Birkat Hamazon

Birkat Hamazon (Hebrew: בִּרְכַּת הַמָּזוׂן, romanized: birkath hammāzôn "The Blessing of the Food"), known in English as the Grace After Meals (Yiddish: בענטשן, romanized: benchen "to bless", Yinglish: Bentsching), is a set of Hebrew blessings that Jewish law prescribes following a meal that includes at least a kezayit (olive-sized) piece of bread. It is understood as a mitzvah (Biblical commandment) based on Deuteronomy 8:10.

Birkat Hamazon is recited after a meal containing bread or similar foods that is made from the five grains, with the exception of bread that comes as a dessert (pas haba'ah b'kisanin) and food that does not possess the form or appearance of bread (torisa d'nahama), in which case a blessing that summarizes the first three blessings (birkat me'ein shalosh) is recited instead. It is a matter of rabbinic dispute whether Birkat Hamazon must be said after eating certain other bread-like foods such as pizza.

Except in teaching situations, Birkat Hamazon is typically read individually after ordinary meals. The blessing can be found in almost all siddurs and is often printed in a variety of artistic styles in a small booklet called a birchon (or birkon, בִּרְכּוׂן‎) in Hebrew or bencher (or bentscher) in Yiddish. The length of the different brakhot hamazon can vary considerably, from bentsching in under half a minute to more than five minutes.

The scriptural source for the requirement to recite a blessing after a meal is Deuteronomy 8:10 "When you have eaten and are satisfied, you shall bless the LORD your God for the good land which He gave you". The process is often referred to as bentsching; the word "bentsch" means to bless.

Birkat Hamazon is made up of four blessings. The first three blessings are regarded as required by scriptural law:

Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook described the order of these four blessings as a “ladder of prayer,” as we raise our sights and aspirations. The first blessing refers to one's personal needs; the second, the physical needs of the nation (through the Land of Israel); the third, the nation's spiritual aspirations (Jerusalem and the Temple); and the fourth blessing, our ultimate aspiration to be a “light unto the nations.”

The statutory birkat hamazon ends at the end of these four blessings, with the words, al yechasrenu. After these four blessings, there is a series of short prayers, each beginning with the word Harachaman (the Merciful One), which ask for God's compassion.

There are several known texts for birkat hamazon. The most widely available is the Ashkenazic. There are also Sephardic, Yemenite and Italian versions. All of these texts follow the same structure described above, but the wording varies. In particular, the Italian version preserves the ancient practice of commencing the third blessing with Nachamenu on Shabbat, and concluding "Menachem ami Yisrael be-vinyan Yerushalayim.