Halakhah su Genesi 27:49

Rav Hisda said, “if someone has eaten meat, he is forbidden to eat cheese, but if he ate cheese first, he is permitted to eat meat,¹⁶⁸Ibid., 105a. and Rav Hisda’s view is the accepted view.¹⁶⁹So the Tur and Shulhan Arukh Yoreh Deah 89. But surely he said, “He is forbidden to eat cheese until another meal.” Indeed, for a whole day is a more stringent practice, and thus it was when Mar Ukba’s practice was to wait only until the next meal. For Mar Ukba said, “I am in this matter like ‘Hametz the son of Wine,’ for if my father would eat meat he was fastidious and wouldn’t eat cheese till the same time the next day. But while I won’t eat it at the same meal, I’ll eat it at the next meal.¹⁷⁰B. Hullin 105a. And the custom of Mar Ukba’s father to wait for a whole day is extra stringent, so accordingly we follow Mar Ukba’s practice, even though he said, “I am in this matter like Hametz the son of Wine.” And so it is our practice to wait just until the next meal. Hence, it is not sufficient just to wipe one’s mouth or to wash one’s hands, since meat is not digested after the first meal for at least six hours, and meat caught in between the teeth is still meat, as it is said, “The meat was still between their teeth.”¹⁷¹Nu 11:33, a reference to the quail meat God over-fed the Israelites in response to their complaining in the desert. But if one eats cheese, he is permitted to eat meat without any delay at all. He only has to wipe his mouth whether it’s day or night, and wash his hands if it’s at night, but not if it’s during the day, nor does it make a difference whether it’s game or meat from a domesticated animal.¹⁷²An so also the Tur and Shulhan Arukh Y.D. 89:1. Poultry and cheese are eaten “like an epicurean,”¹⁷³B. Hullin 104b, which Rashi explains to mean “without any qualms,” as libertines eat. which I found in the explanation of the Arukh to mean without wiping one’s mouth or washing their hands whether in the day or in the night.¹⁷⁴Sefer Ha-Arukh, the Dictionary of R. Natan ben Yehiel of Rome (11th century). The reason given was that mayim ahronim are an obligation, because a person eats salt after his meal, which contains Sodomite salt that blinds the eyes, even one grain in a kor of regular salt,¹⁷⁵Sodomite salt – salt from the Dead Sea. Potent stuff. Even in a mixture of one grain to a kor (about 530 liters) of regular salt would blind you ! It was customary to eat a little salt for “dessert,” presumably to “kill” anything potentially harmful in the food one has just eaten. See Rabbi Levi Cooper, “World of Our Sages: Salty Hands,” <http: www.pardes.org.il="" weekly-talmud="" 2009-02-12.php="">. though no blessing is required, except for someone who is saying a blessing over washing dirty hands. For just as a polluted priest was unfit for the Temple service, someone whose hands are polluted is unfit to say a blessing. What does it mean to be “polluted”? Anything that is not fit to be brought near the altar, such as an animal or birds, but whatever is fit does not require washing, since it isn’t something that’s polluted. However, there are some among the great teachers who are of the opinion that anything can be polluted.

One also has to careful when about to say birkat ha-mazon to remove the knife from the table. The reason for this practice is because the table is called an “altar,” and just as on an altar we have been warned not to brandish something made of iron over it, as it is said, “do not build it [an altar] of hewn stones, etc.”¹⁹⁴Ex 20:22. The rule of Torah is that if one makes it into an altar of hewn stones with a tool of silver or flint, it is permitted. For the point of the prohibition is not against it being hewn, but rather because it is hewn with something made of iron, i.e., a sword, and Torah kept it far from the tabernacle, when it is written: “gold, silver, and copper,”¹⁹⁵Ex 25:3. but does not mention iron there. And likewise with the sanctuary it is written, “No hammers or axe or any iron tool was heard in the House when it was being built.”¹⁹⁶I Kings 6:7. The reason is because that is the power of Esau with what he was blessed from his father’s mouth; this is what is meant by “By the sword you shall live,”¹⁹⁷Gen 27:40. and it is written, “but Esau I hated.”¹⁹⁸Mal 1:3. Therefore it is kept far from the sanctuary. And likewise at the table we have been warned to remove the sword from it, because the sword is something destructive¹⁹⁹The pun ha-herev hu ha-mahriv is lost in the translation. and the source of destruction, the opposite of peace, and it does not belong in a place of blessing, i.e., peace. For indeed the altar and the table prolongs a person’s days, while a sword shortens them, and it makes no sense to brandish something that shortens over something that prolongs life.²⁰⁰Mekhilta Yitro (end).

