302 - Parnassah (Part-3)

One of the great classic works, the Sefer HaChinuch, writes that anyone who recites the Birkas Hamazon, the grace after meals, with concentration will not lack in their sustenance. As we've discussed many times, an extension of our belief in Hashem is to believe in the Torah and what the Torah commentaries teach us, which is really an extension of Hashem's word. Of course, the main reason that we should perform the mitzvah of Birkas Hamazon is because Hashem commanded us to do so and we thank Him for the food that He's provided us. However, the Sefer HaChinuch is teaching us that somebody who recites Birkas Hamazon with intention and meaning and concentration will not lack in their sustenance. One of the great halachic commentaries, the Bach, brings down a Torah teaching that if we look at the entire text of the Birkas Hamazon, we will not find even a single time the letter Pei Soifis, the final Pei. And the reason for that, he brings, is because somebody who is careful with the mitzvah of Birkas Hamazon will never be able to be at the hands of the destructive angels known as Af and other names which end in the Pei Sofit letter.

Reciting the Birkas Hamazon with intention has many benefits. Foremostly, we are fulfilling Hashem's commandment. We are thanking Hashem for the food that He has given us. And fulfilling this mitzvah with extra intention is particularly conducive to financial success. And in the same way, the destructive angels which sometimes have the power to bring suffering on us will have no jurisdiction over us and our happenings. There is a famous story recounted about Rav Meir Shapiro, the founder of the Daf Yomi, who once came to a group of students and taught them this teaching that anybody who recites the Birkas Hamazon with concentration will never be under the jurisdiction of the destructive forces and will also have financial success. One of the students who heard this teaching really took it to heart with real sincerity and decided that from this moment on, he was going to recite the Grace After Meals with tremendous concentration every single time. 

When the times of the Holocaust struck, it just so happened that this individual was placed to be the cook in his camp. And he already realized the bracha that Hashem was sending him even during these trying times. Hashem was showing that he was always going to have his sustenance by his side because of his devotion to this mitzvah of Birkas Hamazon. It once happened that one of the Nazi officials, Yemach Shemam, came over and noticed that this Jew was in very good shape because he always had food accessible to him. And because of his hatred to the Jewish people, he chased him out of the kitchen and he said you will no longer be the cook here. And in fact, he threatened him and said, I give you four hours to dig me a pit of a huge size, which was an impossible feat. And if you don't do so, he threatened him, I will kill you at the end of the four hours. And then the Nazi officer stormed away. During these hours, the individual turned up to Hashem and he said, “Hashem, you know that I've always been careful with my mitzvah. Please will you come through for me in one way or another?” 

And at some point there was a truck of soldiers who passed by. And because they noticed that he was a Jew, they all took out pieces of fruit and threw them at him. And soon after that, a different truck approached. But this time it was full of officers who were so particularly hungry. And because this individual was surrounded by a whole lot of fruit, they assumed that he must be a soldier and wasn't a Jew. And because these soldiers were so hungry, they asked him if they could have some of the fruit around him. And he said, I will give you all of the fruit as long as you come out with your equipment and dig me a pit. And within those four hours, he had his pit dug. When the Nazi officer returned, he said, you Jews always have a way to somehow come through. We do not understand Hashem's ways. But if Hashem has taught us that the mitzvah of Birkas HaMazon is extremely important and reciting it with devotion will bring about abundant blessing, it is certainly worth our while to believe Him.