Pas Shachris
[1] (Halacha 1095)
A) The Gemara in Maseches Bava Kamma1 says: 'Rava said to Rabbah bar Mari: From where is this matter that the Rabbanan said: "Rise early and eat — in summer because of the heat, and in winter because of the cold"; and people say: "Sixty runners ran and did not catch up with the man who ate in the morning"? As it is written: לא ירעבו ולא יצמאו ולא יכם שרב ושמש ("They shall not hunger nor thirst, nor shall the heat or the sun strike them"). He said to him: You said it from there, and I say it from here: ועבדתם את ה' אלהיכם ("And you shall serve Hashem your G-d") — this is Krias Shema and tefillah; וברך [את] לחמך ואת מימיך ("and He will bless your bread and your water") — this is bread with salt and a pitcher of water; from here onward, והסירותי מחלה מקרבך ("and I will remove illness from your midst"). And it was taught: מחלה — this is bile. And why is it called מחלה? Because there are eighty-three illnesses in it; מחלה in gematria amounts to this. And all of them — bread with salt in the morning and a pitcher of water nullifies them'2.
B) The Gemara in Maseches Bava Metzia3 says: 'והסיר ה' ממך כל חלי ("And Hashem will remove from you all illness") .. Rabbi Elazar said: This is bile. It was also taught so: מחלה — this is bile. And why is it called מחלה? Because it makes the entire body of a person ill. Another explanation: מחלה — for eighty-three illnesses depend on bile, and all of them — morning bread with salt and a pitcher of water nullifies them. The Rabbanan taught: Thirteen things were said regarding morning bread: it saves from heat, and from cold, and from winds, and from mazikin; it makes the simple wise; and he is victorious in judgment; [he merits] to learn Torah and to teach; and his words are heeded; and his learning remains with him; and his flesh does not give off vapor; and he is attentive to his wife; and he does not desire another woman; and it kills lice in the intestines; and some say: it also removes jealousy and brings in love. Rabbah said to Rava bar Mari: From where is this matter that people say, "Sixty runners ran and did not catch up with the man who ate in the morning", and the Rabbanan said: "Rise early and eat — in summer because of the heat, and in winter because of the cold"? He said to him: As it is written: לא ירעבו ולא יצמאו ולא יכם שרב ושמש — "nor shall the heat or the sun strike them," since "they shall not hunger nor thirst." He said to him: You said it to me from there, and I say it to you from here: ועבדתם את ה' אלהיכם וברך את לחמך ואת מימיך. ועבדתם את ה' אלהיכם — this is Krias Shema and tefillah; וברך את לחמך ואת מימיך — this is bread with salt and a pitcher of water; from here onward — והסרתי מחלה מקרבך'.
C) The Gemara in Maseches Shabbos4 says: 'The Rabbanan taught: The first hour is the mealtime of the Ludim; the second, the mealtime of robbers; the third, the mealtime of heirs; the fourth, the mealtime of laborers; the fifth, the mealtime of all people. Is that so? But Rav Pappa said: The fourth is the time of the seudah for all people! Rather: the fourth is the mealtime of all people, the fifth is the mealtime of laborers, the sixth is the mealtime of Torah scholars. From then onward, it is like throwing a stone into a wineskin [= harmful to the body; and it seems to me, neither harmful nor beneficial. Rashi]. Abaye said: We said this only where he did not taste anything in the morning; but if he tasted something in the morning, we have no problem with it'.
Thus we have seen several sources in the words of Chazal regarding the importance of eating morning bread. And the Tur5 writes: 'Before he goes to the beis midrash, he may eat morning bread if he is accustomed to it, as we say elsewhere, "when a student of the yeshivah has tasted [something] and enters the kallah"; and it is good that he accustom himself to it, as we say: eighty-three kinds of illnesses depend on bile, and all of them — bread with salt and a pitcher of water in the morning nullifies them. And it is a mitzvah to conduct oneself with good measure and good conduct to guard one's health, so that he will be healthy and strong for the service of the Creator, may He be exalted'.
However, the Bach there writes in the name of the Mordechai: 'It is written in the Mordechai HaAruch: And as for what you asked, to explain the measure of morning bread and at what hour of the day it is eaten — know that we have not practiced it at all, and our teachers are not accustomed to it, because we heard that morning bread comes only from grain far from settlement, which has not heard the sound of a hen nor the sound of those hauling ships; and those who are accustomed to it must eat it constantly, every day. Therefore the Sages refrain from it, for it is impossible to keep it up. End of quote'.
And halachically, the Mechaber6 writes: 'After he leaves the beis haknesses, he should go to the beis midrash and fix a time for learning .. Before he goes to the beis midrash, he may eat morning bread if he is accustomed to it, and it is good that he accustom himself to it7'.