And know from what our sages z”l said: “It is forbidden to enjoy something from this world without a blessing, they were speaking about all pleasures in general, whether from something one tastes, from something one smells, or from something one sees and hears – for all four of these senses they fixed a blessing. The sense of taste: from what is written, “set aside [kidesh – lit., “make holy”] for jubilation [hilulim] before the Lord,”³⁵⁸Lev 19:24. it comes to teach you that every edible thing is forbidden to you as if it were hekdesh – “holy” food set aside to the priests and Temple – until one sings praises [yi-hallel], that is, says a blessing to the Holy One Blessed be He before and after over the same food, and this is why hilulim is plural, not the singular form hilul. For the sense of smell one has to say a blessing as well, and there is support for this in the verse, “See, the smell of my son is like the smell of the fields that the Lord has blessed.”³⁵⁹Gen 27:27. From here we get that the sense of smell is blessed. And it is also written, “’Let every soul praise [tehallel] the Lord!’³⁶⁰Ps 150:6. Which thing is it that gives joy to the soul but not to the body? You must say that this is smell!”³⁶¹B. Berakhot 43b. For the sense of sight there are many blessings such as one sees the sun at the summer solstice should say this blessing: “Blessed is He who makes Creation,”³⁶²Current practice is to recite this Birkat Ha-Hamah – “the Blessing of the Sun” – every 28 years at tekufat Nisan –the beginning of spring, rather than tekufat Tammuz – the beginning of summer, to which R. Bahya refers here. See b. Berachot 59b: “He who sees the sun at its turning point should say, ‘Blessed is He who makes the works of Creation.’ And when is this? Abaya said: every 28th year.” and similarly the blessing for moon in each month.³⁶³B. Sanhedrin 42a. And they said in the chapter Ha-Ro-eh – “He who sees”: ³⁶⁴B. Berakhot 59b. R. Bahya’s quotation differs slightly from its source in the Talmud. “He who sees the sun at its turning point,the moon in its purity, the planets in their courses, and the signs of the zodiac in their season, should say: ‘Blessed is He who makes the work of creation.’” And this is what you will find in the story of the making of Creation: “They shall serve as signs for the set times – the days and the years,” because the lights, besides giving light, also are signs by which the future is hinted at, what our rabbis z”l meant by saying:³⁶⁵B. Sukkah 29a. “When the lights are in eclipse, it is a bad sign for “the nations of the world.”³⁶⁶“The lights” – the moon and the stars; “the nations of the world” – a euphemism for Israel! And they are also a sign for Israel when to recite the Shma in the morning, because the mitzvah is to recite it at sunrise,³⁶⁷B. Berakhot 9b. and when to recite the Shma in the evening, because the mitzvah is to recite it “when the stars come out.”³⁶⁸B. Berakhot 2a. And this is the meaning of what is written in: “Lift high your eyes and see Who created these,”³⁶⁹Is 40:26. because through looking at this, a person is roused to see that the are creations, and to praise his Creator for them by either a blessing or some other expression of praise. And in the chapter Ha-Ro-eh, it also says, “Whoever goes out in the days of Nisan and sees the trees sprouting, he should say, ‘Blessed is He who has not left His world lacking in anything and has created in it goodly creatures and goodly trees for the enjoyment of humanity.”³⁷⁰B. Berakhot 43b. And likewise whoever sees their friend after not seeing them for twelve months, one says, “Blessed is He Who revives the dead,”³⁷¹Ibid., 58b. and after thirty days he says a Shehekheyanu blessing, ³⁷²Ibid. and likewise whoever sees a rainbow says, “Blessed is He Who remembers the covenant,³⁷³Ibid., 59a. and so with all the rest of the things for which they fixed a blessing for seeing them. And so that’s what the chapter Ha-Ro-eh talks about.³⁷⁴Ibid., 54a. For the sense of hearing they also fixed blessings. For good news, one recites the blessing Ha-Tov ve-Ha-Metiv; for bad news, “Barukh dayan ha-emet”- “Blessed is the true Judge.”³⁷⁵Ibid. However, they did not fix a blessing for when someone hears a sound [kol] of a lyre or pipe so sweet that it make their soul happy and it enjoys it, as it is written, “for your voice [kol] is sweet.”³⁷⁶S.S. 2:14. The reason why is because sound isn’t actually a thing. Now if you would say the same is true of smell, there is actually something in fruits that give off their smell. And if you would say that there is something in the instrument or singer that produces the sound, the smell that comes from fruits is not like the sound that comes from a person’s body or a musical instrument. For the smell of a fruit or a spice is from their body and essence, but the sound of a human being or musical instrument is not from their body and essence, but rather the result of air blowing through it. Nor did they fix a blessing for the sense of touch, because it is included in the sense of taste. And this is the reason why the Torah mentions these four senses explicitly. When it is written, “that cannot see or hear or eat or smell,”³⁷⁷Dt 4:28: “There you will serve man-made gods of wood and stone, that cannot see or hear or eat or smell,” is the whole verse. The original context, where this refers to the idolatry that the Israelites will eventually fall into, is certainly thought-provoking in light of R. Bahya’s discussion here of the significance of the senses. it does not mention the sense of touch, because it is included in “that cannot eat,” which is the sense of taste. And you must understand that it is among the wonders of the formation of the human body that these five senses in it are implanted in the five organs that are the tools and gateways of the intellectual soul, which derives its nobility from the Holy Spirit in it, and human being’s high rank and greatness is their result, because they are the basis for his activity in doing mitzvot, and likewise for committing sins, for by means of them he will be rewarded, and by means of them he will be punished, according to how he chooses to use them. Therefore Scripture faults avodah zarah for its lack of these senses in order to instruct us about their importance. Because idols are lacking in their ability to sense and are generally incomplete, they have no power to save. And if so, how could those who worship these other gods in times of distress call out, “Rise up and save us!?”³⁷⁸R. Bahya is referring back to Dt. 4:28 in its original context. See note above.

