Morning Coffee

I. Superstitious practices

Parshat Kedoshim enumerates fifty-one of the Torah’s 613 commandments. Three commandments are included in the above passage. Two of these commandments are clearly stated. We are not permitted to act on the basis of omens. Also, we may not base or schedule our activities upon the belief that some times are more of less fortuitous. These are two forms of superstition and the Torah prohibits many variations of superstitious behavior. The passage also prohibits “eating over the blood”. What does this admonition prohibit?

Ramban – Nachmanides – and others suggest that this is also a superstitious practice that was common among ancient peoples. These people believed in the ability of spirits to reveal the future. Also, they imagined that these spirits feasted upon blood. To learn the future from the spirits they engaged in a ritual. 

They created a depression in the ground, slaughtered an animal, and collected its blood in the depression. They believed the spirits would come to feast on the blood. They joined the spirits in their meal through partaking of their own meal surrounding the blood-filled depression. Through this connection with the spirits – sharing a meal, they believe they could enter into communion with them and learn the future.[1]

II. Prohibition related to “eating over the blood”

The Sages in Tractate Sanhedrin derive from or associate with this passage various loosely related prohibitions.[2] These include the following:

·      The Torah describes a rebellious son who steals from his parents to purchase food with which he gorges himself. The prohibition violated by this son is “You shall not eat over the blood”.

·      One many not eat the flesh of an animal before it dies.

·      One may not eat the flesh of a sacrifice before its blood has been sprinkled on the altar.

·      Judges who render a guilty verdict in a capital case may not eat on the day the execution is carried out. 

Sefer HaChinuh treats all these prohibitions as Torah level restriction.[3]

III. Eating before morning prayers

In Tractate Berachot, the Sages associate another prohibition with this passage. It is prohibited for one to eat or taste food before praying. According to this interpretation “You shall not eat over the blood” means you shall not eat before your pray for your blood – your life. Sefer HaChinuch seems to regard this prohibition also as a Torah level restriction.[4] What is the nature of this prohibition? Why is it prohibited to eat before morning prayers? Let us return to the discussion in the Talmud.

And you have done worse than all that were before you and you have gone and made for yourself foreign gods and molten images to anger Me, and you have cast Me behind your back. (Melachim I 14:9) 

IV. Pridefulness

After explaining that the prohibition is associated with our passage, the Talmud suggests an alternative passage that reflects the prohibition. In the above passage, the prophet sends a message to the king, Yeravam. He rebukes Yervam. He tells him that he has been unfaithful to Hashem, “You have cast Me behind your back”. The Talmud explains that one who eats before morning prayers is guilty of a similar sin. He has cast Hashem behind his own glory or desires. In other words, eating before praying is an expression of pridefulness. One is prioritizing his desire to eat above the requirement to pray.  

Let us summarize. The Talmud explains that it is prohibited to eat or even taste food before prayer. The Talmud relates the prohibition to “You shall not eat over the blood.” A second Sage relates the prohibition to a different passage, “You have cast Me behind your back”.

This raises a question. The Talmud suggests two alternative passages as the basis of this prohibition. What is the Talmud revealing about the prohibition through associating it with these passages?

V. The urgency of prayer

The passage “You have cast Me behind your back” suggests that the eating before prayer is a behavior of pridefulness. What does the passage, “You shall not eat over the blood” reveal about the prohibition?

As we noted above, the Talmud explains that the passage is admonishing us to not eat before we pray for our lives. The message of the restriction is that we must feel an urgency to pray. We must feel that our prayers are so important that we cannot allow them to be delayed. 

Rambam – Maimonides – expresses this beautifully through his presentation of the restriction:

“A person is forbidden to taste anything or to do any work from dawn until after he has recited the morning prayer. He should also refrain from visiting the house of a friend to greet him before he has recited the morning prayer; nor should he set out on a journey before he has prayed.” (Mishne Torah, Hilchot Tefilah 6:4)

Rambam includes the prohibition against eating before morning prayers within a broader discussion. One should not eat, begin a project, seek out and greet a friend, or undertake a journey before morning prayers. He treats the restriction against eating as an element within a more general prohibition of undertaking activities before morning prayers. The overall message of these restriction is that prayer must be our highest priority. We must feel and urgent need to pray immediately and not tolerate delay.

