Berakhot 37
Today’s carbohydrate-heavy text continues the theme of eating with intention and reference for the food source. This statement reminds me of the importance of understanding the life-cycle of a grain of rice: “Indeed, rice or mullet is like a cooked dish, and is not like a cooked dish in every sense.” There are different prayers for the grain before it is cooked and then afterwards.
I have been thinking about the role bread in particular plays in Jewish culture. I recently went to a service at a renewal synagogue in New York where a challah was passed to the congregation and everyone took a small piece from the loaf. I was hungry after a busy day at work and probably pulled off a larger piece from the loaf than I should have, but it helped me feel connected to a group of people I did not know. It served as an act of unity and community.
Embedded in the discussion on bread, and grains, and fruit and blessings, is a lesson from Rabbi Akiva on listening to the opinion of the majority, even if you are going against the opinion of learned Rabbi Gamliel. The discussion on food blessings includes an analysis of majority rule when it presents different points of view on the recitation of a blessing following a meal. Rabbi Gamliel asks Rabbi Akiva to say the blessing after the consumption of some grapes and he “sticks his head” into the dispute over the type of blessing to say when he recites an abridged version from the Grace after Meals. The always practical Rabbi Akiva states that he followed the majority opinion when questioned by Rabbi Gamliel: “In a dispute between an individual and the many, the halakha is in accordance with the opinion of the many.”
It is understood that Rabbi Gamliel, always the traditionalist, would have wanted the unabridged version of the blessing recited. But Rabbi Akiva, who is sensitive in addition to practical, says the abridged version really fast in order to make his point but minimize the embarrassment to Rabbi Gamliel. And maybe he was also anxious because Gamliel has a history of kicking people out of the Yeshiva who disagree with him.
There are so many lessons embedded within the text each day and so much to learn as it twists and turns through the many debates among the Rabbis. Is it carrying things too far to compare the meaning found in a grain of rice (the circle of life – from grain to cooked food) to what is found embedded in each text? I have come to especially appreciate Rabbi Akiva’s thoughtful, practical and measured approach to the issues as they emerge.