Birkat Hamazon

THE MEAL AND ITS BLESSINGS Before washing hands: Lift up your hands toward the Sanctuary and bless the Lorn. Ps. 134 On washing hands before eating bread (see laws 401-414): Blessed are You, LorpD our God, King of the Universe, who has made us holy through His commandments, and has commanded us about washing hands. Before eating bread: Blessed are You, Lorp our God, King of the Universe, who brings forth bread from the earth. BIRKAT HAMAZON / GRACE AFTER MEALS On days when Tahanun is said: niarby By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept as we remembered Zion. There on Ps. 137 the willow trees we hung up our harps, for there our captors asked us for songs, our tormentors, for amusement, said: “Sing us one of the songs of Zion!” How can we sing the Lorn’s song on foreign soil? If I forget you, Jerusalem, may my right hand forget its skill. May my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth if I do not remember you, if Ido not set Jerusalem above my highest joy. Remember, LoRD, what the Edomites did on the day Jerusalem fell. They said, “Tear it down, tear it down to its very foundations!” Daughter of Babylon, doomed to destruction, happy is he who repays you for what you have done to us, who seizes your infants and dashes them against the rocks. On days when Tahanun is omitted (such as Shabbat and Yom Toy, see full list on page 140): nbyan vw A song of ascents. When the Lorn brought back the exiles of Ps. 126 Zion we were like people who dream. Then were our mouths filled with laughter, and our tongues with songs of joy. Then was it said among the nations, “The Lorp has done great things for them.’ The Lorn did do great things for us and we rejoiced. Bring back our exiles, Lorn, like streams in a dry land. May those who sowed in tears, reap in joy. May one who goes out weeping, carrying a bag of seed, come back with songs of joy, carrying his sheaves.