One area of Jewish law that is of practical relevance but is also of a complex nature: the extensive institutions of blessings that the rabbis ordained to be recited in praise of G-d over numerous details of our daily lives. This includes blessings before and after eating; blessings on Mitzvot, for example before reading from the Torah; and on the wonders and joys of the natural world: upon seeing lightening, hearing thunder, the sighting of a rainbow and many more.
This essay will look at two things: firstly, a variation between two texts in the same standard Mishneh Torah printed edition, and secondly, a variation found in the Oxford Huntington manuscript of Maimonides’ Mishneh Torah pertaining to the laws of blessings compared to the standard printed edition. Based on an extensive analysis of the former it will give us insight into the latter. In addition, the analysis of the former will also give us insight into a second variation in the Oxford Huntington Manuscript, demonstrating the interconnectedness of the subtleties and variations found in this authenticated version of the Oxford Huntington Mishneh Torah manuscript.
The standard printed edition of Mishneh Torah in the book of Ahavah, laws of blessings ( 1:1) that follows most manuscripts states:
` “It is a positive Mitzvah from the Torah to bless after eating satisfying food, as (Deut. 8:10) states: ‘When you have eaten and are satiated, you shall bless G-d, your Lord’. The Torah itself requires a person to recite grace only when he eats to the point of satiation, as implied by the above verse, “When you have eaten and are satiated, you shall bless...” The Sages, however, ordained that one should recite grace after eating an amount of bread equal to the size of an olive. Similarly the Rabbis ordained that we recite blessings before partaking of any food. Even when one wants to eat the slightest amount of food or drink, one should recite a blessing, and then derive benefit from it. Similarly, when smelling a pleasant fragrance, one should recite a blessing and then smell. Anyone who derives benefit without reciting a blessing, is considered as if he misappropriated a sacred article. The Rabbis also ordained that one should recite a blessing after eating or drinking, provided one drinks a revi’it (3.9 fl. oz) and eats a kezayit (2oz). A person who merely tastes food is not required to recite a blessing before partaking of it or afterwards unless he partakes of a revi’it.”
In addition to his detailed work of Jewish law Mishneh Torah, Maimonides also enumerates the Mitzvot in an introductory work to the Mishneh Torah called Minyan Hamitzvot. In Minyan Hamitzvot he writes: “It is a positive Mitzvah from the Torah to bless after eating”.
Why does Maimonides omit the word G-d?
In the introduction to each Mitzvah detailed in the Mishneh Torah there is also a brief description of the Mitzvah, called Koteret (crown). It is a known fact that the introductory brief descriptions of the laws Koteret were also written by Maimonides himself as can be seen in the Oxford Huntington manuscript of the Mishneh Torah where Maimonides has the brief description followed by the detailed laws in the same manuscript. The same can be seen in the 1947 copy of Maimonides’ own manuscript in the beginning of Sheilah Upekodoin in Law of Damages (Oxford?).
In the brief introductory description, the Koteret, of the laws of blessings,there are an additional few words that are not in the detailed law. In the Koteret it writes: “It is a positive Mitzvah from the Torah to bless the great and holy Name after eating”.
The question that this essay would like to first address is why the brief introductory description of the law about blessing after eating articulates that it is referring to blessing G-d by writing ‘the great and holy name’, whereas in the subsequent detailed law itself it omits any description of G-d? It merely states that it is a positive commandment to bless after eating without mentioning G-d!
Oxford’s shorter description for G-d
A further question we would like to ask in this essay is regarding the variation in the mention of G-d in the above Koteret between the Oxford Huntington manuscript compared to how it is recorded in the standard printed edition. In the standard printed edition it says: “It is a positive commandment from the Torah to bless the great and holy Name after eating”. In the Oxford Huntington manuscript it writes simply: “It is a positive commandment from the Torah to bless G-d after eating” [1]
No need to repeat
While we don’t have a satisfactory answer for the variation in order between the Huntington manuscript and the standard printed editions, we will attempt in this essay to explain the first two questions. In Likutei Sichot volume 24 (p. 68), Rabbi Menachem M Schneersohn, known as the Rebbe, suggests that the reason for the omission of G-d’s name in the detailed law of blessings is that since Maimonides had already written in the opening introductory brief description Koteret “it is a positive commandment from the Torah that one should bless the great and holy name after eating”, it is unnecessary to repeat what seems obvious in the opening in the detailed law itself.
