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Chapter 10

The Final Berakha

י - ברכה אחרונה

In this chapter (13)
  1. 1. The Final Berakha
  2. 2. The Me’ein Shalosh Berakha
  3. 3. Laws of the Me’ein Shalosh Berakha
  4. 4. Borei Nefashot
  5. 5. The Kezayit Measure for a Final Berakha
  6. 6. Volume, Not Weight
  7. 7. The Measure of Akhilat Pras
  8. 8. Enhancements in the Laws of the Measures (A Whole Item and a Kezayit)
  9. 9. The Measure for a Final Berakha over Cake
  10. 10. The Measure for a Final Berakha over Drinking
  11. 11. Cheese, Leben, and Ice Cream Are Considered Food
  12. 12. Until When One May Recite the Berakha
  13. 13. When One Who Snacks and Drinks Intermittently Recites the Berakha
10:1

The Final Berakha

ברכה אחרונה

Just as the Sages instituted that a person recite a berakha before he eats, so they instituted that he recite a berakha after he eats. However, there is a difference between the first berakha and the final berakha. The first berakha is meant to thank God for the enjoyment a person derives from the food, and the Sages said (Berakhot 35a) that since it is obvious logic that a person may not enjoy anything in the world of the Holy One, blessed be He, without a berakha, there was no need for the Torah to command us about it.

But after eating, logic alone would not have told us that a berakha must be recited, since once we have thanked God with the berakha before eating, there would seemingly be no need to go back and bless again after eating. Therefore, the Torah had to command us specially that after we eat and are satisfied, we bless God with a general berakha – not only for the food we ate, but for all the good that God has given Israel, as it is stated (Devarim 8:10): “And you shall eat and be satisfied, and bless the Lord your God for the good land which He has given you.” As we learned at length regarding Birkat Ha-mazon (4:1-4), after a person has eaten and is satisfied, he is liable to become arrogant and to be swept away by desire and materialism. On the other hand, out of the good taste of the food and the vitality he draws from it, he can rise to a broad view of all the good God has given Israel. Therefore, in Birkat Ha-mazon we do not thank God for the food alone; rather, from it we rise to a general blessing and thanksgiving for the good land and for everything connected to it – the covenant, the Torah, Jerusalem, the kingdom of David, and the Temple. Through this, the food we ate is also elevated and uplifted, and vitality for the good is added to it. One who does not bless after eating does not elevate the spiritual aspect of the food and is not uplifted by it, and consequently the food in his innards becomes coarse and pulls him downward (see above 1:5).

As an extension of the Torah commandment, the Sages instituted that even one who is not satisfied, if he ate the volume of an olive (kezayit), recites a final berakha. If he ate a kezayit of bread, he recites Birkat Ha-mazon; if he ate a kezayit of the seven species for which the Land of Israel is praised, he recites Me’ein Shalosh; if he ate a kezayit of other foods, he recites Borei Nefashot.

Why did they institute a berakha for the amount of a kezayit? Because it has a certain importance and benefit, and some feeling of contentment remains from it, out of which one can rise to contemplate the good that God has bestowed upon His world and recite a berakha. Indeed, the first berakha is recited over any amount, because it is for the very enjoyment of eating, and whoever enjoys even a little must bless. But the final berakha is more general, and only if some impression of contentment remains from the eating can one, out of it, contemplate the good God has bestowed upon the world and bless. Therefore, one who did not eat a kezayit or drink a revi’it does not recite a berakha (these measures will be explained below, halakhot 5-10).

Since the first berakha is for the enjoyment of eating, it must be attached to the beginning of the eating, and one may not interrupt between the berakha and the eating (above 3:1). But the final berakha is not only for the enjoyment of eating; rather, it is for the benefit and contentment a person has from what he ate. Therefore, one may recite it even some time later, as long as he still feels some satiation from the eating (below halakha 12).

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