Inspiration from Zion: This is a Love Story

One little button on a touch-pad menu encapsulates the miraculous in its banality – and a powerful refutation of the lie that Zionism is a modern invention.

“Birkat Hamazon”. One little button, among the other options on the menu. This isn’t something to eat; it’s a link to the text of the Jewish prayer of thanksgiving recited after eating a meal that includes bread.

A modern, technological shortcut to access this centuries-old prayer, for modern Jews keeping ancient traditions, in the land of our ancestors.

Unlike the short blessings said before eating, Birkat Hamazon is a longer prayer of gratitude said afterward, connecting the physical meal to what has sustained us throughout the centuries, made us who we are, and gives us hope for the future.

The blessing consists of blessings that developed over several centuries.

First comes the blessing thanking God for providing food for all living creatures.

Then comes the blessing for the Land. This land. It thanks God for the Land of Israel, the covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the Exodus from Egypt, and the Torah.

It is a prayer of gratitude for the love story between the Jewish people and the Land of Israel, and for our everlasting covenant with God – which began with the covenant with the forefathers of our Nation, the Exodus that taught us the nature of God, and the Torah that gives us the guidelines for living in this world.

Tradition attributes this section to Joshua, who added thanks after entering the Land of Israel (around 1200 BCE).

Then comes a prayer asking God to rebuild Jerusalem and restore the Temple:

“Have mercy, Lord our God, upon Israel Your people, upon Jerusalem Your city, upon Zion, the dwelling place of Your glory, upon the kingdom of the house of David Your anointed, and upon the great and holy House that bears Your Name.”

“Rebuild Jerusalem, the holy city, speedily in our days. Blessed are You, Lord, who in His mercy rebuilds Jerusalem”

Yearning to be a free nation in our ancestral homeland is not a modern invention. It began when we were ripped from the land, after the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE.

The longing for Zion is as ancient as the Exile.

Then comes the blessing thanking God for being good and doing good. This was added after the Romans allowed the Jewish dead from the battle of Beitar (during the Bar Kokhba revolt 132–136 CE) to be buried.

Because even when awful things happen, we thank God for the good.

Eating is something most of us take for granted. It’s an act of the obvious. But Jewish existence is exactly the opposite of that. In fact, it’s utterly miraculous.

Who could imagine that one little button could encompass so much?

---

If you appreciate my writings and would like to support my efforts, please consider a PayPal donation to help me bring Inspiration from Zion to people around the world.