The above explanation appears to be given based on the version of the Koteret brief description, quoted in the Likutei Sichot, that “it is a positive commandment to bless His great and holy Name”. It is not clear whether this answer is sufficient for the version in the Oxford Huntington manuscript that states simply “G-d” - there would be fewer words according to the Oxford Huntington manuscript that would have to be repeated. We would like to argue that based on another text of the Mishneh Torah emphasised in the Oxford Huntington manuscript of the Mishneh Torah, one can suggest that the above explanation would be relevant with the single word ‘G-d’ also.
No need to repeat the word G-d in foundation of belief
The opening of Maimonides’ Mishneh Torah, book of Mada (1:1) states:
“The foundation of all foundations and the pillar of wisdom is to know that there is a Primary Being who brought into being all existence. All the beings of the heavens, the earth, and what is between them came into existence only from the truth of His being.”
This opening of the Mishneh Torah is found in all extant published and manuscript editions.
In the Huntington manuscript (folio 34a) however it can be clearly seen that there is an additional word in the opening. It states “The foundation of all foundations and the pillar of wisdom is to know that there is a G-d, a Primary Being who brought into being all existence.” In the Koteret to the first chapter of the book of Mada it states that the first commandment is “to know that there is a G-d”. It would appear that the additional word found in the Huntington manuscript is a repetition of the word in the introductory brief description where it also states the “to know there is a G-d”. This would however undermine the explanation we presented earlier regarding the laws of blessings that Maimonides is unwilling to repeat the obvious that there is a positive commandment to bless G-d when this has already been stated in the Koteret introduction.
When looking closely however at the Huntington edition of the opening regarding the commandment to believe in G-d, one can see there are black dots above each of the Hebrew letters of G-d’s name. According to Hebraic heliography in the medieval period this means that the word “G-d” in this text should be erased. One can see similar indications in the same manuscript. One of the reasons for this is because it is obvious that the subject is talking about G-d, as it has explicitly stated in the introductory Koteret and it is in unnecessary to repeat it. This omission is indeed the version of all the printed editions. We may similarly extrapolate then with the same logic to the text regarding blessing after eating that since it says explicitly in the introduction that there is a positive commandment to bless G-d after eating it is obvious that when the detailed laws opens that there is a commandment to bless after eating it is referring to G-d and there would be no need to repeat itself. This indeed explains why there is no need to repeat even the single word “G-d” twice, as we see in the beginning of Mada and may be a support to the same supposition in the beginning of the laws of blessings, as explained in Likutei Sichot.
However, the second question of our essay still remains: what is the explanation for the variation in the printed edition of the Mishneh Torah, in the Laws of Blessings where it states “It is a positive commandment from the Torah to bless the great and holy name after eating” and in the Oxford Huntington manuscript it simply writes “G-d”?
The Great and Holy Name
We would like to suggest that there is in fact no significance to the variation itself, both simply refer to G-d, but would argue that the emphasised wording “the great and holy name” is to negate a potentially justified misunderstanding. To linking paragraph
A variation in the Shulchan Aruch Harav
There are two works on the laws of blessings by 18th century great Jewish legalist and Chasidic master, Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, known as the Alter Rebbe. One is included in the prayer book, called Seder Birchot Hanehenin, which a brief practical description of the laws of blessings before and after eating and, a second, as part of his main work of Jewish law Shulchan Aruch Harav (167:1). Both works in the laws of blessings, the brief practical text and the more detailed text, open with the same working: “It is a positive commandment from the Torah to bless after eating”, however, in his work which is part of the Jewish legal work Shulchan Aruch Harav it adds the word “G-d” - “It is a positive commandment from the Torah to bless G-d after eating food” - whereas in the laws of blessings in the prayer book it omits the word “G-d”, similar to Maimonides in the detailed law in the Mishneh Torah. Incidentally, it is of interest that the Shulchan Aruch Harav that mentions G-d in his opening does so in the same way Maimonides writes in his Koteret without the appellations “His great and holy name”. It would seem that the Alter Rebbe may have been aware of the text of the Huntington manuscript.
