Botzeah Beereich Nee'yeitz Hashem
The Talmud in Sanhedrin has a few explanations for this Posuk in Mishlei one of the explanations is that as the Posuk simply seems to state- Botzeah -One who steals-- Beereich-- Then makes a blessing on the stolen object (food presumably) --Neeaytz Hashem- Is degrading Hashem rather than blessing him.
The question is what is really so bad about making a bracha on a stolen item? Granted he is a bad guy and he would be better off not stealing and not making a bracha. However he already stole it, so why is it necessarily worse to make a bracha on that stolen item?
Rav Moshe Chaim Luzato in Derech Hashem explains the concept of Bracha and the reason for it. Based on this reasoning it will be very obvious why a Botzeah Bereich is a Neeaytz Hashem and you cannot say that at least he made a bracha or that it can't hurt.
The reason the Derech Hashem gives is as follows: We should be directing all our actions towards "Avodas Hashem" by uplifting the mundane towards that goal we are bringing the world to its goal. When we make a bracha, we are uplifting all the toil that went into making that foodstuff and all the previous processes that went into getting that food to this table and stating that it was for Avodas Hashem. In one fell swoop we are aggregating huge amounts of man hours and labor and uplifting it so that we can claim that all the labor from the outset to get that food to this table was for Avodas Hashem. This cannot be done if the food is stolen, it would be a direct contradiction to what you are stating. Imagine, you are saying that all the toil that got the food to this table was for god's glory, and meanwhile it got to your table through nefarious means, you would be making a mockery of the bracha. That is the meaning of Botzeah Beereich Neeaytz Hashem.
As an aside, another pshat in why we make a bracha according to the Maharal is-- We know that all things were created for God's glory hence the concept of shira and perek shira attributed to Dovid Hamelech whereby all creatures through their essential being are saying shira to their creator. When we consume any item that was created where are causing that thing to stop saying shira. In order to fill the void of shira that we are creating by consuming something we say a bracha.
The question is what is really so bad about making a bracha on a stolen item? Granted he is a bad guy and he would be better off not stealing and not making a bracha. However he already stole it, so why is it necessarily worse to make a bracha on that stolen item?
Rav Moshe Chaim Luzato in Derech Hashem explains the concept of Bracha and the reason for it. Based on this reasoning it will be very obvious why a Botzeah Bereich is a Neeaytz Hashem and you cannot say that at least he made a bracha or that it can't hurt.
The reason the Derech Hashem gives is as follows: We should be directing all our actions towards "Avodas Hashem" by uplifting the mundane towards that goal we are bringing the world to its goal. When we make a bracha, we are uplifting all the toil that went into making that foodstuff and all the previous processes that went into getting that food to this table and stating that it was for Avodas Hashem. In one fell swoop we are aggregating huge amounts of man hours and labor and uplifting it so that we can claim that all the labor from the outset to get that food to this table was for Avodas Hashem. This cannot be done if the food is stolen, it would be a direct contradiction to what you are stating. Imagine, you are saying that all the toil that got the food to this table was for god's glory, and meanwhile it got to your table through nefarious means, you would be making a mockery of the bracha. That is the meaning of Botzeah Beereich Neeaytz Hashem.
As an aside, another pshat in why we make a bracha according to the Maharal is-- We know that all things were created for God's glory hence the concept of shira and perek shira attributed to Dovid Hamelech whereby all creatures through their essential being are saying shira to their creator. When we consume any item that was created where are causing that thing to stop saying shira. In order to fill the void of shira that we are creating by consuming something we say a bracha.
posted by funnyfundamentalist at 7:57 PM
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