Blessings Over Food

In Psalms it tells us to "Always Keep HaShem Before Us. One way to do this is by injecting the consciousness of HaShem into mundane normal every day acts. That is one purpose of saying a Blessing Over Food. The action of eating is a mundane every day act. When we say a Blessing we are injecting the consciousness of HaShem into ourselves as well as activating the energy essence of the food.

Many people rebel at the idea of saying a Blessing asking what benefit do i get? I look at people who Bless their food and People who do not Bless their food and i see no difference. The answer is in the first basic class on Kabbalah. The world is an illusion and we do not see the whole picture. Even our senses are created to sense incompletely. (We do not see infrared and ultraviolet light; We do not hear sounds above and below our normal hearing spectrum; we do not smell what we are not designed to smell and many other limitations.)

Now let's "look" - really "look" at the food. We see an apple. Inside the apple we can see but usually do not see 4 levels or worlds. Surrounding the apple we can see but usually do not see 4 levels or worlds which are above the physical level that we are "seeing" with our normal senses.

When we say a Blessing in Hebrew, we are activating the energy of this apple in all of these levels not just partaking of a physical apple. When we eat the apple we are receiving this activated energy on all 4 levels or worlds that we live within. When we say a Blessing after eating (which we will learn in another class) we send that energy to our personal energy store in the Sefirah of Binah. That energy is then available to use at another time or place when we will need it.

When we eat without saying a Blessing there is only the physical food that is utilized by the physical body. There is no protection from the negative side which may or may not have permission to corrupt the spelling of the words that make energy. This corrupted spelling is why people become overweight. Hey Chanoch, i see religious people who say Blessings who become overweight so how can you say that the Blessing is a protection from this? The answer is this world is an illusion and the saying of a Blessing without a proper intention is just an empty body. Better than nothing but not as effective as it needs to be in protecting the process of converting energy of food into the energy in the storehouse, be that storehouse within the human body or the Sefirah of Binah.

When we see someone eat food that is not blessed they are receiving only a small percentage of the energy they are capable of. One of the scientific measurements of Energy is the number of calories. Let's assume the physical apple produces 100 calories. How much energy is available in the apple? Remember the formula from Albert Einstein E = M x C Squared. Even if the apple is only 1 gram this formula would produce in excess of a million calories. Oh by the way, do not worry about the additional calories. They do not go to the physical body they go to various other locations including your soul and your energy storage bin located in the World of Brea (World of creation). In fact this additional energy can be used to transform your excess physical weight into becoming slimmer and thinner, if that is your desire.

Discussion on Hierarchy

Everything in this world is in the form of a hierarchy. Remember when the Torah was given on Mount Sinai. Moshe was at the highest level with Aaron and his sons. Slightly below that followed by the Sanhedrin which are the 70 Elders; followed a little further down the mountain the Chiefs of the Tribes; followed at the lowest level by the People generally who need to stay off of the mountain as the energy of Holiness is too much for their vessel. Think about this. Ask yourself why does this happen?

The answer is unity. When two things come together in unity there is a spacial relationship or we can call it a directional relationship between them. One is on top; one is east; one is north, etc. This relationship is the cause of a hierarchy. This relationship is not about higher and lower although we find it easier to perceive as that metaphor. It is a Hierarchal relationship. This is true of all things in this physical world. This is true even about food. That is why there are 7 Blessings for Food and 3 Blessings for after you eat. Do you recognize the relationship of 3 and 7?

We will discuss the Blessings after eating in another class.

Let's look at the hierarchal relationship to food.

Or another way of seeing this is the categorization of food as it relates to Blessings Before Food.

The Sages have taught us that food is categorized as the following:

From lowest to highest. Please do not see this as a better or less better variety. DO NOT RELATE TO the Hierarchy THIS WAY

Declaration of a Fast

All things that are revealed by His word

Fruits and Vegetables that grow close to the ground or NOT on TREES

Fruits and Vegetables that grow on Trees

Items made from grain products that are not Bread

Bread

Washing of Hands - related to Bread

This will be a wholly different class - it is not part of the 7 Blessings - yet needs to be included in this list for another reason.

Wine and Grape Juice

I will discuss each of these in a separate section along with the actual Blessing.

Let's begin to understand why they are not higher or lower and why they are not better or worse. Everything is created by God. Human Beings were created with a purpose. The mosquito is created with a purpose. Does God care more for a human being than a mosquito? We human beings would like to think so. Yet actually does a mother or a father love one of their creations more than the other? Everything receives from God what is their need and their desire and their fulfillment. In this context everything is equal in that everything serves the purpose that God created it to do.

Some things were created as food for another thing. Does that relationship make the food less important? Let me speak about a parable that has been told for over 2000 years. The parts of the body are arguing which part is most important. The heart says he is; the brain says it is; the legs say they are; the sex organ says it is . Each part thinks they are the most important. The tongue says it is the most important and tells all of the other parts that he will show them why he is most important.

