogant and forget Hashem you God, Who took you out of Egypt.
It’s interesting that the, ‘Beware lest you forget Hashem,’ comes because you ate and you were satiated. And what's the one word that's missing? U’Barachta/You didn't bless Hashem after the eating. That means satiation is dangerous.
The Elder of Kelm says it doesn’t say, ‘Lest your heart become arrogant.’ It says V’Ram/and it will become arrogant. This is an automatic action and reaction.
If you eat and feel satisfied, you will become arrogant.
Therefore, after every V’Savata/satiation, there needs to come an Uberachta. Every time you are satiated, you must bless. This blessing actually shows up very day in Keriat Shema, when we say, “I'm going to give you grass in your fields for your animals. And you're going to eat and be satiated. Beware lest your heart becomes seduced and you veer and end up worshiping other gods and bow to them and God will get angry.” And we say this in a low tone because this is disastrous.
Where did it come from? Rashi says in Devarim 11,16 ‘You're eating and you're drinking. Beware, that man does not rebel against God because he satiated.’
Whenever the word satiated shows up, beware.
So what's the antidote? U’Berachta/Bless Hashem
This is an important rule. The U’Berachta is not only after you ate. As we saw in the pasuk above , it says you build nice houses and your cattle and sheep multiply and your money multiplies. Anytime there's satiation, there's danger, so it's a time to look back and bless God. Otherwise, arrogance will set in. The Gemara in Masechet Berachot explains the words used in the beginning of Devarim. It says V’Dezahav, but there's no such town, and it's referring to the Egel Hazahav/the Golden Calf. Moshe said to God, “The gold and silver that you gave the Jewish people, that they said enough about, that caused the sin of the golden calf.”
And they quote a saying from Rabi Yanai, “A lion does not roar when it has a box of wheat and straw. It roars when it has a box of meat.” And he says, if you have a weak thin cow, it doesn't kick its owner. Feed it some beans and it kicks its owner.
And it goes on to say the sin of the golden calf was compared to a man that had a son. He washed him, he bathed him, he did everything, he gave him money. But he put him in an improper place. And the line is, “What could the boy do and not sin ? And the Gemara continues on with a pasuk (Hoshea,13) “They were satiated, and their heart became arrogant.”
Rav Nachman Bar Yitzhak says, “I have a pasuk from the Torah.. V’ram Lebabecha, they become arrogant and forget God.”
Yet another pasuk says, “You will eat and be satisfied and become full and you'll turn away.”
And another says,
“Yeshurun/ the Jewish people became fat and they kicked.”
So that's the rule. How do you avoid kicking? How do you avoid rebelling? We want to have the best of both worlds. We want to have the gold and silver and still we want to not kick. The answer is Uberachta. When you make you berachot, literally, but also when you look back and say Hashem, thank you for all that you've given to me, that is the secret to avoiding arrogance.
B’Ezrat Hashem, we will continue to bless Hashem and God will continue to bless us, because we will stay humble and realize it's all coming from Him.