Grace after meals
| Halakhic texts relating to this article | |
|---|---|
| Torah: | Deuteronomy 8:10 |
| Babylonian Talmud: | Berakhot ch.7 |
| Mishneh Torah: | Hilkhot Berakhot |
| Shulchan Aruch: | Orach Chayim 182 - 201 |
Birkat Hamazon or Birkat Hammazon (Hebrew: ברכת המזון; trans. Blessing on Nourishment), known in English as the Grace After Meals (Yiddish: בענטשן; translit. bentshn or "to bless", Yinglish: Benching), is a set of Hebrew blessings that Jewish Halakha ("collective body of Jewish religious laws") prescribes following a meal that includes at least a ke-zayit (olive sized) piece of bread or matzoh made from one or all of wheat, barley, rye, oats, spelt. It is a mitzvah de-'oraita (Aramaic: דאורייתא), that is written in the Torah (Deuteronomy 8:10). It is a matter of rabbinic dispute whether birkat hamazon must be said after eating certain other bread-like foods such as pizza.
Birkat hamazon is typically read to oneself after ordinary meals and often sung aloud on special occasions such as the Shabbat and festivals. The blessing can be found in almost all prayerbooks and is often printed in a variety of artistic styles in a small booklet called a birchon (or birkon, ברכון) in Hebrew or bencher (or bentcher) in Yiddish. The length of the different Birkat hamazon can vary considerably, from benching under half a minute to more than 5 minutes. Several websites such as BirkatHamazon.org, Tefillos.com, Open Siddur Project, and others, have published the prayer(s) in various Nuschaot.
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