The person finds himself in front of the King so the tongue starts cursing the King. The King gets upset and sentences the person to die for his insults. All of the parts of the body are worried sick so the tongue says to them do not worry i will save you all. The other parts say you are the one that got us into this situation how are you going to save us. The tongue says you will see and you will remember our discussion i am the most important part of the body. The tongue tells a guard to tell the King he needs to see him to save him from some horrible thing. The King comes down to the jail and the tongue sweet talks his way out of the predicament. The King changes his mind and frees all of the parts. On the way back home the other parts start arguing about which is the second most important part.

Remember whether you are eating or are being eaten HaShem created you and HaShem will take care of you. You were created for a reason. Enjoy the Process and Love HaShem because HaShem loves you. Learn this well.

Let's look at these 7 Blessings Over Food

Here are links to the previous recording and Hand Out about the Kavenah for the words of Blessings. We will assume you all remember these Kavenot and know that well.

• Kavenah for Blessings

• Class Recording on Blessing Kavenah recorded 5 6 2012

Here are the words of the Sheachol Blessing

The following Blessing is said over Meat, Dairy Products, and Drinks other than Wine. One recites this Blessing when ever one is taking a snack and not a full meal with these products. Other items that we say this Blessing are snack items generaIly. Potatoes fried in oil and other similar discussions. I am sure you will ask questions about this. In general the Sheachol Blessing covers a variety of food groups and is generally used as the Blessing of Last Resort. If something does not fit in any other category then the Blessing is Shechol, which is this Blessing.

ברוך אתה יהוה (אדני יאהדונהי) אלהינו מלך העולם שהכל נהיה בדברו

Transliteration

Baruch Atah Adonai (small letters Kavenah see below) Elohainu Melech HaOlam SheHaChawl NeHeYah BiDVaRo

Translation

Blessed are You HaShem (small letters Kavenah see below) Our God, King of the Universe Whose Word Brings About All Things.

Codes and Kavenah around the Blessing

The first Letters of the last three words spells "Express Passion".

The second letters of the last three words is an acronym for the phrase "as it is written" or "the echo".

The third letter of the last three words spells the word ulcer. Use this as a vaccine to prevent ulcers which are caused by these types of foods.

The fourth letter of the last three words spells the phrase "Teach a Mountain" which is a code word for Teach Torah.

The fifth letter of the last three words spells the 11th name from the 72 Names from the Tzadikim. This Name connects to the Sefirah of Binah through its gematria of 41 which is the gematria of the word Mother.

My Kavenah from the above is:

Use the 11th Name from the 72 Names of the Tzadikim, to express passion from the Torah as the Light flows from the Mother.

Kabbalah Water Kavenah

You all know the adage that there is no disappearance in spirituality. This applies especially to water. There was a corruption in the lower waters when the flood of Noah took place. When an item like water which relates to the frame of Chesed was used in the frame of judgment like when it was used in the Flood that item always has a reshimah (an impression of that action) within it.

(To understand the idea of a reshimah let's look at the idea of why it is important for a women to limit the number of different men to deposit sperm within her womb. Each man who deposits sperm leaves a reshimah of that sperm in her womb and male being male is constantly attempting to exercise control over the other males. This conflict between the reshimah of each man is why there is so much chaos for her life. There are ways to remove this chaos but not the reshimah.

It is important to return the water of life (what we drink or cook with) to its original pre flood consciousness. We do that with a meditation and consciousness to do so using the Sequence Yood Caf Shin יכש from the level of Tiferet of the Ana Bekoach.

Remember what we say during the Ana Bekoach, Yood Caf Shin is a sequence that takes back the energy from the negative side that we have given over to the negative side through our mistakes. That is what we do when we meditate on that sequence over a bottle of water prior to saying the Shehacol Blessing. There are other meditations as well to return the water to its pre flood consciousness but this is a good beginning. Remember the strength of this meditation is a function of your focus and concentration. The more you practice focus and concentration and Kabbalistic meditation the more you return the water to its preflood consciousness.

Here are the words of the HaAitz Blessing

The HaAitz Blessing is said over fruits and vegetables that do grow on Trees. It is not easy to know what is a Tree and what is a bush. An example is a Banana Tree because a thing like a banana does not grow on trees even though the item looks like a tree. Another definition is anything that grows a single crop during the year uses this Blessing.

I recommend you get a small booklet which specifies the blessing for each type of food. In the beginning if you make a mistake it is forgiven. After a period of 5 years one should know the correct Blessing for each food type.

ברוך אתה יהוה (אדני יאהדונהי) אלהינו מלך העולם בורא פרי האץ

Transliteration

Baruch Atah Adonai (small letters Kavenah see below) Eloheinu Melech HaOlam Borai Pri HaAitz.

Translation

Blessed are You HaShem (small letters Kavenah see below) Our God, King of the Universe Who Created Fruit of the Tree.

Codes and Kavenah around the Blessing

Initial Letters of the three last words spell "2 mouths" or "with a mouth".

Second Letters of the three last words spell the word ohr which means Light

Third Letters of the three last words spell "messenger" or "to portray" or "to describe".

Fourth Letters of the three last words (actually Pri and HaAitz only has three letters so we skip these words) represent the Aleph representing Unity.

Last Letters of the last three words translate as "To Go Out".

The Kavenah i use from the above is:

With a mouth, i draw the Light of Unity to go out to be a messenger from the Creator.