The Berakha over Bread
הברכה על הלחם
Bread is made from the five species of grain, so seemingly one should recite over it “borei pri ha-adama,” as one does over all species that grow from the ground. However, because of its great importance, being a person’s staple food, the Sages instituted a special berakha for it: “Barukh ata Hashem Elokeinu Melekh ha-olam ha-motzi leḥem min ha-aretz” (Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe, who brings forth bread from the earth).
Bread is a unique food. All the animals in the world eat natural foods such as grasses, leaves, seeds, grains, vegetables, fruits, and even meat, whereas man eats bread, a food produced through a lengthy process. Many people perceive bread as a natural food and do not notice that its preparation requires a great many labors: plowing the ground, sowing the wheat, reaping the stalks, separating the kernels of grain from the stalks and the chaff by threshing, winnowing, and sorting, grinding the kernels into flour, kneading it with water, and baking the dough into bread. One should also know that the labor of baking is more complex and sophisticated than the labor of cooking, and consequently it expresses more fully man’s unique ability to prepare his food (see below 6:10, regarding the law that a cooked dish is on a lower level than a baked good).
As with bread, so with man. All the animals in the world learn quickly and naturally how to walk, how to obtain their food, and how to be fruitful and multiply, whereas man needs many years to learn how to obtain food, clothing, and shelter from cold and heat for himself, and how to establish a family. Nothing comes to him naturally; he must learn everything. But after he learns and reflects, he is able to harness the enormous forces of nature for his service: to build houses from stone and earth and heat them with wood and oil; to sow fields and plant trees, produce abundant food, and manufacture all kinds of clothing; to pave roads and manufacture cars, ships, and airplanes to transport people and goods.
Animals hardly need to learn how to communicate with their own kind, whereas man needs many years to learn to speak and to understand facial expressions and various emotions. But after he learns this, his relationships with his family and friends will be infinitely meaningful. Animals have no moral questions about their lives and the nature around them; they simply fit in. Man, by contrast, hesitates, questions, and struggles, for years upon years and generations upon generations, and through this he can grasp abstract concepts of good and evil, truth and falsehood, faith and destiny.
One can say that all the animals in the world, which have no free will and also have no ability to create things in the world, eat simple foods as they are found in nature. But man, who has understanding and free choice and bears the responsibility to perfect the world – his food, too, is produced through a long process that requires understanding. Therefore, it is specifically bread that sustains man’s heart, as it says (Tehilim 104:15): “and bread that sustains man’s heart.”
Seemingly, after man has toiled so much in preparing bread, he could become proud and think that he alone brought forth bread from the earth. So that we not err in this, the Sages instituted the berakha: “Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe, who brings forth bread from the earth.” For in truth, all the special qualities in the five species of grain and in the soil, as well as our understanding and ability to make bread, all come from Him, may He be blessed; therefore, in truth it is He who brings forth bread from the earth. When a person forgets the One who spoke and the world came into being, he is gradually drawn after his base side, after his evil desires. Then all his great talents become a hindrance to him, and he uses all his great undertakings for evil, to destroy and lay waste. Instead of adding life and blessing, he causes death and decay. Only if he remembers the Lord his God and the wonderful mission placed upon him can he direct all his talents toward good, add life to the world, and become a partner with God in perfecting and building it.
This is why the berakha over bread is so important: it connects the food in which human creative power is expressed to its Divine source. In the merit of the berakha, eating bread gives us strength to understand and comprehend, to keep and to perform, all the words of the Torah.