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Adding the Imahot to Birkat HaMazon

August 21, 2002

In short...

Transliteration

K’mo shenitbarchu avoteinu Avraham, Yitzchak, v’Yaakov, ba-kol, me-kol, kol; Uk’mo shenitbarchu imoteinu Sarah, Rivka, Rachel, v’Leah, heitiv, tovat, tov, tov.

Sources

Avraham, ba-kol (Bereishit 24:1)
Yitzhak, me-kol (Bereishit 27:33)
Yaakov, kol (Bereishit 33:11)
Sarah, hetiv (Bereishit 12:16)
Rivkah, tovat (Bereishit 24:16)
Leah, tov (Bereishit 30:20)
Rachel, tov (Bereishit 29:19)

NOTE: when leading a group, it may be useful to switch this order and say the imahot first, since people may join in at “ba-kol me-kol kol”. Thanks B.

The whole story

Last night, I sent this message to two of the NHC mailing lists:

Like many of you, I’m in favor of adding the names of the Matriarchs where we traditionally mention the Patriarchs.

At the end of the “harahaman” section in Birkat Hamazon, we say ba-kol me-kol kol, which makes explicit references to the Avot:

Avraham was blessed “in all ( ba-kol ) things” (Bereishit 24:1)
Yitzhak said “I have partaken from everything ( me-kol ) ” (Bereishit 27:33)
Yaakov said “I have everything ( kol ) .” (Bereishit 33:11)

In adding the Imahot, I’ve (over)heard the convention (at the NHC) of using passages including the word tov, relating each usage to Sarah, Rifkah, Leah, and Rachel.

Do you know what passages are used, or at very least what the added phrases are?

Seven minutes later received this reply:

The line that gets added is “k’mo shenitbarchu imoteinu sarah rivka, rahel v’leah heitiv, tovat, tov, tov”.

I don’t know what the verses are, but you can probably find them using a concordance.

Thanks L.

This morning, I received a rather full answer, with the references I was seeking:

The following note is from the Mizmor Shir Birkon, referring to the text that [was] quoted:

We have based this addition to Birkat Hamazon on an article by Harry P. Solomon entitled “Including the Matriarchs: A Proposal for Birkat ha-Mazon” in Reconstructionist, March 1988, pp. 12-14. However, we have located a word for Leah using the root tov instead of malei as proposed in the article.

Readers may also refer to “On the addition of the Matriarchs to the first blessing of the Amidah” by Rabbi Joel Rembaum, adopted by the Committee on Jewish Law and Standards of the Rabbinical Assembly.

The following are the Biblical citations in reference to the Matriarchs:

Sarah, “[Par’oh] treated Abram well ( hetiv ) because of her” (Bereishit 12:16)
Rebecca, “was extremely good–looking ( tovat )” (Bereishit 24:16)
Leah, “God has given me a wonderful ( tov ) gift” (Bereishit 30:20)
Rachel, “Better ( tov ) I should give her to you” (Bereishit 29:19)

[The Mizmor Shir Birkon was published in 1992 by KTAV Publishing House, 900 Jefferson Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030. The members of the Mizmor Shir Birkon Committee were Aaron M. Gaber, Deborah Tamar Bromberg, Sharon A. Bromberg, Yaffa Shira Grossberg, Gail Labovitz, Rachel D. Lendner, Amy Liss, Rabbi Jay David Sales, Willaim Seligman, Uri Sobel, Benjamin S. Tolub, and Rachel Dena Turk.]

Thanks M.

Posted August 21, 2002 12:10 PM