Halakhah к Берешит 12:6

If one was reclining and eating at the table, and the time for minhah came, if there isn’t enough time to wait before it’s too late, he interrupts his meal and prays. But if there is enough time to wait, he finishes his meal and then prays.¹²⁸B. Shabbat 9b, and so the Tur and Orah Hayim 232. And likewise if during the festival of Sukkot he forgot to wave the lulav, and he is standing over his table, if there is enough time in the day to wait, he finishes his meal, and then waves it, but if there is not enough time in the day to wait, he interrupts his meal and waves the lulav.¹²⁹B. Sukkot 38a, because one must wave the lulav during the day time.

You already knew from “The Wisdom of Formation”¹⁵⁴I.e., Sefer Yetzirah, 4:7. that a human being has seven apertures: two ears, two nostrils, two eyes, and the seventh is the mouth. And the “sevenths” are what the Holy One Blessed be He has “chosen.” He created the heavens, and chose the seventh one, which is “aravot” (“deserts”),¹⁵⁵According to B. Hagigah 12b, “Resh Lakish said: There are seven heavens. Vilon, Raki’a, Shekhakim, Z’vul, Ma’on, Makchon, and Aravot.” as it is said, “Cast up a highway for Him who rides through the deserts [aravot].”¹⁵⁶Ps 68:5. He created seven days of the week, and chose the seventh day, which is Shabbat, as it said, “the days were formed, and for Him there was one among them.”¹⁵⁷Ps 139:16. He created seven climates, and chose the seventh one, which is the land of Israel, as it is said, “For the Lord has chosen Zion.”¹⁵⁸Ps 132:13.And meditate well on this verse: “The Canaanites were then in the land.”¹⁵⁹Gen 12:6. The secret meaning of the verse is “and a girdle she gives to the merchant [la-kana’ani –‘to the Canaanite’]”¹⁶⁰Prov 31:24. “Canaanite” can be a generic term for “merchant” in Biblical Hebrew, just as “gypsy” can generically refer to any wanderer in English, though this is not how R. Bahya reads “kana’ani” here. – a girdle is put on the middle of a body.¹⁶¹In other words, the Cana’anites were originally given the “girdle” – the land, that like a girdle, is in the “center” of all the other lands; its centrality is proof that God prefers it over other lands. Chavel suggests that R. Bahya alludes to a mystical interpretation found also in his contemporary R. Menahem Recanati’s comment on Gen 12:6. Recanati says that “The Canaanites were then in the land” hints that even before God handed the land of the Canaanites over to the Israelites, it was his “chosen” land. For Prov 31:24 says to the Canaanites was given the “girdle” – the center of all the lands. This was when God assigned to each nation a piece of the earth, and an angel above to rule over it. However, no nation below falls from power until its ruling angel above falls – hence “the Canaanites were then in the land.” Eventually this does occur, and so the Israelites get the “girdle” that had originally been assigned to the Canaanites and their ruling angel. He created seven apertures in the head, and chose the seventh one, which is the mouth. And it is well known that he did not choose it because it eats and drinks, but rather because of the Torah and the mitzvah to bless His Name and declare His praise, just as the heavens and their hosts declare His glory, as it said, “The heavens declare the glory of God, the sky proclaims His handiwork.”¹⁶²Ps 19:2. And thus it is written, “This people I formed for Myself, that they might declare My praise.”¹⁶³Is 43:21. It is obvious that all that the Holy One Blessed be He created in the world, He created only for His glory, and so the prophet proclaimed: “Everyone who is called by My Name, I created for My glory,”¹⁶⁴Is 43:7. and it is written, “The Lord made everything for a purpose – le-ma’anehu,” to praise Him, like in the expression, “And Miriam chanted – ve-ta’an – for them.”¹⁶⁵Ex 15:21, i.e., led the women in a song of praise after God saved them at the Red Sea. R. Bahya interprets le-ma’anehu and va-ta’an midrashically as if they came from the same verb. So if everything was created to praise Him, it goes without saying that the mouth, which is the particular instrument for praising Him, was created for none other than this.