Today we will discuss the first beracha mentioned by Rabbenu Avraham Ben HaRambam, which is Birkat Hamazon. He chose it because Birkat Hamazon is the one beracha that is clearly from the Torah, as it says, V’Achalta V’ Savata Uberachta/Eat, be satiated and make a blessing. Eat and be satiated refers to bread, and not just any satiation, as the Gemara tells us.
To show us how important Birkat Hamazon is, he explains the following hiddush:
It’s a Halacha to wash our hands with Mayim Achronim before Birkat Hamazon. Simply speaking, the purpose is that, as the Gemara says, in the days of old they had a salt called Melech Sedomit, which was dangerous, so they washed their hands to remove this salt. Today, we might not have that salt, so if that were the only reason , we might not have to do Mayim Achronim. But the Gaon of Vilna says, regarding anything that’s in the Gemara, they may give a reason, but there are many reasons. Rabbenu Avraham Ben HaRambam’s hiddush is that just like you wash your hands before you pray , out of respect for the Tefila (we wash Netliat Yadayim with a beracha before Shaharit, and we wash before mincha and arbit as well, as the Halacha tells us) we wash Mayim Achronim as preparation for our Birkat Hamazon, which is a Mitzvah of the Torah.
That just goes to show the importance of Birkat Hamazon, and the first beracha is there to point out that Hashem is the זן Zan, which means He brings the bounty of sustenance to everything- and he stresses, it’s not just to us. As David Hemelech says, Noten Lechem L’kol Basar He gives to all animals.
God gives food to all the human beings and all the animals, and to the ravens that call out. But even more than that,
פּוֹתֵ֥חַ אֶת־יָדֶ֑ךָ וּמַשְׂבִּ֖יעַ
You give it openhandedly, feeding
לְכׇל־חַ֣י רָצֽוֹן
to every thing that’s alive
This doesn’t just mean things that are walking and breathing. It even includes plants, which also needs sustenance. Everything needs sustenance- even a rock, although we don’t know how that works exactly.
And it goes beyond that, he says, even to the angels, and everything in the world. He quotes a pasuk from Nechemia which we say every morning in our Shaharit prayers,
וְאַתָּ֖ה מְחַיֶּ֣ה אֶת־כֻּלָּ֑ם
V’Ata mechayeh et kulam
You keep them all alive
He says that the prophets who understood how God’s sustenance works made this statement. There is nothing that isn’t getting constant life and sustenance.
The Tomer Devorah says that angels need sustenance. When a person commits a sin, it creates a negative angel. God feeds that angel. And actually, the Tomer Devorah says that Hashem should really send the angel down here saying “Let the one that created you feed you“ but God, in His kindness, sustains the negative angels as well. Everything needs sustenance. That is what we are thinking when we say (in whichever version of Birkat Hamazon we say)
הַזָּן אֶת הָעוֹלָם כֻּלּוֹ
HaZan et Olam kulo/ He provides sustenance to everything.
Kulo is the whole world, and when we say that word, we should be thinking that every thing needs sustenance. He says that we should understand this secret. It’s a very fine point-
To appreciate that everything needs sustenance. Nothing survives on its own. And who is the One that gives sustenance to everything? That is Hashem.
Then we say,
בְּטוּבוֹ בְּחֵן בְּחֶסֶד וּבְרַחֲמִים
In His goodness, His kindness, His grace, His mercy..
It’s not because we deserve it, but it is all coming out of God’s great kindness.
Then we make a request that as God has sustained us, he will sustain us.
That is the focus of the first beracha, a beracha D’Oreita/ from the Torah that we should all pay attention to and understand. The Ben Ish Hai says that one should close his eyes and put his hands on his heart as we do in the Amida, because Birkat Hamazon is even higher than prayer -which can be D’Rabanan/ from the Rabbis, while all agree that Birkat Hamazon is from the Torah, and therefore it deserves our kavana and attention.
Have a wonderful day.