DEUT375 While it is true that most Reform Jews do not recite blessings after they eat everyday meals, there is a growing awareness in Reform circles that its recitation serves as an authentic form of Jewish expression of gratitude. We find in the Torah the following words: “When you have eaten your fill, give thanks to the Eternal your God for the good land given to you” (Deuteronomy 8:10). This passage serves as the proof text for Birkat HaMazon, the first of all blessings regarding eating and food. It reflects the historical relationship between God and the Jews. When we complete our meal, we are to remind ourselves that the food we have eaten is a gift to us from God, just as the manna in the desert was a gift to us from God that sustained us during our wandering years. The recitation of the Birkat serves as a form of Thanksgiving. If one reads the preceding verses in the same chapter of Deuteronomy, it becomes clear that reciting Birkat is a form of thanksgiving for the fulfillment of a covenant between God and our ancestors; The covenant through which God gave us the Land of Israel, manna to sustain us in the desert, food from the land, provided us with all of our needs, and more. In reciting the Birkat, our words served as a form of fulfillment of our part of the charge outlined in Deuteronomy, “to faithfully observe all the Instruction” (Deuteronomy 8:1) that God has enjoined upon us. There is another important reason for reciting the Birkat. The Mishnah informs us that “three who have eaten are to recite the Birkat HaMazon” (Mishnah B’rachot 7:1). Why should this be so important to the Rabbis? The eating of food is a reflection of our own human character. When we eat alone, we eat for survival. The only thing that matters is satisfying our individual need. Yet, eating in community transforms the physical act into a social, spiritual, and/or religious expression. For the Rabbis, eating in community served as an act of humility. When we eat together, we take care of one another and we nurture each other. For example, over a meal, we often ask about each other’s welfare. Eating and community should be seen not as a “right” or entitlement of being human, but rather as a privilege and honor, for doing so means sharing “in community” with our fellow beings and with the Divine. So often in America today, people eat alone, in cars, or in fast-food restaurants. Americans are deeply influenced by the consumerism of our times, and our eating habits have become a reflection of our isolation from one another and of our connection to things. Our tradition stands in contrast to such behavior, and Birkat HaMazon recognizes that eating together is important, because gathering over food represents living in community all the time. (By Bennett F. Miller, “THE JOY AND PRIVILEGE OF BLESSINGS BEFORE AND AFTER A MEAL”)