What brakha (blessing) do we say when we eat meat?
Talking about celebrating life, often turns to the question of food and towards recognizing death as a part of our food structure. It’s important to note that many people involved in promoting and developing the New Year for Animals find it critical to centre vegetarian practice, here’s a piece by one of the leading voices in this direction, Richard H. Schwartz: Restoring the Mitzvah of Tsa’ar Ba’alei Chaim.
But the nature of most humans is omnivorous, and the problem with meat-eating isn’t in the meat but in the lack of respect for the life-lived and the manner of death. The death of any animal is a huge thing, and Torah demanded we acknowledge this when it forbade us to consume blood:
כִּי־נֶפֶשׁ כׇּל־בָּשָׂר דָּמוֹ בְנַפְשׁוֹ הוּא וָאֹמַר לִבְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל דַּם כׇּל־בָּשָׂר לֹא תֹאכֵלוּ כִּי נֶפֶשׁ כׇּל־בָּשָׂר דָּמוֹ הִוא כׇּל־אֹכְלָיו יִכָּרֵת׃
“For the life of all flesh, its blood is in its life, and I say to the Israelites: the blood of all flesh you shall not consume, for the life of all flesh is its blood, all who consume it shall be cut off.” (Vayikra / Leviticus 17:14)
And though some people choose to live with a vegetarian diet, not all of us can or want to do so. But, all of us should make it part of our practice to acknowledge the sanctity of the life we are are eating. The same goes for any plant life, and so, we have blessings for eating fruit, vegetables, grains etc’.
Interestingly enough, Jewish tradition doesn’t have a special blessing for the consumption of meat/poultry/fish, and uses the generalized, catch-all blessing of:
“Barukh ata Adonai Eloheinu melekh ha’olam shehakol niyah bidvaro.”
”Blessed are You, Adonai our God, Ruler of the universe, at whose word all came to be. “
Perhaps it’s too painful to recite a blessing over the dead, or, perhaps our ancient rabbis felt this would bring us too close to imagining the food on our plate was a form of sacrifice to say a blessing over.
For whatever reason, we now live in a situation where we are separated from the reality of death in regards to the food we consume. So much has been written about this, and I won’t go into this particular thicket (though, if you are looking for an interestingly complex exploration of the reality of meat eating, I recommend checking out the book “Defending Beef”).
Inspired by the idea that we should not aim to dismantle but rather to grow, I wrote a blessing on eating meat (or poultry, or fish). This blessing is based on Vayikra / Leviticus, ch. 17:11 –
כִּי נֶפֶשׁ הַבָּשָׂר בַּדָּם הִוא וַאֲנִי נְתַתִּיו לָכֶם עַל־הַמִּזְבֵּחַ לְכַפֵּר עַל־נַפְשֹׁתֵיכֶם כִּי־הַדָּם הוּא בַּנֶּפֶשׁ יְכַפֵּר׃
“For the life of the flesh is in the blood. And as for me, I have given it to you on the alter to ransom your lives, for it is the blood that ransoms in exchange for life.”
This verse helps us remember (and how can we ever forget?!) that any bloodshed, is a loss of life – human or animal. And, it helps us understand that even when we kill for our own sustenance, we cause a loss of life. The burden is on us. We are commanded to release the blood-life so we may use the meat.
And so, I remind myself of that as I eat any form of meat, reciting this prior to eating:
“בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה׳ אֱלֹהינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם בּוֹרֵא נֶפֶשׁ הַבָּשָׂר”
Barukh Atah Adonai Eloheinu Melech Ha-Olam, Boreh nefesh ha-basar
”Blessed are You, Adonai our God, Ruler of the universe, who created life in the flesh”
And after eating meat (any animal meat), I recite:
“כִּי־הַדָּם הוּא בַּנֶּפֶשׁ יְכַפֵּר, לְכַפֵּר עַל־נַפְשֹׁתֵיכֶם, וַאֲנִי נְתַתִּיו לָכֶם עַל־הַמִּזְבֵּחַ”
Ki ha-dam hu banefesh yechaper, le-chaper al nafshoteichem, va-ani netativ lachem al hamizbeach
“For it is the blood that ransoms in exchange for life, to ransom your lives, and I have given it to you on the alter”
I say these brakhot/blessings whether I’m feasting on meat during a meal or on a separate occasion. Whenever flesh crosses my lips, I remind myself this was once a living creature just like me.
[This piece is part of a longer essay I wrote about Alef Elul / the New Year for Animals]
