PARSHAS EIKEV: Bentch Loudly and Proudly—with a Full Belly! (Plus, the Torah’s Guide to Getting Rich Quick)

Full Belly, Big Promise, Big Idea

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You should eat. You should fill that belly. And then proudly proclaim with that full belly a blessing. A benching of God. And I'ma tell you why. I'm going to tell you why you should fill that belly and then bench like a mensch. If you stick around to the very end, you may even hear the Torah's wisdom is how to get rich quick isn't everyone looking to make bank? A couple extra bucks wouldn't hurt anything. Wouldn't you want to know the secret to getting rich? Stick around. But we have to begin at the very beginning. Before the get rich quick tip. And that's Parsha's Akiv. That's the Parsha. The second of the Parshios of Consolation. Building up from Tisha Ba'av towards the starting of the new Jewish year with Elul and Rosh Hashanah. I can't believe it, but just next week we'll have Rosh Chodesh Benching for the Chidesh of Elul, and in Parsha's Ak, we get much of the continuation of Moshe Rabinu's speech, his final soliloquy, which would give the Jewish people the inspiration and information that they would need to carry on their lofty mission in life. And tucked away, rather unassumingly, in a posak and our parsha, we get a forceful

Parsha Eikev And The Desert Test

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obligation that changes the game. The Tyr is discussing in Perk, Khes, Posak, Alif through Yud, all about Klayusral's journeys through the Midbar. Kolham Mitzvah Shanohi Mitzamchayom Tishmurun Lasos, Lamantichyun Vasem Virishemesa Oretz, Ashar Nishba Ashemla Vosekem. All of this mitzvah do it. The Jewish people are being implored by Moshe Rabinu, their leader, to keep the Torah and fulfill the mitzvah until the very end. And remember your challenges. Remember where you have come from, and remember your hardships, and know that God was challenging you to see what was deeply rooted inside of you. Were you truly God fearing and willing to sacrifice it all? Rakhother's barhu. So you were to be squeezed like an orange. Challenged as a person? Squeezed like an orange to see if truthfully you are an orange, then orange juice will come out of you when you're squeezed. When you're challenged, you see what comes out of you very much shows you after you've been squeezed what truly is inside of you, what you're made of. So God gave us challenges to see what was really inside of the Jewish people. How strong was their mettle? How strong? How mighty was their resolve? But Hashem continues to say simlos khalo somebody, but it wasn't all bad times. Remember how much I actually took care of you? Yes, I was challenging you, but don't you know the heavenly clouds of glory that acted like tide pods and shout spray cleaning your garments every day? Don't you know that your shoes magically grew upon your feet? Didn't you think that was a bit odd that you never had to buy new shoes in the midbar, never had to do laundry because of the miraculous miracles that were transpiring? It was all me. It's I love you and I'm taking care of you. That's the storyline. That's what transpired. And then Posakzin Ches Tess and we're working towards Yud, which will be the story of today's podcast.

The Good Land And A Full Table

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Hashem Elkechame Viachal El Eretz Toy Vashinachle May Spoiler alert, Hashem is leading them towards a country, towards a plain of land that is filled with streams and springs. We're off to Disney World. A land of wheat and barley, vines and figs, pomegranates, a land of olive oil, olive trees and honey. Eritasher Lobiscanus Toichem Lotesar Koba, Erit Ashur Avoneho Barzel, Umaharareha Tachas, a land where you will eat food without stint, well you will lack nothing, a land whose rocks are iron, and from whose hills you can mine copper. Doesn't that sound enticing? It was a good land. It's the best land, it's Erit Israel. And then Hashem says when we get there, The Ochalta, Visavata, Uve Rachta, As Hashem Elokeha Al Haaret Hatova Ashenosan. And when you get there, and you eat, when you have eaten, Visavata, and you will be filled, Uve Rachta, and you will give thanks elok to the eternal one, your God. Allah Tatoba Asher Nas Allah for the good land given to you. This posak's a real fulfillment of this long dream of leaving Egypt and getting to Eritasrael, the Torah is describing here, that you'll finally get there and you'll be full and you'll bless God, and that's wonderful. What a utopia. Being full in the land and finally able to bless God. That's right, what Rabinu Bakayah says is going on here. This whole connection of blessing God that's synced into the finally getting to the land. Al Darkhabshat says Rabbeinu Bakayah that you're going to remember all the bad times. I'm reminding you here of all of the suffering that you had in Mitzraim, the pain that you endured, also the struggling in the midbar, when things weren't perfect that was trying you and squeezing you like an orange to see what you were made of. All of that, it will make things so tranquil and peaceful for when you finally sit down to the table and Erity and have a big delicious slice of sourdough bread slather. Is that a word? Smooth on top of it. Spread on top of it. Delicious butter. And make a bracha and feel full and digested. And now you have peace to bless God. You'll bless this time like you've never blessed before. Because of the new tranquil dwelling and atmosphere that you finally have in the peaceful Eretzarl on your own land, under your own government,

