4

Are non-Jews themselves required to recite berachot before and after eating?

According to this for e.g., one is obligated to insist that guests and anyone one gives food to should make a beracha over it, and it doesn't say that it is referring only to Jews. Does this also apply to non-Jews, and if so does that imply that they should do so themselves in any case?

According to the Midrash, eating with a beracha is something Avraham insisted on when feeding his (presumably pagan) guests (Midrash Genesis Rabbah 54:6):

על דעתיה דרבי נחמיה דאמר אשל פונדיק: אברהם היה מקבל את העוברים ואת השבים ומשהיו אוכלין ושותין אמר לון: בריכו! והן אמרין: מה נימור? ואמר להון: ברוך אל עולם שאכלנו משלו, הה"ד (בראשית כא:לג): ויקרא בשם ה' אל עולם

According to the opinion of R. Nehemiah, who said that “tamarisk” (אשל) is an inn, Abraham used to receive all the wayfarers, and when they would eat and drink he would say to them “Bless!” And they would say: “What should we say?” And he would tell them, “Blessed is the Eternal Lord that we have eaten of His [bounty].” That is as is written (Gen 21:33), “and there he called on the name of the Lord, the Eternal God”

I heard that this, i.e. calling upon gentiles to bless, is halacha but I never heard the source.

If so,

  • Which language?
  • Which text?
  • For non-kosher food?
  • Same question for other nehenin (pleasures).
  • Saying amen
  • Must one insist they do so if offering them our food, like Avraham and the pagans?

Note, this and this simply ask if they are allowed, but I wish to know if they are obligated, and their laws.

7
  • Assuming blessings are Rabbinic, do non-Jews have to listen to the Rabbis?
    – robev
    Feb 15 at 19:35
  • 3
    Great question!
    – Turk Hill
    Feb 15 at 20:33
  • 2
    "it doesn't say that it is referring only to Jews." The vast majority of statements in the SA do not explicitly state that a given law appertains to Jews, it is implicit in the nature of the work. You would need some kind of evidence suggesting otherwise to uproot the assumption that this refers to Jews. Feb 16 at 15:42
  • @Deuteronomy indeed. All I have is the shiur I mentioned, and the story of Avraham
    – Rabbi Kaii
    Feb 16 at 15:43
  • I would understand the midrash about Abraham as teaching that it is commendable to encourage people (even gentiles) to bless God. I would not derive from it that gentiles have such an obligation however. Was the shiur in which you heard this recorded and available? Feb 16 at 16:12

1 Answer 1

1

R. Yehudah ibn-Dannan wrote (Qol Yehudah, p. 98):

ועל דעתיה דרבי נחמיה דאמר אשל פונדק אברהם היה מקבל בשמחה את העוברים ואת השבים ומשהיו אוכלין ושותין אמר לון בריכו ואינון אומרים מה נימר ואמר להון ברוך אל עולם שאכלנו משלו הה"ד ויקרא שם בשם ה' אל עולם פירוש אמר לון בריכו אעפ"י שאין ברכת מזון ממצות בני נח היה עושה כן להודיע את שם הבורא והיה אומר שמדרך המוסר שיברכוהו ויודו לו על טובתו

And according to the opinion of R. Nehehmiah, that an אשל refers to an inn, and that Abraham would receive all of the wayfarers with gladness and when and when they would eat and drink he would say to them “Bless!” And they would say: “What should we say?” And he would tell them, “Blessed is the Eternal Lord that we have eaten of His [bounty].” That is as is written (Gen 21:33), “and there he called on the name of the Lord, the Eternal God” - and the meaning of the fact that he would tell them to bless, is that even though blessing over food is not one of the Noahide commandments, he instructed them to do so in order to cause them to know the name of the Creator, and he would tell them in the vein of an ethical instruction (derekh mussar) so that they would bless and acknowledge His goodness.

According to R. Yehudah ibn-Dannan, there is no Noahide obligation to recite blessings over food. Abraham instructed wayfarers to bless not because they had a duty under Noahide law but rather because it was an opportunity to share with them knowledge of our beneficent Creator.

6
  • What about the pressure tactic of asking for payment if they refused?
    – shmosel
    Feb 16 at 22:46
  • @shmosel I don't understand what your question is. Feb 17 at 5:08
  • @Deuteronomy I am sorry, I find it very hard to accept even excellent answers when I have asked the question because I heard something else. In the case of the narcotic question too, I heard that narcotics are different so I will keep on looking for the source of that for a while... Same here, I heard that it is indeed forbidden to offer someone food without insisting on a beracha and I would like to at least find a source for that before accepting a very good answer to the opposite.
    – Rabbi Kaii
    Apr 27 at 10:09
  • 1
    @Deuteronomy not exclusively, so I don't want to rule out answers that disagree. I would accept an answer that disagrees with what I heard too, but I want to keep the question open long enough that I feel that no other answers dealing with what I heard are forthcoming. That might take years. This was just a courtesy comment to offer my thanks to you for your answers and let you know I am not avoiding accepting them because they are bad or I am unappreciative.
    – Rabbi Kaii
    Apr 27 at 13:35
  • 1
    Ah, okay, thank you for the courtesy (though I don't think it was necessary!)... here's to hoping you find what you're after :) Apr 27 at 13:44

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .