A Soulful Journey

  “My days are consumed like smoke, My bones are charred as the dead, My heart is withered as grass, For I have neglected to eat my daily bread.”    Psalm 102 Why would life be so desolate just because you did not eat bread?  A better question is, ‘what is bread to the psalmist?’  Bread is the fabric of all life.   Within the tradition, the all-encompassing blessing over food is the one for bread.  Whenever a Jew sits down to eat there is the regular staple of bread present.  It is the same with the Sabbath when we place on our table, two loaves of special bread, hallah.  When you say the blessing over bread it encompasses the entire meal.  Everything else is subsumed under the category of bread.  It is not the same with any other blessing, only bread.  What makes bread so special? In fact, the blessing for bread is actually wrong.  The blessing read, “Who brings forth...

"He who eats foods that do not agree with him transgresses three commandments, in that he has despised himself, despised the foods, and recited a blessing improperly."  - Rabbi Akiva, Avot d'Rabbi Natan "Eat your bread in gladness." - Kohelet

A rabbi needed a new suit and went to a tailor in the village to have one made.  The tailor promised it would be ready within one week but when the learned man returned to pick it up, it was not finished.  "Three more days," he was promised. Somewhat perturbed, but with no other choice, the rabbi left the shop and came back again at the newly arranged time.  Now the suit was indeed ready and it fit perfectly- with not so much as a single stitch out of place.  Impressed by the work but still annoyed about the delays, the rabbi scolded, "It should have been done within the week." "But rabbi," the tailor pleaded, "the suit that I created was flawless. Indeed God may have finished the world within in a week, but just look at the state it's in." It is interesting that we say " Ha-motise lechem mi ha-aretz " over bread when God did not make the bread; He made the wheat but humans made the bread.  This teaches that we are in a partnersh...

Rabbi Natan Bar Abba taught in the name of Rav: “The world is dark for those who depend for their meals on the generosity of others, as it is written, ‘He wanders about seeking bread without knowing where he will find it; he knows that the day is indeed dark for him.’ (Job 15:23)  Rav Hisda said: “More precisely, his life is no life.” –Talmud, Beitzah 32b Our human -- and Jewish -- task is to alleviate the suffering of this world.

There are said to be thirteen benefits derived from eating bread in the morning. -Bread protects from heat   and cold. -It wards off malign spirits and forces of destruction. -It invites the simple to become wise. -Bread assists the plaintiff with his lawsuits. -Bread allows the students to learn Torah and then teach it. -It makes anyone’s words worth hearing. -Learning is recalled through the medium of bread. -After eating bread one’s vitals are refreshed. -Love is retained and evil thoughts are banished with bread. -Bread eradicates disease   and drives away envy. -It enables love to enter the soul. Talmud quoted by Michael J Katz in Night Tales of the Shammes This is all possible when not taking it for granted, for ourselves or others.