See how the Torah attests that Jacob our father (Peace be upon him) had the quality of contentment, and did not seek excessive gains, but rather only what was necessary, who, when it was said, “If God gives me bread to eat and clothing to wear,”⁶²Gen 28:20. asked for what was necessary, what the Holy One Blessed be He provides for all His creatures, as it is said, “You give it openhandedly, etc.”⁶³Ps. 148:16. And our rabbis z”l taught in a midrash: “‘Bread to eat and clothing to wear:’ in all his days, this righteous man [Jacob] never grieved over his eating, but rather over ‘the inward and the outward.'”⁶⁴Penimi ve-hitzon is an expression that refers to one’s personal integrity. The person who is inward is genuine; “their outside is like their inside.” What you see is what you get. One who is “outward” is a hypocrite; their outward behavior does not match their true inner feelings. The contrast between penimi and hitzon (“inward” vs. “outward”) has become a distinctive concept in modern Hasidic ethics. In any case, the point of the midrash is that Jacob worried much more about his personal integrity than what he was going to eat. And know that the righteous person ought to direct his mind when he is eating only to the fact that the bodily meal by which he will sustain his body for the moment is so that his soul with it may show its powers and realize them in action, and by this prepare the eternal meal by which it will sustained forever. And look at the holy status prevalent among the elite of the people of Israel, who used to eat and look with the heart itself. This is what the Scripture means when it says, “They envisioned God and they ate and drank,”⁶⁵Ex 24:11.that the organs of the body which are the vessel of the soul would receive power and strength in the banquet, and the soul would be roused with its powers in them and strengthen them in this thought, and make it possible for holy spirit to descend upon it [the body] at the time of eating, when he is lifted up in this thought, and his body is clothed in the thought of his soul, and the two of them as one good enough for the Divine Presence [Shekhinah] to descend among them. This was the intent of Moses and the elders of Israel during Jethro’s banquet, and this is what the Scripture means when it says, “Aaron came and all the elders of Israel [to partake of the meal before God with Moses’ father-in-law],”⁶⁶Ex 18:12. and likewise Isaac our father in the tasty foods for which he asked,⁶⁷Gen 27:4.and in all the rest of the places that we find banquets for righteous people – that was the end to which they were intended.

Before reciting the berachah, place both hands on the bread because the ten fingers are symbolic of the ten mitzvos involved in making bread. [The ten are] 1. It is forbidden to plow with a team comprised of an ox and a donkey. 2. It is forbidden to plant diverse species together. 3. The stalks that fall during harvesting must be left for the poor. 4. A sheaf forgotten in the field must be left for the poor. 5. A corner of the field must be left unharvested for the poor. 6. It is forbidden to muzzle a working animal. 7. A portion of grain must be separated and given to the kohein (priestly family). 8. A tenth of the remaining harvest must be given to the Levite. 9. A tenth of the remaining harvest is then separated to be taken up to Jerusalem and eaten by the owner. 10. A piece of the dough is separated and given to the kohein. For this same reason there are ten words in the berachah of Hamotzi, and ten words in the verse (Psalms 145:15): "The eyes of all look expectantly to You" etc., and ten words in the verse (Deuteronomy 8:8): "A land of wheat and barley" etc., and ten words in the verse (Genesis 27:28): "And may Hashem give you" etc. When you pronounce the Name of Hashem, lift up the bread. On Shabbos lift up both loaves, and recite the berachah with concentration, making sure to enunciate clearly the letter hei in the word Hamotzi. Also allow a short pause between saying the word lechem and the word min, so as not to slur over the letter mem. After reciting the berachah, you must immediately eat the bread, because it is forbidden to interrupt between saying the berachah and eating [the bread], even to answer Amein. You should try to eat a kazayis of bread without interruption.