Midrash Shmuel on Grace After Meals and the Blessing of Food

"For the people will not eat until he comes, because he blesses the sacrifice" (there, there, 13). Rabbi Huna said: Explain it according to Rabbi Yishmael, for Rabbi Yishmael said that the blessing "the Good and the One who does good" is from the Torah, as it is written, "And you shall eat and be satisfied and bless" (Deuteronomy 8:10) — this is the first blessing; "for the land" (there) — this is the second blessing; "the good" — this is "who builds Jerusalem," as it is written, "this good mountain"; "which He gave (to us, who bestowed upon us all good) [to you]" (there). It is written in the Torah a [blessing] before it, but there is no [blessing] written after it. What is written in the Torah before it? "For I will proclaim the name of the Lord; ascribe greatness to our God" (Deuteronomy 32:3). It is written regarding food a [blessing] after it, but none is written before it. What is written regarding food after it? "And you shall eat and be satisfied and bless." And from where do we derive to apply what is said about the one to the other [and what is said about the other to the one]? Rabbi Shmuel bar Nachman in the name of Rabbi Yonatan: the [divine] Name is a gezerah shavah (verbal analogy). Just as the Name regarding which in the Torah there is a blessing before it is the Name stated regarding food after it, so too the Name stated regarding food after it is the Name stated regarding the Torah before it. Until here according to Rabbi Akiva. According to Rabbi Yishmael, from where? Rabbi Yochanan in the name of Rabbi Yishmael, by a fortiori inference (kal va-chomer): if the Torah, which does not require a [blessing] before it, nevertheless requires one after it, food — which requires a [blessing] after it — how much more so that it should require one before it. Until here regarding food. As for Torah: if food, which is life of the hour, requires a blessing before it and after it, the Torah, which is the life of this world and the life of the world to come — how much more so. Rabbi Yitzchak and Rabbi Natan. Rabbi Yitzchak said: "Because he blesses the sacrifice, and afterward those who are invited eat." And Rabbi Natan said: "And He shall bless your bread and your water" (Exodus 23:25) — when is it called "your bread"? Before I have eaten. Rabbi said: if at the time when one is satisfied it is written "and you shall eat and be satisfied and bless," at the time when one is hungry, how much more so. Rabbi Ze'ira asked concerning these three [verses called as proof], how do you handle them: regarding three who ate as one, or regarding three who ate each one by himself? And if you treat them as three who ate as one, [the first recites the first blessing and the last the final blessing, and the middle one does not bless at all; if you treat them as three who ate each one by himself,] even the middle one blesses at the beginning and at the end. Rabbi Shmuel bar Avduma said: the Torah taught the blessing of zimmun (the invitation) after it only in a group. If in a group, then by himself does he not bless? Rabbi Abba Mari [brother of Rabbi Yosi made it] like all the other commandments in the Torah. But concerning demai (produce of doubtful tithing) — this says: one who ate fruits, whether they were tithed or whether they were not tithed, they recite the zimmun. Rabbi Shmuel, brother of Rabbi Berakhya, said: since they decreed concerning demai, most of the people brought it into their houses. And this says: a Kuti — they recite the zimmun over him. But is not a Kuti in the category of doubt? Rabbi Abba said: explain it according to the one who says a Kuti is like a gentile in every matter, as it is taught: a Kuti is like a gentile — the words of Rabbi; Rabbi Shimon ben Gamliel says: a Kuti is like an Israelite in every matter.