Prayers and Blessings

Thanksgiving After Meals

The practice of giving thanks after a meal is traditionally based on Deuteronomy 8:10, "You shall eat and be satisfied, then you shall bless your Eternal God".

The full version that we use at community events is available here:

Sing along to birkat ha-mazon...

A beautiful Ladino (Judeo-Spanish) version appears in a Sephardic Haggadah and its translation might serve as a short substitute when preferred, after a rushed lunch in the middle of a working day, for example:

We have eaten and drunk. Let us thank the Holy Blessed One who gives us bread to eat, clothes to wear, (Sabbaths for rest) and years to live. May things always get better, never worse, and may the Creator's goodness towards us never cease.

Baruch attah Adonai, ha-zan et ha-kol.
Blessed are You God, providing food for all.

Mah tovu

Yom zeh lYisrael

Yah ribbon

Shalom aleichem

Lchu nrannah (Psalm 95)

Havu lAdonai (Psalm 29)

Blessing Before Reading The Torah (Aliyah)

Blessing After Reading The Torah (Aliyah)