Halakhah sa 1 Samuel 9:13: Abudarham & Shulchan Shel Arba

...We find the following in Tosefta Brachos: "Whoever fulfills a commandment must recite a blessing beforehand." This idea is mentioned in Yerushalmi Brachos and is supported by the following verse in Exodus 24: "And I will give you the stone tablets, the law, and the commandment." The law and the commandment are mentioned together because they have a common feature. So goes the argument there: "In the same way that one must recite a blessing when studying the law, one must also recite a blessing when fulfilling a commandment." But why must one recite a blessing when studying the law? We find this question under discussion in Tractate Brachos Chapter 3, as follows: "Whoever reads the Torah must recite a blessing beforehand and afterward. Why must one recite a blessing beforehand? Scripture states: 'When I read aloud the Name of the Lord, attribute greatness to our God' and, elsewhere, 'You are blessed, Lord; teach [us] your statutes.' The law is called the Name of the Lord because it is the study of His great Name. A similar idea is expressed in the following verse: '[When] you are careful to fulfill all the words of this law, to fear this honorable and awesome Name — the Lord your God.' Why must one recite a blessing afterward? It makes sense when using the following logical inference: If one must recite a blessing after eating, which only provides temporary sustenance, then one must certainly recite a blessing after reading the Torah, which provides eternal sustenance. But why must one recite a blessing after eating? Scripture states: 'You will eat, you will be sustained, and you will bless the Lord your God.' That supports the need to recite a blessing afterward, but why must one recite a blessing beforehand? Rabbi Isaac said that it is supported by the following verse: 'He will bless the sacrifice, and then the guests will eat.' Rabbi Nathan said that it is supported by the following verse: 'You must serve the Lord your God, and He will bless your bread.' The bread is only yours until you eat it. Rabbi felt that it makes sense when using the following logical inference: If one must recite a blessing afterward, when one is sustained, then one must certainly recite a blessing beforehand, when one is hungry." The blessing recited after reading the Torah should only be recited after a public Torah reading, as stated in Yerushalmi Brachos: "Rabbi Samuel son of Avdima said that the logical inference used to establish that a blessing be recited after reading the Torah based on the blessing that is recited after eating is only used to establish that a blessing be recited after a public Torah reading; however, an individual studying Torah alone should not recite a blessing afterward."

However, we are distinguished by our regimen of pleasures [dat sha’ashu’im] from the nations who err, rebel, and sin. For we found our Rock in the desert in the land of souls, and there He set for us a table against the nations, and thus David, said, ‘Set before me a table against my enemies’ [Ps 23:5). There the Lord gave us an abundance of charity and good things. There He gave us a marvelous portion of the bread in our law, bread from heaven through no toil. There He showed us through great love something like the world to come—where the divisions of His marvelously formed angels are fed without toil, hewn from flames and awesome fires; and the planting of the Lord of Hosts. Our holy race is lovely because our heart was tested in the desert. We rose up like sweet-smelling incense to thank the Lord and said a blessing over the table. As it is written regarding the manna: “In the morning you shall have your fill of bread and you shall know that I the Lord am your God.”¹⁹Ex. 16:12. Even while we were in the land of our enemies bearing our punishment,the manna soothed our dry and shriveled gullets,²⁰Nu. 11:6. while the flowering vines of our enemies spread heavy on the ground. Even without temple or altar, no medicine-making; the Torah of the Lord with us will save us from breaking. Marked as we are by our circumcision, fringes, and shaving–– the food on our table will help us recognize and remind ourselves to respect His greatness. Let us bless over the table of Him whose food we have eaten.²¹An allusion to the wording of the grace after meals. It is not so with the wicked, whose sins have earned them aninextinguishable fire;²²Ps. 14:4. their table lies before them like mire. Rising early in the morning they devour food and they do not call to the Lord; their hearts and eyes they raise to what delights them, but toward the One above not even the slightest look. Such is the sentence of the nations, that they are a vile and foolish nation filled with folk devoid of sense. Unlike those other nations is Jacob, for he will bless the sacrifice and then eat it.²³Jer 10:16; I Sam 9:13. All his fruit shall also be set aside for jubilation before the Lord;²⁴Lev 19:24. he will withdraw his right hand until the blessing is drawn back into the ‘palace that is before Me.’²⁵I Kg 6:17 [heykhal lifnay], usually translated as ‘the front part of the House’ (i.e., the Temple). Bahya reads lifnay as “before Me,” in order to allude to the mystical idea that saying a blessing returns the vital energy in what is eaten back to its source in the heavenly realm. This is among the ways of wisdom to keep the heart of man straight upon the path of the Lord’sbright lights, to prevent one straying from the service of his God; so that the temptationsof pleasure would not draw our purpose away from being drawn to Him, nor our sinfulinstincts seduce us from serving our Creator,²⁶An untranslatable wordplay here on yetzer and yotzer. from waiting for Him at the doors of His gates.²⁷Prov. 8:34.