Parshas Eikev: Fill ‘er Up!

“You will eat and be satisfied, and you will bless Hashem your G-d….” (Devarim 8:10)

The gemara in Berachos discusses Bircas Hamazon. According to the above pasuk, therein lies the chiyuv d’Oraisa, the obligation according to Torah, to bentsh after we eat. If we’re obligated to bless Hashem when we’re sated, asks the gemara, all the more so shouldn’t we bless Him before eating, while we are still hungry?

 The gemara concludes, however, that the only brachah that we can firmly consider obligatory by Torah (i.e., not rabbinic) law is the bentshing after a meal of food. (Rabbi Yitzchok Adlerstein, based on the Meshech Chochmah)

Pesach 2020. We were in the first few months of the Covid pandemic. We scrubbed down groceries to disinfect them before bringing them into the house. Worry and fear was pervasive. The unknown was so scary. And we faced an egg shortage. Underneath that fear of survival was a very pragmatic nagging detail that every balabusta knows.  It’s simply not possible to make Pesach without eggs.

Yet we managed. We made it through the pandemic, albeit with scars. And we made it through Pesach without cakes and pareve ice cream and learned we can do with less.

Bentshing is intended to correct Man’s tendency to move further away from G-d after he has satisfied himself, rather than move closer. Man becomes self-assured, confident in his own powers, even haughty, once his needs are filled. As the Torah says (Devarim 8:12-14): “Lest you eat and be sated… and forget Hashem your G-d.”

Two years later, there was a baby formula shortage. This was more serious, and images of parents racing across the city to secure food for their children was haunting.

Since then we’ve gotten used to appliance shortages, microchip shortages, and gas shortages, among others, as production of essential items have been affected across the globe.