The Biblical Command To Bench

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governed by Hashem. But the sages, they told us there's more to this Pasak. There's more than meets the eye. This isn't just a foretelling of some beautiful story of a man who's finally settled down and eaten his bread inside of the holy land of Canaan and Eritusaro. No, there's more. Valdas Khachamim, Rabbi Nobakhayah says, and you'll find it inside of Mesekta Brachos, near and close to page 21, Dav Chaf Aleph. Ubeirachtas Hashemalokecha, that you'll eat and you'll then reach a point of satiety, satiation, and then you'll bless. Ubeirahtas Hashemalokecha, who mitzvah se levarch birchas samazon. This is a positive commandment to bench after the bread. This isn't a and then you will bless God, but you should bless God. A forceful binding commandment. The examples would be Vasisa Maika Liga. And then you will build a house and you will build a roof. It's also not just when you will, but a forceful binding obligation that when you have a house that has a flat roof and someone can go on top of it and possibly fall off. Prevent the danger and build. Go out of your way. You're commanded, and now there's a binding and forceful obligation to Vasisa. Gaaga. Sorry. Maaka. Make a mica, make a fence on your roof. Vasisa Pesach La Shamalokecha. It's not that when you will make the carbon pesach, you are to go out of your way. It's now a commandment that you should do this. So the Torah's telling us. A commandment that you've probably heard of. It's called benching. Benching, in my rather basic knowledge of the brachos of the Torah. I don't know how many blessings there are that are actually biblically ordained. I know many of them are rabbinic in nature. But here we have exclusively a mitzvah to bench Birchasha Mazul when you're full. To bless the Almighty and thank him for what he's given you. Many of the terms and conditions of this mitzvah you're well aware of, if you did have the great merit of going to a Hebrew day school or a Jewish education of any kind, you probably can even sing most of it by heart. You can bench, like a mensch. The Savrachinch codifies the mitzvah. There's specific terms and conditions that you're to bless God after a man eats when he's full from bread, which type of bread? Any of the seven types of grain that have been mentioned previously, you're to be nourished from them. If it's a loaf that's made from wheat, from barley, what if it's from different grains altogether? How do you know the measurement of satiation for each person? Everybody does reach the point of being quote unquote filled at different points. The Safrachinach actually advances and is codified by the Mishnah Brura? That every person has his own level of feeling full. For a

What Counts As Truly Full

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smaller individual, with either quicker or slower metabolism the size of the mensch, you can become full at different times. So according to this, you wouldn't actually be biblically obligated to bless God and bench Birchazamazon until you've reached a tiety which everyone has to know their own personal state of satiation. One Schnitzel sandwich will do it for me. Two slices of pizza will do it for me. I know folks that won't be filled. They'll still be hungry and looking for more if they only had one sandwich or two slices. So you must know, because when you cross that threshold, you now traverse into the great stadium of a biblically ordained commandment, a mitzvah se da raiseta bench. I'd also like to bring to your attention that the matter of blessing God after you have eaten your fill is of utmost importance because you will actually cross paths with this mitzvah and have the opportunity to bless God and do birchas hamazun 60,000 times over the course of your lifetime. If you take the estimated 73 years old that people generally live to give or take between 60 to 80, 73 is the average lifespan of a human being, you'll eat about 60 grams of bread per sitting. You'll eat about 833 morsels or different pseudos of bread per year between the chala and pita breads and wraps, still don't know if you have to wash on a wrap, between the one slice and two slice debate, you'll still give or take, wash and have the opportunity to fill your belly with a bread like product and then bless God more than 60,000 times in your life. Don't you wanna take full advantage of that opportunity? Don't you wanna fill your belly so you can cross into the biblically ordained part of the mitzvah where you can really bless God in the best possible way, and then also knock this mitzvah out of the park? Give it your best shot? Give back to God what you can? You might as well since you're gonna be benching a whole lot in your life. And hope you live past 73. Hope you wash and bench 80,000 times in your life till 120 years old. So do you merit to eat bread and to bench God? So don't you want to do it right? And to dive in, to get our gloves on and get deep and into the Kishkas, into the chullant of the topic of benching. To understand it deeply, we're going to look through the eyes of Rabinu Bekhaya and the Sefer Achinh. And we're going to ask the question that you should have asked. The question that they all ask. The question that needs to be pondered. It's a gateway question. The Yesh Lakal His Oir Khan. You must be shaken up. You must be turned on in this specific inion of blessing God when you reach this Pusuk of the Achalta Vesovata Uve Rachta Sashem. Kiesh Bipasuk Ze Pesach Lahovin Sodhabrachos. Here in this verse says Rabinu Bekaya is the doorway to understand and clue us into the secret of blessings. The Loti Matze Bachol Hatora Bishum Makum Shitsibahakashbarhu Shinivrachlashmo kiemba makumaze. What's happening? All of a sudden here, things are being flipped on its head. Always God is the bestower of blessings. The king is the one who blesses. Here we're being asked to go ahead and bless God. Things are backwards.

