Where the Blessing After Meals Comes From in Scripture

From where do we know that one says, "Blessed are You, the LORD our God and God of our fathers, God of Abraham, God of Isaac, and God of Jacob"? As it is said (Exodus 3:15), "And God said further to Moses: Thus shall you say to the children of Israel: The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." And from where do we know that one blesses over food? As it is said (Deuteronomy 8:10), "And you shall eat and be satisfied and bless." This refers to the first blessing. "For the land" - this is the second blessing. "The good" - this is "who builds Jerusalem," as it is said, "this good mountain and the Lebanon." "Which He has given you" - that He has bestowed upon us all good. Rabbi Hiyya bar Nahmani said in the name of Rabbi Ishmael: Behold, it says, "And you shall eat and be satisfied and bless for the good" - whatever the verse lacks, "which He has given you" supplies, whether the measure of good or the measure of punishment. I have learned only that food requires a blessing after it. From where do we know it requires one before it? Rabbi Ishmael used to say: It is an argument from the lesser to the greater. If when a person has already eaten and is satisfied he must bless, all the more so when he is craving to eat. Rabbi [Judah the Prince] says: This is not needed. Behold, it says, "And you shall eat and be satisfied and bless" - this is the blessing "who feeds." "For the land" - this is the blessing of the land. "The good" - this is "who builds Jerusalem," and likewise it says (Deuteronomy 3:25), "the good mountain." "Which He has given you" - this is "who is good and does good." I have learned only the blessing after; from where do we know the blessing before? Scripture teaches "which He has given you" - from the moment it is given to you. Rabbi Isaac says: Behold, it says, "And you shall serve the LORD your God, and He will bless your bread" - when is it your bread? Before you have eaten it. I have learned only that food requires a blessing before and after; from where do we know that Torah does? Rabbi Ishmael used to say: You may state an argument from the lesser to the greater. If food, which is a need of the life of this world, requires a blessing before and after, then Torah, which is the life of the world to come, surely requires a blessing before and after. Rabbi Judah ben Beteira says: Behold, it says, "And you shall eat and be satisfied and bless"; what is "the good"? This is Torah, as it is said (Proverbs 4:2), "For I have given you a good teaching." Rabbi Hanina, the brother of Rabbi Yehoshua's son, says: Behold, it says (Deuteronomy 32:3), "When I call upon the name of the LORD" - this is the one who blesses; "ascribe greatness to our God" - these are those who respond after him. And what do they respond after the one who blesses? "Blessed is the LORD, the blessed One." And when he calls upon His name, they respond after him, "Blessed is the name of His glorious kingdom forever and ever." And likewise David says, "Magnify the LORD with me." Rabbi [Judah the Prince] says: (Proverbs 10:7) "The memory of the righteous is for a blessing" - when one mentions the Life of the worlds, as it is said (Psalms 145:17), "The LORD is righteous in all His ways," give Him a blessing. "And leaven shall not be eaten" - this is to make the one who feeds it like the one who eats it. Or is it rather to forbid deriving benefit from it? When it says (Deuteronomy 16:3), "You shall eat no leaven with it," from there we learn that it is forbidden to derive benefit. What then does Scripture teach by "leaven shall not be eaten"? To make the one who feeds it like the one who eats it - these are the words of Rabbi Josiah. Rabbi Isaac says: This is not needed. If with regard to creeping things, which are a lighter matter, Scripture made the one who feeds like the one who eats, then leaven, which is a stricter matter, surely should be treated so. What then does Scripture teach by "leaven shall not be eaten"? The verse comes only to forbid deriving benefit from it. Rabbi Yose the Galilean says: "Leaven shall not be eaten this day" - this teaches that Israel ate unleavened bread in Egypt for one day only.