Eretz Yisrael in Birkat HaMazon

By Rabbi Yosef Zvi Rimon

In Parashat Eikev, the Torah gives us the mitzvah of Birkat HaMazon: “And you shall eat and be satisfied, and bless the L-rd your G-d for the good Land which He has given you” (Devarim 8:10).

Although this blessing is said over the food we have just eaten, the Torah ties it to the Land of Israel.Chazal (Berachot 48b), establish: “Whoever did not say ‘a desirable, good, and expansive Land’… has not fulfilled his obligation.” This raises a question: if Birkat HaMazon is so focused on Eretz Yisrael, why do we recite it all over the world?

The Tashbetz (Part 2, Siman 161) holds that the text familiar to us today is not the original text. Chazalsays that Yehoshua bin Nun instituted the blessing for the Land upon Am Yisrael’s entry into it.

The holy Alshich (Devarim 8:10) explains that Yehoshua’s text was, “We thank You for having given us as an inheritance.” In his view, the Torah warns us to keep the commandments so there be no exile. Then, we can always make a blessing over the Land.

Rav Chaim David HaLevi (Mekor Chaim HaShalem, chapter 81, Laws of Birkat HaMazon) writes that now we have returned to the Land and merited the beginning of the redemption, it would be fitting to say “for having given us as an inheritance,” or at least “for having given our forefathers and us as an inheritance.” We do not say this of course, but it is moving that we now have the privilege to be in our own land!

Why did Chazal not institute a special blessing for the mitzvah of settling the Land of Israel, similar to the blessing “Who has sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us to dwell in the sukkah”?

Rav Chaim Shraga Feivel was Rav Tzvi Pesach Frank’s brother and rabbi of Yemin Moshe. In his book Toldot Ze’ev (Part 2, p. 67, letters 12–13) he asks: why don’t we make a berachah over the mitzvah of settling the Land of Israel? He answers: we do! Every day, in Birkat HaMazon: “We thank You, Hashem our G-d, for having given our forefathers a desirable, good, and expansive Land.”

The privilege of reciting Birkat HaMazon in Eretz Yisrael, in Medinat Yisrael should fill us with great joy. Likewise, in Eretz Yisrael, we should have in mind how fortunate we are to live in a desirable, good, and expansive land.

Rav Mordechai Fogelman was the rabbi of Katowice, fled the Holocaust, and became the rabbi of Kiryat Motzkin in 1940. In his responsa Beit Mordechai (Part 1, Siman 28), he explores what blessing one should recite upon making aliyah.

After saying no special blessing was instituted because the original berachah was already connected to Am Yisrael’s entry into Eretz Yisrael, he adds that one should recite Shehecheyanu. Although the Ben Ish Chai advised not to recite Shehecheyanu, because troubles in Eretz Yisrael then were far harsher than those abroad, Rav Fogelman writes that today, thank G-d, now that we have a state, there is great joy in Eretz Yisrael, and so one should recite the blessing. (However, since there are other reasons not to recite it, it is worthwhile to wear a new garment and recite the blessing joyfully over one’s aliyah.)

And why is the blessing recited outside the Land as well? First, even there one must remember that abundance comes from Hashem, and the blessing over the Land, and the verses there, conclude with the warning not to forget: “Beware lest you forget Hashem…” Second, every time someone enjoys abundance overseas and recites Birkat HaMazon, they should remember that where they are is not their true home!

“We thank You… for having given our forefathers a desirable, good, and expansive Land.”