Berakhot 36

The text over the last few days has been focused on food and blessings. I became a little frustrated reading this text because on the surface it does not seem to have a lot of meaning to my life today.  And how many more days will we be reading about fruit coverings and blessings? But as I think about it, I am reminded about the importance of living my life with intention and attention, including what I consume and how I consume it. I eat a sandwich quickly at my desk each day and have little awareness of the act of eating and what I am consuming. I am just trying to get something down so that I don’t have a low blood sugar attack between meetings. I eat these days as a matter of course to keep myself going, but rarely do so with intention and attention to the source of the food.

I have also been thinking of the pomegranate, which has antioxidant properties, and is on the cover of the Koren Talmud Bavli. I learned when I was in Israel last Autumn that it has a special place in the country. I bought a necklace for a dear friend from the market in the Old City of Jerusalem which has rubies that represent the seeds of the pomegranate. Each fruit has hundreds of edible seeds, called arils, traditionally equated to the 613 commandments in the Torah. The fruit has impressive health benefits. This article outlines the benefits of the fruit: https://www.israel21c.org/three-important-new-reasons-to-love-the-pomegranate/

The theme of intention and attention is present in the discussion of oil. Every little gift provides enrichment of our life on earth. This reminds me to live my life with intention and attention to small details rather than just pushing through the hours to get to the end of each day (when we are advised to say the Shema at the right time.) 

I am learning that food is more than just for purposes of subsistence. It plays a central role in Jewish culture. How and what we eat tells a story about us.