The origins of  birkat hamazon can be traced to Deuteronomy 8:10, which instructs us to “eat and be satisfied, and bless Hashem your God for the goodness of the earth.” We traditionally say four brachot after eating bread: one over the food, one over the land, one praying for the messianic age to arrive, and one praising God “who is good and does good.” Some have commented that the four blessings ‘zoom out’ in scope. First, we thank God for fulfilling our individual, physical needs, then for sustaining our community’s land, then for promising to redeem the Jewish people, then for doing good for all of humanity. But feeding even one person is no easy feat. As Rabbi Elezar ben Azariah said, “The task of keeping a person fed is as difficult as parting the Red Sea."


haggadah Section: Bareich
Source: Min Ha-Meitzar: An Abolitionist Haggadah from the Narrow Place by Noraa Kaplan