The Taz8 cites the words of his father-in-law, the Bach, and writes: 'And one who does not pay attention to this matter, and fulfills the words according to their plain meaning, has lost nothing'.
And moreover, the Magen Avraham9 writes on the words of the Bach: 'And these are nothing but words of prophecy, and in the Gemara it is not implied so; and were I not afraid, I would say that the one who heard [it] heard and erred: for we say in Shabbos, daf 66, that [it is] "pusa" which did not hear the sound, etc., as written above, and he thought that this explanation refers to "pita," i.e., morning bread'10.
And in Yosef Ometz11 he writes: 'And if they were so stringent regarding morning bread even when he wishes to learn, all the more so if he intends to go to his business, or to [join] those who sit at street corners, that he should watch over his health and not go outside without tasting [something]. And especially at a time when the air is not good [at a time of plague], Heaven forbid, it is very dangerous to go out into the street without tasting [something]'.
And these are the words of the Alter Rebbe12: 'And the fixing of the time must be fixed and firmly established, in such a manner that he will not skip it even if he thinks he will earn much. Nevertheless, before he goes to the beis midrash, he may eat morning bread if he is accustomed [to it], and it is good that he accustom himself to it, for eighty-three kinds of illnesses, like the numerical value of מחלה, depend on bile, and all of them — bread with salt and a pitcher of water in the morning nullifies them. And it is a mitzvah to conduct oneself with good conduct to guard one's health, so that he will be healthy and strong for the service of his Creator. And therefore he is not permitted to afflict himself, unless there is a need for it for [Divine] service — for example, if his nature tends to be swept up in the desire for eating and drinking, or other desires, and it is impossible for him to subdue his nature unless he inclines himself to the opposite extreme and conducts himself with complete abstinence from that thing which his nature craves, and conducts himself so for a long time, until he knows in himself that even if he conducts himself in the middle path, his nature will not sway him from the upright path'.
> Thus we have seen that morning bread is beneficial for health, and therefore, after he has davened, he may eat it before his learning13. In the next halacha we will see further details regarding this seudah.
Notes:
1 92b ↩
2 And the Ba'al HaTurim writes, Shemos 15:26: 'כל המחלה. מחלה — the letters of הלחם, and the letters of המלח; to tell you that 83 kinds of illnesses depend on bile, and morning bread with salt and a pitcher of water nullifies them. And therefore "springs of water" is juxtaposed to it'. And the Maharsha, in the Chiddushei Aggados on Bava Metzia, writes: 'And he said: וברך את לחמך — this is bread with salt, etc.; they also alluded to it in that the word לחמ"ך has the letters of מחל"ך; from here onward, והסירותי מחלה etc.' ↩
3 107b ↩
4 10a. And Pesachim 12b ↩
5 Orach Chaim, siman 155 ↩
6 Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim, siman 155, se'ifim 1-2 ↩
7 See Shevet HaLevi, vol. 4, siman 16, who writes: 'For me there is no doubt in this, that it is only in the category of good advice, not in the category of a mitzvah. And the wording of the Mechaber, siman 155, "he may eat morning bread if he is accustomed to it, and it is good that he accustom himself to it" — this wording proves itself, that it only teaches us good advice, like all לשון חכמים מרפא ("the tongue of the wise is healing"). And the wording of the Tur there: "And it is a mitzvah to conduct oneself with good measure and good conduct, to guard one's health so that he will be healthy and strong for the service of the Creator, may He be exalted." End of quote. Behold, the Tur mentioned here the category of mitzvah, and that is because it brings to strengthening in the service of Hashem; for behold, thirteen things were said regarding morning bread (Bava Metzia 107b) — it makes wise, and he merits to learn and to teach, and his words are heeded, and his learning remains with him — and it is obvious that it is a mitzvah to bring oneself to this. But it is obvious that they did not decree upon the act of eating in the morning the status of a mitzvah in its own right; rather, it is like other upright conduct which has an element of mitzvah. For if you were to say that the Tur intended the category of an actual mitzvah, then the Mechaber, the author of the Shulchan Aruch, would be disputing the Tur needlessly; and the matters are simple' ↩
8 There, se'if koton 1 ↩
9 There, se'if koton 3 ↩
10 And see along these lines in Shu"t Chacham Tzvi, siman 15; but see what the Eliyah Rabbah there, se'if koton 2, writes on this ↩
11 Siman 334 ↩
12 Shulchan Aruch there, se'if 1 ↩
13 It should be clarified that this halacha deals with morning bread before learning, and not with the morning seudah explained in the Shulchan Aruch, siman 157 ↩
[2] (Halacha 1096)
In the previous halacha we saw the virtue of morning bread and a pitcher of water between Shacharis tefillah and Torah learning.
Question: Is a pitcher of water specifically required, or do other beverages also qualify?