VI. Two aspects of prayer

These two interpretations of the prohibition against eating before prayer allude to two aspects of prayer. 

·      First, through prayer we acknowledge Hashem as Creator and King. We accept Him as our sovereign. Each day we renew this acknowledgment and proclaim Hashem’s sovereignty. 

·      Second, through prayer, we recognize our dependence upon Him. One’s very breath is a consequence of His will and benevolence. When we pray, we turn to Hashem and ask that He sustain us and provide for us.

The Talmud’s two interpretations of the restriction against eating before prayer, reflect these two aspects of prayer. The passage “You have cast Me behind you back” interprets eating before prayer as prideful behavior. This perspective is focused upon our daily acknowledgement of Hashem’s sovereignty. We may not eat before declaring that Hashem is our king. To eat before this daily acknowledgment is an act of pridefulness; one prioritizes satisfying one’s appetites over acknowledging his king. 

The association of the prohibition with “You shall not eat over the blood” is focused upon prayer’s petitions. We must approach prayer with the attitude that our lives are in the hands of Hashem. Our existences depend upon His will and benevolence. This recognition should evoke a sense of urgency. Eating before praying or engaging in any of the other activities listed by Rambam is inconsistent with this sense of urgency.[5]

[1] Rabbaynu Moshe ben Nachman (Ramban / Nachmanides), Commentary on Sefer VaYikra 19:26.

[2] Mesechet Sanhedrin 63a.

[3] Rabbaynu Aharon HaLeyve, Sefer HaChinuch, Mitzvah 248.

[4] Rabbaynu Aharon HaLeyve, Sefer HaChinuch, Mitzvah 248. There is a dispute among the commentators over the nature of the Torah obligation of prayer. Rambam maintains that there is a Torah level mitzvah to pray each day. Ramban disagrees. His position is that at times of danger or affliction, the community is required to turn to Hashem in prayer. However, the daily obligation of prayer is a rabbinic institution (Sefer HaMitzvot, Mitzvat Aseh 5). Minchat Chinuch (Mitzvah 248) explains that according to Ramban, the prohibition against eating before prayer, must be rabbinic in origin. He reasons that if the very obligation to pray is a rabbinic institution then the restriction against eating before prayer must also be rabbinic in origin. However, Rambam maintains the obligation to pray daily is a Torah level mitzvah. Therefore, he can maintain that the restriction against eating before prayer is also a Torah level prohibition.  Minchat Chinuch assumes that Sefer HaChinuch adopts Rambam’s position that daily prayer is required by the Torah. Therefore, his apparent contention that the prohibition against eating is also a Torah level restriction is consistent with his view regarding prayer. 

[5] Tur, Orech Chayim 89, includes the restriction against eating before prayer among the other restrictions cited by Rambam. However, he identifies the prohibition only with the passage from Melachim I. Shulchan Aruch, in its discussion of the prohibition, allows drinking water before prayer. Mishne Berurah (89:3) comments that this is because the prohibition is because of pridefulness. Therefore, drinking water is allowed. It is not an indulgence and not a prideful behavior.  

Based on this reasoning Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach permits drinking tea or coffee and even adding sugar (Orchot Rabbaynu, vol 1, p 57) and milk (Halichot Shlomo, Tefilah 2:2).

When NYHS relocated to its campus on Mercer Island, an arrangement was made with another school for its busses to bring NYHS students to the campus in the morning and take them home in the evening. NYHS’s daily schedule was designed to take advantage of this opportunity. It emerged that scheduling breakfast after tefilah would reduce the amount of time available for Torah studies. Rav Aharon Soloveitchik Zt”l was consulted. He advised telling the students that they may eat before coming to school – before tefilah. He explained that that it is prohibited to eat before tefilah because the behavior is prideful. Under the circumstances NYHS faced, the behavior would not be prideful and would be permitted. 

It is interesting that Tur and these other authorities do not seem to regard the passage “You shall not eat over the blood” as providing an independent rational for the prohibition.