Eat. Be Satisfied. Then Don’t Forget. | 10@9 | 2026.07.28

Birkat HaMazon is the only blessing explicitly commanded in the Torah. But the Torah does not present it as a polite ritual after a meal. It places it between two stark possibilities - what happens when we remember, and what happens when we don’t. “You will eat, be satisfied, and bless…” comes at the moment of greatest danger. Not when we are lacking, but when we feel full, secure, and self-sufficient. That is precisely when memory begins to fade. Rabbi Jonathan Sacks explains that this mitzvah is not primarily about food. It is about memory. A person who remembers being helped retains gratitude for that help. A person who forgets God's gifts begins to believe “my strength and the might of my hand made this.” Birkat HaMazon is a daily discipline designed to protect us from that drift. In this video, we explore the context of Birkat HaMazon in this week's Parsha and discover that it is far more than a blessing after eating. It is a daily discipline of memory. The Torah teaches that gratitude begins with remembering, and that forgetting God is most likely not when we are hungry, but when we are full. Michael Whitman is the senior rabbi of ADATH Congregation in Hampstead, Quebec, and an adjunct professor at McGill University Faculty of Law. ADATH is a modern orthodox synagogue community in suburban Montreal, providing Judaism for the next generation. We take great pleasure in welcoming everyone with a warm smile, while sharing inspiration through prayer, study, and friendship. Rabbi Whitman shares his thoughts and inspirations through online lectures and shiurim, which are available on: YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5FLcsC6xz5TmkirT1qObkA Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/adathmichael/ Podcast - Mining the Riches of the Parsha: Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/mining-the-riches-of-the-parsha/id1479615142?fbclid=IwAR1c6YygRR6pvAKFvEmMGCcs0Y6hpmK8tXzPinbum8drqw2zLIo7c9SR-jc Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3hWYhCG5GR8zygw4ZNsSmO Please contact Rabbi Whitman ([email protected]) with any questions or feedback, or to receive a daily email, "Study with Rabbi Whitman Today," with current and past insights for that day, video, and audio, all in one short email sent directly to your inbox.