Observant Jews make a blessing before we eat, not just before meals, but before we eat a bite of anything. It is a way of acknowledging that the world is not ours, that we did not create the food, and that we notice the blessings around us.
My garden is a little late this year, but I finally have tomatoes reddening on the vine. Before I eat one, I’ll say the blessing for food that grows from the earth:
Ba-ruch A-ta, Adonai El-o-hei-nu, Me-lech ha-olam, bo-rey pe-ri ha-adamah.
Blessed are You, Eternal our God, Ruler of the Universe, Creator of the fruit of the earth.
If you are eating the tomatoes with a full meal, then you can skip the tomato blessing and “cover” the entire meal with the blessing for bread (assuming you have bread at the meal):
Ba-ruch A-ta, Adonai El-o-hei-nu, Me-lech ha-olam, ha-motzi le-chem min ha-aretz.
Blessed are You, Eternal our God, Ruler of the Universe, who brings forth bread from the land.
I’ll cover more food blessings in future posts. For now, if it grows in the ground, “borey peri ha-adamah.”
And if it is bread, “ha-motzi lechem min ha-aretz.”
And yes, if the Hebrew is daunting, prayers in English absolutely do count!
I’m curious, Rabbi – what’s your position on saying the ha-motzi blessing over bread, if the bread is grain-free due to allergies?
Adam, that is a question worthy of a whole post of its own. Watch this space. 😉
Huge thanks, Rabbi Ruth
Alex
!בתאבון
There’s nothing quite like a home-grown tomato, is there? Enjoy your agvaniot in good health. 🙂
Rabbi Ruth, Im increasing my observance….I want to say a blessing before eating, but….poor memory/cognitive function lessened a little: after effects of stroke. I find myself getting in a tizz trying to remember which, for what, etc, and that is not at all the desired result 🙂 is there a “one size fits all”(apology for the rather do rude description, but I can’t think of another) which I could say, just as a starting point, and then hopefully later I can break things down into the appropriate blessings? Thank you as always Alex
Sure, Alex!
I’m going to answer this as a new post, and I’ll come back here and post a link.
Whoops….replied in the wrong place! Wanted to say thanks, ?rabbi Ruth
Alex
Alex, for you and for anyone else who wants to find my answer, here is the new post on the subject: http://coffeeshoprabbi.com/2015/08/22/how-can-i-bless-after-a-stroke/
Thank you for a terrific question!