The Rebbe posits that the reason for the inclusion of the word G-d in the Shulchan Aruch Harav is to negate a justified possible misunderstanding, though this is unnecessary to be taken into consideration in the more brief work of laws of blessing in the prayer book, Seder Birchot Hanehenin, which by nature is a more brief and concise work.
Bless the host
There is a law mentioned in the Talmud (Berachot 46a), quoted also in Mishneh Torah (laws of blessings 7:2) that stipulates that “the guest should lead the blessing after the meal so that he shall bless the host.” This law is part of series of customs that a person should follow when taking part in a meal, similar to table manners. In the contemporary prayer book there are in fact a number of blessings included in the grace after meals that are in fact blessings to the host, not to G-d.
The medieval compendium of Jewish law Sefer Hamanhig, laws of meals (Hilchot Seudah siman 15), quotes the Tosefta that the law to bless the host after the meal is derived from Scripture. The Talmud (Pesachim 22b) explains that when the Scripture has a superfluous Hebrew word “Es”, meaning “the”, it is coming to allow for the extrapolation of an additional law. For example, when the Scripture states “The G-d your Lord you shall fear” – “Es Hashem Elokechah Tira” – the extra word “es” or “the” is used to extrapolate that one should also be in awe of the sages of the Torah. Similarly, in our case, the extra word “es” is used to extrapolate that one should also bless the host after the meal.
Since we now have two entities whom we need to bless after the meal, G-d and the host, one might think that the statement “there is a positive commandment from the Torah to bless after eating” refers also to the host. For this reason, the Rebbe suggests, in the more detailed work on Jewish law, Shulchan Aruch Harav, by Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi, it adds the word “to bless G-d” so there should be no misunderstanding whom the blessing is referring to. Although the law to bless the host is derived also from the Scripture, this does not constitute a positive commandment from the Torah, like the commandment to bless G-d.
Explaining the Oxford edition
One may argue that this is also the reason why in the printed editions of Maimonides, besides the Oxford Huntington edition, it takes this point a step further and adds the unusual phrase “to bless his great and holy name” in order to emphasise even further that the positive commandment of blessing after eating is to only bless G-d. If it would have written simply “to bless G-d” the Hebrew letter for G-d would have been abbreviated with a letter Hey, as in the Scriptural verse “And you shall bless G-d”, and this would possibly become misconstrued. To negate any misunderstanding and confusion between to the two practicable laws the additional words “His great and holy Name” were added.
According to the above, it would appear the version of the Oxford Huntington edition of Mishneh Torah in the laws of blessing is in fact the correct version, as authenticated by Maimonides’ own signature. It was only to prevent ambiguity that justifiable changes were made to other editions, which subsequently became the standard printed edition today.
[1] Incidentally, there is another variation in the Oxford Huntington manuscript compared to the printed edition that does not appear to be in substance but rather order of the wording. In the printed editions it states (Mishneh Torah laws of blessings 1:1):
“Similarly the Rabbis ordained that we recite blessings before partaking of any food. Even when one wants to eat the slightest amount of food or drink, one should recite a blessing, and then derive benefit from it. Similarly, when smelling a pleasant fragrance, one should recite a blessing and then smell. Anyone who derives benefit without reciting a blessing is considered as if he misappropriated a sacred article.”
In the Oxford Huntington manuscript however it changes the order and states:
“Similarly the Rabbis ordained that we recite blessings before partaking of any food. Similarly, when smelling a pleasant fragrance, one should recite a blessing and then smell. Even when one wants to eat the slightest amount of food or drink, one should recite a blessing, and then derive benefit from it. Anyone who derives benefit without reciting a blessing is considered as it he misappropriated a sacred article.”
In the Huntington manuscript the law about reciting a blessing when smelling a pleasant fragrance comes before law about eating even a slightest amount, where in the printed edition it is the reverse.