Parshat Bamidbar: 600 Days
Birkat Hamazon – Grace After Meals. Bentsching in Yiddish. There are few prayers in Jewish tradition that are more familiar than the blessings we recite after a meal with bread. The first paragraph is known to many probably from singing it at camp for many years. You know, “Hazan et HaOlam Kulo Betuvo, Bechayn, Bechesed Uverachamim…”
The origins of Birkat HaMazon are well documented according to Jewish tradition. There are four blessings that make up Bentsching and they reflect four different pivotal periods or epochs of Jewish history.
The First Blessing – Birkat HaZan – is a blessing that focuses on sustenance in general. It was composed by Moshe in gratitude for the Manna that sustained the Israelites in the wilderness after the Exodus from Egypt. It is thanks for all the food and nourishment that God gives us every day.
The Second Blessing – Birkat HaAretz – is a blessing for the land, specifically for Eretz Yisrael – the Land of Israel. Moshe’s successor, Joshua composed this blessing when the Israelites entered and benefitted from the produce of the Land of Israel. Thus we thank God “for having given as a heritage to our ancestors a precious, good and spacious land.”
The Third Blessing focuses on Yerushalayim/Jerusalem and was composed by both King David who established Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, and his son, King Solomon who built the First Temple there. This was a pinnacle point in Jewish history and many view the reign of Solomon as the apex and highlight of Jewish history when there was peace with Israel’s neighbors and unity within.
And then we get to The Fourth Blessing. And this is where it gets a bit strange. It is called HaTov VeHameitiv – Who is Good and Does Good, where God is the obvious subject for He ultimately is Good and Does Good. The blessing consists of a whole laundry list of good things that God is and does.
What historical event prompted this blessing? It was instituted by Rabban Gamliel and his court in Yavneh after the Bar Kochba revolt. That revolt ended up a major fail and countless thousands died. Apparently there was a miracle and the bodies that had been left unburied were found intact, allowing for their proper burial. And this is the source for this blessing of thanking God for being good and doing good.
You might be scratching your head about this one and I don’t blame you. When you think of great moments in Jewish history and the blessings that reference them, there seems to be a bit of a disconnect between the first three and this one. We go from Moshe and Manna, to Joshua and Eretz Yisrael to David/Solomon and the Beit HaMikdash in Jerusalem… to burying the dead from the Bar Kochba revolt?! Kinda doesn’t belong.
It does. And in truth, this blessing probably holds more meaning for us today than any of the others.
The Bar Kochba revolt was a very pivotal moment in Jewish history. The Romans had destroyed the 2nd Temple in the year 70 and the Jews were living in a somewhat livable occupation under them. When Roman rule became more onerous however, Simon Bar Kochba led a revolt against them and indeed had some initial success for a few years, from 132-135. But the Romans were the super-power at the time and its army most formidable. It is reputed that nearly one third of the Roman army took part in the campaign to crush Bar Kochba and the Jews. Hundreds of thousands of Jews were killed and everything went downhill from there. It led to the depopulation of Judea and a ban on Jewish residency in Jerusalem, among other tragedies.
This was a turning point in Jewish history. When Bar Kochba’s final fortress, Beitar fell, it marked the beginning of the long 2000 year Galut/Exile. No more independent Jewish country until 1948. No more Jewish army, government, land or capital. Jewish life would now be defined solely by observance of Jewish practice and study of Torah as Jews spread to the four corners of the globe.
Burying the dead of that tragedy was the beginning of closure to that epoch in Jewish history and with it, the ability to move forward and onward to the new reality of Jewish life. Until those bodies could be retrieved and buried, there would remain open wounds of the Bar Kochba revolt and Roman rulership. So long as those bodies lay in the fields and cities of destruction, there would remain the inability to adapt to the new state of affairs facing the Jewish people that would define us for two millennia.
And this is why this last blessing is so meaningful for us. This is precisely what we as a nation are feeling today. This past week we hit Day 600 since October 7th. For over 600 days hostages and the bodies of hostages still remain in captivity in Gaza. Sad, depressing and disturbing.
It goes without saying that the greatest pain is being felt by the families of those remaining hostages. But beyond the pain of their loved ones, this is something that hangs over the entire nation as a whole and Jewish people everywhere. Until every last one of those hostages – dead or alive – is brought home, we cannot fully move forward from October 7th. There cannot be a complete processing of events and closure to October 7th when it’s still ongoing. And as long as there are still hostages in Gaza, it remains ongoing.
This is why there continues to be massive protests in the streets of Israel 600 days and counting after October 7th. Its why 70% of Israelis no longer trust the government, according to a poll this week.
The Good mentioned in this blessing was the kindness by God in allowing the Jewish people to move on in the aftermath of the catastrophe of the war with the Romans. To be able to pivot into a new life that would last for 2000 years.
Our hope and prayer is that the remaining hostages shall return home soon. That the HaTov VeHameitiv blessing will resonate today and do its wonders as it did so long ago. That even during these dire and difficult times – personally and collectively as a people – God will show His Goodness by helping us through the tragic and darkest times of our people just as He did when Beitar fell. May they return home soon.
Through these fields of destruction
Baptisms of fire
I’ve witnessed your suffering
As the battle raged higher
And though they did hurt me so bad
In the fear and alarm
You did not desert me
My brothers in arms
–Dire Straits