Why Bless The One With All

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When you go to visit Rabsmuul Kamenetsky, when you go to visit the Arizal, your Roshiva, who blesses who? Who asks for a bracha? We want that the great Rab Chaim should bless us, the Chovit Chaim should bless us. We want that Hashem constantly should bestow us with blessings. But here, all of a sudden, the tables have turned. We have the creation being commanded to bless the creator. How can that be? How can it be that you should be the one to bless Rabshmul Kamanetsky when he is the holder of all the blessings? How can it be that we are to go ahead and bless the king of all kings? What blessing can we possibly bestow upon him? And listen to the words of gold from how the Sefer Achinoch asks the same question that Rabbeinu Bakayah asks, that you should ask. Mishar Sheha mitzvah. Hakdamah, an introduction to the whole root and the philosophical underpinnings and underbelly of the mitzvah of Benching. Haloi Gadati Lakhabini. Bamashakadam, I've already explained to you before. Kilashem Baraku Kola Kabid Vahod Baholatova Kola Khma. Hayakholos Vikolabracha. God a quick paraphrasing of the translation has everything, is everything, and is all encompassing. What man can do or will do will not add or diminish any part of God's gloriness. Gloriousness. God's completion. Okay. Sorch ato lahavchin ki beam reinu tomid babrajos. Baruch atom lahose bracha bamishe nenut zaraklasham tosevis kalila. How can we possibly keep saying the words baruch at? How can we possibly say Yesporach that God usually be blessed? What are we possibly seeking to add on or to complete to the one who was already totally complete? The perfection upon perfection. He is the master of everything. He is the one who has all the blessings. So how can you possibly bless the one who has all the blessings? Okay, Sricha Nanul Khapesh Kavonasa. We therefore need to probe the topic to find the understanding of what is at the secret, what can possibly clue us in to the truth behind the mitzvah of blessing God, and the very idea that we could make brachos to bless the one who has all the blessings. The answer? Do you want the answer? Rabbeinu Bakhaya gives us two. The first one is a rational approach that the saver Achenuch reiterates in a similar vein, that we'll rant about and try to explain in the coming minutes. And then there's a second approach advanced from Rabinu Bakaya that's mystical. So we'll leave that for next year's podcast.

