Can Eating be Holy?

By reciting a simple blessing before proceeding to eat any food, we can transform the most mundane act, into something holy!

How? 

By acknowledging G-d as the source of all sustenance, using these simple words: "Blessed are you, L-rd our G-d-King of the Universe..." We express gratitude for all that He gives us (even something as basic as food!) 

 

 

(Did you know that Happiness is directly related to how much gratitude one feels? Torah instills the act of expressing gratitude throughout our day- so we can lead a happier life!)

For more on WHY we make a blessing...CLICK HERE

6 categories of Food = 6 blessings!

 

Those that Grow on Trees VS ground:

 We began by listening to the exciting story of the little apple.  We used our felt board to sort and place fruit & vegetables on a tree or on the ground, depending on where they grow. 

This helped us figure out the proper Brachah (blessing) to recite!  Borei pri haetz- for fruit that grow on a tree, & Borei pri ho'adamah for vegetables/fruit that grow on the ground. 

 Noach brings oranges from home:

Noach picked delicious oranges from his tree to share with the class!

This gave us another opportunity to practice sorting fruit & vegetables into different baskets depending on where they grow!

Blessing for Bread:

While learning about the Bracha of Hamotzi (bread) & Mezonot (cookies, cakes, crackers etc...), each of us had a turn to pull an item out of Morah's bag.  We found bread, matzah, hot dog buns, pretzels, pasta, crackers, cookies & more!  We even got to taste some of these delicious treats, after figuring what was the proper Bracha to make on them.  

On Friday, we are looking forward to taking home our Challah's in breadbaskets that we made!

We made pasta neclaces for the Bracha Mezonot -  The children were proud of the patterns they made!

Blessing on Grape Juice & Wine:

 

We decided to make grape juice the old fashioned way.. squishing them with our feet! 

(In ziplock bags ;)

When we were done squeezing the grapes, we poured the juice into cups.  We are familiar with the special brachah for grape juice & wine (Borei pri hagafen),  because we say it every week at the Shabbat party!  But it was even more exciting to drink grape juice that we made all by ourselves!