Before eating, Jews traditionally pause to say a short blessing, whether it’s a full meal or just a snack. Different foods have different blessings: fruits that grow on trees, vegetables that grow from the ground, grains, bread, wine, or miscellaneous foods like dairy and meat.

When your meal has a variety of foods and includes bread, the blessing over bread — Hamotzi — is considered enough to cover everything on your plate, except for wine, which always gets its own special blessing. If there’s no bread, a blessing over miscellaneous foods can cover a mixed meal.

This small pause is a gentle reminder to notice the everyday gifts in our lives. Even something as ordinary as bread is a blessing, and saying Hamotzi is a way of inviting mindfulness and gratitude into our meals.

Hebrew:
בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה יְיָ אֱלֹהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם, הַמּוֹצִיא לֶחֶם מִן הָאָרֶץ

Transliteration:
Baruch Atah Adonai, Eloheinu Melech ha’olam, hamotzi lechem min ha’aretz

English:
Blessed are You, L-rd our G-d, King of the universe, who brings forth bread from the earth.

Food Blessings Resources

Explore more about the blessings over food, including Hamotzi and other categories:

• Chabad.org – “Texts of Blessings Before Eating” — blessing for bread (Hamotzi).
• My Jewish Learning – “Hamotzi: The Blessing Over Bread” — background, meaning, and practice for Hamotzi.

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