Blessings Train Gratitude And Awareness

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The answer is Oimerthila Kia Brachos Anon Tsorich Givoa. The blessings are not for God. Elat Sarek Hediat. They're for you. The creation. God's the source of all the blessings. And all the blessings come from him. There's nothing more that we can possibly add to him. There's nothing that's fitting to bless him with from us. It can't possibly be for him. We're led to the realization. For 24 hours straight, you try blessing God. Ma yustrabe. What will God possibly add? What will per possibly be added to God? Ma yitinuli, what could you possibly give? What could he take from your hand? The answer is Ain Hato Elisva Riboi Kiim Elainu. The entire point, the benefit of the Birchha Mazon ritual and ceremony is for you. You listening in the headphones. You listening through the speaker. It's not for God. The blessing of Akadesh Barhu, it is only one-sided. So that you should hear out of your mouth and recognize the goodness that's flowing to you when we bless God for what we have received and for what we have enjoyed. We testify that we acknowledge his Hashka, his benevolent and ongoing interest in all of his creatures. It's unbelievable. It's a mapecha. It's a vinahapu. The reason that you bench, you have to turn it on its head. It's not because you have any offering of gratitude that you can possibly give Hashem. It's so that you should be able to hear out of your mouth and understand and give testimony that I am not ungrateful. But I understand the Hashkacha of God who's taking care of me. You are to be benching like a mensch so that the mensch can understand. So that the mensch can understand, so that you know what's truly happening in the world. This concept is really elementary. It's really the basics. Revolba would say, connecting to this Rabinu Bahaya, Revolva the Ali Shore, one of the chief disciples of the great mirror Mashkyakh Rab Yerucham Lavavitz. He used to teach that making brachos and benching, this idea is the gateway to steiging. It's where spiritual life begins. Right here. You want to start steiging, start growing. It begins with this mindset of not being ungrateful, of not taking things for granted, of not simply stuffing yourself with food and then moving on, but understanding that something unique has transpired, that you have filled your belly and see where the food came from. How you feel after the food. That you feel, the spices that you enjoyed, the crunch that you enjoyed. You're supposed to look deeply and see what just happened. The spiritual growth that happens through making Brajos properly, benching like a mensch, is because you now begin to see a deeper world and you stop moving through life with everything as automatic, obvious or guaranteed. But when you bench like a mensch, you start transitioning into someone who is aware, who has turned the page on his life, that he knows the bread did not simply appear. The paycheck did not simply produce itself. The body did not digest the food on its own. The farmer, the employer, the grocery store, the digestive system. None of it just happened. But you blessed God so that you could understand the miracle that just happened and start seeing the inner and true world. You can start seeing your creator. And the Torah gave us outlined mechanisms to get this mentality and job done. A different or unique template, say this, then say this. Recognize this, then say, Thankful are you for this. Rachim. Uvenay, say these things and follow the bencher. Listen to how the Savrachen reiterates the same point. Nomar, you should know Shaininabrachanu Raklas Kirila Urinaf Sheno. It is only so that we should inspire and arouse in ourselves. Bedivre Pinuki Huam Voira Hume Voy Kikrokola Toibos, umitoi kais oirasatoiva sebanafsenu, vihon mach shabosenu, la hodose lov, shikola to was keluloisbo, yachmots, dot dot dot. The whole thing is one motivational speech to yourself that you should see what's truly

How Benching Attracts More Blessing

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happening here. That you should be aware of your creator. But folks, there's more. If you buy now for just 1999, there's more. Here's the get rich quick nugget that you stayed for. Continues Rabbenu Bekaya, Ubis Husam. What happens after you bench like a manj? Hativuo vahaperos misbarchen umisrabin. Your sustenance, your fruits, your business. It begins to multiply and increase. It's blessed. And what starts to happen is from proper benching, it then causes this domino effect of more sustenance and more business, more product, more satiation. And Safrah also says the same exact thing. Umitocha Hesorus. After you arouse yourself with a benching, what you'll start to see is a very odd phenomenon in your life. Your business will start to do well. The restaurants will start delivering food to you at a good price. Things will start to go well for you if you get my drift. When you come to this proper benching, you are then anuzoichin bemaisahatov lahamshek alenumibrachosov. We start to bring down the goodies from God. After you start to bless God, which is really for you, and you really inspire yourself, things start to turn good. Zqusim start happening. And I want to explain to you why this is, I believe. Why it is that the product of the function of proper benching ends up in the multiplying of your assets. And it's not that it's a zchus, like a red bindle or a go visit the kever of a tzadik and jump up and down or go into the mikveh. It's not a merit. But rather, when a person benches, it's coming forward and joining in the handshake of God, as if God is giving something to you. And then all of a sudden, you start to recognize that God's doing a handshake with you, and you start to reciprocate by noticing. That's what you're doing. You're noticing. You're doing a handshake with God. So He'll continue to do the handshake with you. Oh, this person understands what's happening here. He gets the whole point of life. He gets that I want to give him good. So I'm going to give him good and give him more good because look what's happening. The system is working. The system is working. So you get more because you're acknowledging and you're recognizing and you're not taking it for granted. The person who gets goodness but doesn't understand it? He's an ignoramist when it comes to his blessings and doesn't bench like a mensch? Why should God give him more if the person is still not comprehending the message? He's missed the boat. To him, it's nothing but just happenstance and chance. So it doesn't matter how much God pours on him, he'll never get it. But when you bench like a mensch, it's not a that you start to make a lot of money and things work out for you. It's because that's the product of you understanding the spiritual world and recognizing the source of all goodness. So God loves to play that game with you. The Chapitz Chaim himself writes in his Hit Mishna Burah Hilchas Birchas Hamazun. Kosav B Sefer Achinoch, and he cites the Safer Achinoch. Anybody who is careful with his benching, his Parnasa, his Mizonos, his food will be common to him. It will be found by him. He'll have enough, and he'll have enough in style all of his days. Becovid, you'll never have to ask people. You'll always be able to swipe the credit card and pay your bills, and you'll have enough for your family? How? How can you always have enough? And having enough in 2026 takes a lot. Prices are expensive, but how can you guarantee that you'll have enough and have enough becovet? You have to be Zoyer in Birchha Samazon. Careful about your benching. And if you even want to do more, you want to be the Madaktik in Birchasama? Be extra scrupulous. Yazar Levarch Lichatchila Toha Sefer Vlobalpah.

