The Secret Power of Judaism’s Most Important Prayer

0:41simply by looking at Masechet Brachot. Take Gemara, Masechet Brachot. Over 10 dapim are spent on talking about Birkat Hamazon, explaining to us the gedulah of Birkat Hamazon, that it's the number one blessing in all of Judaism. Higher than Shema Yisrael, higher than Tefillat Shemoneh Esrei. Implication, where it's implied you're supposed to do Shema Yisrael. It's implied. It's understood you're supposed to do Shema Yisrael. It's understood you're supposed to do Amidah, Tefillat Shema Yisrael. We learned from Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov; they were in the fields praying, that's when they prayed. But it's implied, it's not literal. Birkot Hamazon,

2:08It outright says it. You ate, you satiated, and you blessed Hashem, your God. You must say a blessing after you eat. Anyone that enjoys anything in this world without blessing Hashem is a thief. Who is he stealing from? Hashem. Go steal from your friend; don't steal from Hashem, you fool. Your friend may not know, but Hashem knows. Now, Birkat HaMazon was so big, so special. Who put it together? Anyone else? First paragraph, Moshe Rabbeinu. Moshe Rabbeinu wrote the first paragraph of our holy texts. At Mount Sinai, we received the Torah through him. Moshe Rabbeinu, the one whose teachings you hold in your hands every day. And yet, look over there, at the falafel joint. Everyone enjoys their falafel, shawarma spilling with tahini, but they forget about the Birkat Hamazon; it just collects dust. No one uses it. People eat their falafel with pita, with lafa, and then go home as if nothing happened. It's as if saying, "Oh, I don’t need to pray for it. I did Birkat Rishon, I said HaMotzi. I satisfied my obligation."

3:28Every falafel, kosher falafel place, every kosher place, they have the birkonim. They have them, you know, because it makes them look kosher. The problem is the customers don't really use them. Go, tomorrow, check. The next time you go to a falafel place, go look at the birkonim. I bet you anything you want, they're dusty. Why dusty? Half the time you can't find them. Because even the Baal HaBayit doesn't know about Birkat HaMazon. As a matter of fact, one of the things I said in one of my Hebrew shiurim a while back, any Baal HaBayit, any owner of a restaurant that wants to be smart, would make a special deal for any customer that does Birkat HaMazon in his restaurant. Why? Because what happens... Every time a customer recites Birkat Hamazon in his restaurant, he brings the Shechinah, he brings blessing to his place. You're turning your restaurant into a mini Beit HaMikdash. You're bringing the number one blessing in all of Judaism to your restaurant.

4:43Now, everybody makes a big deal. You go to the synagogue, we're in a synagogue, there's a Sefer Torah, there's a Sefer Torah, there's Gemara, there's this, there's that, it's a big deal. We come, we pray, oh come on, you have to honor the place. We have Amidah here, we have Sefer Torah here, great. All of it's wonderful. But I'm telling you, you have the number one blessing in the entire Torah. You can bring it to your restaurant. Non-stop, every time a customer does it, you bring the blessing to your restaurant. A family does it, you bring the blessing. Ten people. you have this happening all day. Your restaurant has turned into a kehillah. Why won't you give them a discount, a dollar off, ten dollars off, whatever it may be? Everybody, in their own business, the point is to try to encourage your customers to do mitzvot. Because even if they don't want to, they'll want to get the discount. And when we do things for that reason, without really wanting it, eventually, we'll want it. And what ends up happening to the Baal Habayit, not only is he bringing all this blessing to his restaurant, on top of it, he's doing Zikkui HaRabim. He's doing kiruv. He's causing other people to make mitzvot. Anyone that causes other people to do mitzvot, sin doesn't come upon him.

6:07Who's better than you? What did you do? You bought Bitcoin? You tell the guy, listen, you bought Shoham for $8 or $9, or in today's world, maybe even $50, or whatever Shoham is today. $10? Okay, I'll give you a dollar off, but just don't be cutting on Birkat Hamazon. Really? What do you care if I don't skip Birkat Hamazon? I'll give you a dollar off. Why do you care if I don't be cutting Birkat Hamazon? Okay, fine, I want a dollar off. But in order to do that, the Baal HaBayit has to have emunah. He has to believe that Birkat Hamazon really did come from Hashem. He has to believe that the Parnassah did come from Hashem. He has to believe that the customer is coming from Hashem. Without having that Emunah, everything I just said is deleted. It goes in one ear and out the other, deleted. No Emunah, nothing.