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.
- 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)
- What foods require Birkat Hamazon?
- Bread
- Other foods require shorter after-blessings, depending on the type of food
- How much food must one eat to be required to recite Birkat Hamazon?
- About an olive size of bread, approximately one ounce
- 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
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