Practical Plan: Bench Aloud On Shabbat

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Read the words inside from a script. Look in the book. And don't just do it by heart. When you do this, this is a halakha, people. It's a halakha that the Mishna Bura is bringing. That when you bench like a mensch, you get rich. You always have enough. And to really top things off, the Mishabura says Bikol Rum, you should bench out loud. Why? The first reason bench out loud, cause you ain't a bikiem baatman levareh vahem yotin bishmiusami menu. Some people may not be so fluent in the way to read or recite benching, so when you say it out loud, people can listen in and still fulfill their mitzvah. But then he says Viesha Kaspu, some right de tovla olam. It's just general and always a good idea to bench out loud, levarh bikoram, kiha kolme or hakavana. You should bench out loud because it arouses your concentration. But Prat specifically, on Shabis or Rosh Kodesh, bench out loud so that you don't forget to include Ritze or Yalaviava. So I thought to myself, let's tie this all together in what began with a mitzvah that turned into the root of the mitzvah, which turned into a question as to what's the deeper part of blessings at large, which led us to two Yesodos we have here, and a practical takeaway. The Yesod number one is that step one in Steiging is seeing the spiritual world and getting in touch with what's actually happening, and that is done through proper blessings. Revolba says it's through proper benching. That's how you start. And out of all the blessings, in all the books of Torah and Moses and the books of the prophets, and all should be applied to you, there's one that's mitzvah, that's the Arisa, and that's Birchhas Amazon. Birchas Amazon. Blessing God when you're full. That's where Steiging begins. When you throw away your plate at the restaurant and you sit down to your bencher, that's where Steiging is done. And our takeaway in ESO number two is that through benching properly, something remarkable happens, that the blessings go through an elasticity process. They expand, they scale. All of a sudden, your arousing of your gratitude to Hashem causes to draw more blessing down. Don't take my words for it. Take the Sayfrachen, Rabinu Bekhaya and the Mishnah Bura. Our practical takeaway. What you can take away from this is that at the very least, let us try to make a small commitment to bench like a mensch. To steig. Not every day can we commit to something to bench like a mensch, because that's a lot to ask. Life is busy. But maybe just on Shabbas. When we have more time, less distractions. And maybe just on Friday night so we can make it a very easy and once-a-week type of commitment. And maybe at that time we could take the Mishnah Bura's advice to bench out loud. Bench out loud so we don't forget Ritse. And to bench out loud so it arouses us to what we're doing. To begin to acknowledge that of which we have had and enjoyed. And let it be that Friday night. Going forward, bench out loud with your family. Sing it out loud. Fire yourself up. See what's happening. See the source. Let that be the impetus for your spiritual growth. So bench out loud on Friday nights. Bench like a mensch. Bench full bellied. Bench out loud. Bench like you've never benched before. Arouse yourself on Friday nights to connect yourself to the source of all blessing. To come forward and do this handshake with God and scream out the blessings to Hashem and arise yourself. And like this, Hashem should see that you want to play the game and do the handshake with God, and he should send blessing pouring your way. And we should all see the scalability, elasticity, and expandability of Hashem's blessings as they begin to dump their goodies all over your life.