Positive #13 - To Recite a Blessing After Eating Food

In this episode, we learn positive mitzvah #13, which is to recite a blessing after eating food.  This after-meal blessing is referred to as birkat hamazon.

1. Structure of Birkat Hamazon
   • Made up of four blessings:
     • Hashem sustains everyone and everything
     • Thanking Hashem for the land
     • Praying for Yerushalayim and the Beit Hamikdash
     • Declaring that Hashem is good and does good for others (this fourth blessing was added later in history, after we received access to the city of Beitar)
2. What foods require Birkat Hamazon?
   • Bread
   • Other foods require shorter after-blessings, depending on the type of food
3. How much food must one eat to be required to recite Birkat Hamazon?
   • About an olive size of bread, approximately one ounce
4. Extension to Blessing on Food Prior to Eating
   • The Sages extended this mitzvah of reciting a blessing to prior eating food, too.
   • This extension is based on logic