I would like to share a beautiful thought from Rav Chaim Palaggi. It answers a question that always bothered me. We mentioned recently that we say a toast over the four cups of wine, with four texts that we say to God.
Text one is Kiddush, where we mention that God took us out of Egypt, and it has to do with the Seder.
Then we toast God with Maggid, the story that also has to do with Pesach.
The last cup’s toast is Hallel, praising God, which also has to do with Yetziat Mitzrayim.
But Barech, when we taking a cup of wine and then say Birkat Hamazon, doesn’t seem to have anything to do with getting out of Egypt. Anytime we have a zemun, it’s preferable to say Birkat Hamazon on a cup of wine. At a Sheva Berachot you make Birkat Hamazon on a cup.
There is nothing magical on the night of the Seder. Why does Baruch even count as one of the 15 steps of the Seder ?
We don’t count Boreh Peri HaAdama as one of the steps. We don’t count Hagefen.
This seems to be arbitrary; we ate Matzah so we have to say Birkat Hamazon. How does that fit in to the Seder?
In his sefer Moed L’Kol Chai, Rav Chaim Palaggi quotes a big Hiddush from the Chida:
The Gemarah in Mesechet Berachot (7a) says that the great Kohen Gadol Rabbi Yishmael
Ben Elisha walked into the Holy of Holies on Yom Kippur to bring the Ketoret and saw God sitting on His chair, and he said, “Yishmael beni, barcheni/ Yishmael My son, bless Me.” And he went on to bless God (whatever that means).
Every item we say a blessing, we aren’t giving God a blessing, in the sense that a rabbi blesses a person. We are asking God to increase and enhance His influence and blessing in the world.
It says, Yishmael beni,barcheni/Yishmael My son, bless Me,” because in order to bless, you have to be a son.
He says that a servant can’t bless, and brings a Gemarah, Masechet Shabbat,89a, where it says, “Does a servant say ‘Give peace onto his master?’” It’s not the the place of a servant to say Shalom to his master. But a son can bless his father.
So Birkat Hamazon, which is the one Beracha that is from the Torah, when we eat and bless God, is an indicator that we are His children.
When did we become children? At Yetziat Mitzrayim, when God said, “Beni, Bechori Yisrael. My son, my firstborn, the Jewish people.”
We became sons of God at Yetziat Mitzrayim. The rest of the world are God’s servants but we are His sons.
In Birkat Hamazon, we mention Yetziat Mitzrayim when we say “ ופדיתנו מבית עבדים
You took us out of Egypt.”
Why is that a necessary, integral part of Birkat Hamazon?
Because without Yetziat Mitzrayim we couldn’t say Birkat Hamazon.
Without God turning us into sons, we couldn’t bless Him. Therefore, Birkat Hamazon is an integral part of the Hagaddah. The whole power that we have to give a beracha comes from Yetziat Mitzrayim. So it’s a toast to God that we are His children and we can bless Him.
Barech isn’t just Birkat Hamazon. It’s a Yetziat Mitzrayim- style Birkat Hamazon. It’s getting out of Egypt.
So let’s appreciate the privilege that we have, as the Jewish people, to say Birkat Hamazon.
And furthermore, the Hida, in his sefer Midbar Kedemot, says an unbelievable thought from the Rav Chaim Ben Atar,
On one hand, the Gemarah in Berachot says that God owns everything, but then we say, And Man has the land. So who owns the land? Man or God?
The Gemara answers that before you make a beracha, God owns the land, but after you make a beracha, you own the land.
What does that mean? Simply speaking, when you make a beracha, it’s like you payed for your food.
But he says a deeper thought: There is a rule that “Whatever a servant owns, the master owns.” It’s not really his. So if we were slaves, nothing would be ours. Everything is still God’s, because whatever we have is His.
But if we are God’s children, then whatever He gives us becomes ours.
When we make a beracha, we are saying that we are children of God. Only children can make blessings.
And now that we are children of God, what we have is ours. That is the power that we have to bless God.
That power to bless God came from Yetziat Mitzrayim.
Beni, Bechori Yisrael, My children the Jewish people
That’s the toast of Birkat Hamazon.
Sometimes people look at Birkat Hamazon as something tedious and difficult. But Birkat Hamazon is a privilege. Only children have a right to say it.
And we became children at Yetziat Mitzrayim.