Kabbalah Library

532. “And you shall eat and be satisfied, and you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land which He has given you.” “And you shall eat and be satisfied.” Anyone who eats and does not bless the blessing over the food is called “destroyer” and “robber,” as it is written, “He who robs his father or mother, saying, ‘It is not wrong,’ is a companion to a man who destroys.”

533. Great is the power of the blessing over the food, for it adds the power of the blessing in the company of above. Great is the power of the blessing over the food, for it adds blessing to the work of man.

534. Rabbi Bon and Rabbi Hanina were walking along the way to redeem captives. They came across a village. They slept in a hotel. At midnight, they arose to engage in Torah. The woman over the house got up and lit a candle for them. While they were sitting, the woman sat behind them to hear words of Torah. They looked at her.

535. One said, “Man’s soul is the candle of the Lord, searching all the chambers of the belly. Indeed, man’s soul is the candle of the Lord. Like the candle that shines in the dark, man’s soul shines for the body.”

536. He reiterated and said, “A woman is rewarded with three things: Hallah [Shabbat bread], Nida [abstinence during menstruation], and lighting the candle. In the meantime, he turned his head back and saw that woman crying. Her father got up and sat between them.

537. Rabbi Bon said to him, “Why is your daughter crying?” He said, “She was not rewarded with her husband engaging in Torah. He is a twelve-year-old child, and does not even know the blessing over the food, and I cannot teach him.” He said to him, “Swap him with another, and why did you give your daughter to him?”

538. He said, “I did not know him, but because one day, I saw that he jumped down from the attic to listen to a Kadish [sanctification during prayer], I vowed to marry my daughter to him. I went out from the synagogue and gave him my daughter, and did not worry about other things, and did not notice more. And now we find that he does not know a single thing in the Torah, and does not want to learn anything.”

539. Rabbi Bon said to him, “Perhaps he will be rewarded with a son who will teach him much Torah.” In the meantime, that child arose from his bed and jumped over to them, and sat among them. Rabbi Bon looked at him and said, “I see in his face that a great light of Torah will come out from this lad.”