Answer: In the previous halacha we saw the wording of the Gemara, 'a pitcher of water,' and Rashi1 writes: 'And a pitcher of water — for one who has no wine'.
And the Maharsha writes in the Chiddushei Aggados: 'And were it not for his explanation, it would appear that it specifically said "a pitcher of water," and these are their own words in Avos: "This is the way of Torah: bread with salt you shall eat, and water in small measure you shall drink," for those who indulge in abundant food and drink cannot engage in Torah. And this is what it said: "and it makes the simple wise, and he merits to learn Torah, etc.," for bread is the food that is balanced for the human intellect, as is said in Arvei Pesachim: when the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Adam, בזעת אפיך תאכל לחם ("By the sweat of your brow you shall eat bread"), his mind was immediately settled; and they said: a child who eats a kezayis of bread, etc., as it says: ויוסיף דעת יוסיף וגו' ("he who increases knowledge increases..."). And likewise water is a simple element, balanced for drinking; but other foods, and the drinking of wine and other beverages, confuse the intellect .. '.
However, in the Mitzpeh Eisan2: 'And it seems to me that the law is with Rashi, based on the Gemara in Perek HaDar, which expounds that the "water" of this verse, וברך את לחמך ואת מימיך, means wine: just as "bread" [refers to] what is bought with ma'aser money, so too "water"; and therefore Rashi explains here that "water" is not specific'.
And the Pri Megadim3 cites the words of Rashi: '.. and afterwards he drinks a beverage if he has one, and if not, water, as said in Bava Metzia 107b, "bread with salt and a pitcher of water," and Rashi explained: if he has no wine'.
> Thus in practice, any beverage4 is beneficial together with morning bread
Question: What is the quantity of the bread, and does the type of bread matter?
Answer: The Pri Megadim writes there: 'And know that the measure of morning bread is a kebeitzah .. And in Sukkah 26a, a casual [meal may be eaten] outside the sukkah, "as when a yeshivah student tastes [something] and enters the kallah," and that is a kebeitzah, as the Rosh5 writes, and the Rashba in the Sheva Shitos6 .. And behold, we require bread from the five species of grain, [as it says] ובירך [את] לחמך7 ("and He will bless your bread"), and unspecified "bread" is so, like all "bread" in the Torah; to exclude a cooked dish from the five species of grain — this is not included in morning bread. And see Tosafos, Brochos 37b, s.v. Amar Rava, that Rabbeinu David of Metz would soak pieces of bread in water so as not to recite HaMotzi; this implies that it is also morning bread'.
However, the Ya'avetz writes in his siddur: 'And it appears that it includes any item of food (מאכ"ל) (and according to the sod, there is in it a powerful secret: the gematria of הוי"ה אדני. And they called it פת, for it breaks and crumbles the power of the known ת"פ [the gematria of the consort of the S"M], which is black bile, which prevails in the absence of eating (אכיל"ה). Therefore it is good to put it before learning (תלמו"ד), and to cleave to the food (מאכ"ל), which is the Tree of Life, the supernal tree (איל"ן); whoever eats of it lives forever (for this reason our Sages of blessed memory said in Perek Mi She'achazo8: for the spleen — to be accustomed to morning bread; for the spleen laughs, and it is the laughter of the fool, מלך זקן וכסיל ("an old and foolish king"), and morning bread stands to break its power. Therefore, when he eats morning bread to fulfill the mitzvah of the Sages who commanded so (not for his physical pleasure, Heaven forbid), it will be counted for him as righteousness; his intent is certainly for the sake of Heaven; his bread and his water in his innards will be for a bracha) just as anything that sustains the heart is called bread'.
And along these lines, the Eshel Avraham (Buczacz)9 also writes: 'There is no doubt that included in morning bread, which our Sages of blessed memory derived from the verse ובירך את לחמך etc. — according to the decision of the Magen Avraham a"h and Moreinu HaRav Tzvi Ashkenazi a"h, that the nature of the bread does not matter, as is known — it also does not matter that it be specifically bread; rather, all eating and drinking is absolutely included in the bracha of this verse. For only regarding brochos did Chazal arrange the hierarchy among foods and beverages; and Birkas HaMazon from the Torah is specifically for the five species with which Eretz Yisroel is praised, as Chazal derived regarding several mitzvos. This is not so with this, which is on account of the order of the physical faculties, so that they not cause disturbance to the soul; it appears that it does not matter, and any eating and drinking with which his mind is appeased until the time of the fixed seudah, at the time of Torah scholars, is included in the bracha'.
And he further writes: 'Elsewhere I wrote regarding morning bread that there is merit to say that the customary drinking of coffee also has nourishing power, and [the principle of] ta'am k'ikar; and milk nourishes, and honeycombs of sugar nourish, as the verse says10: ומצור דבש אשביעך ("and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you"), and satiation and nourishment are one aspect. And likewise wine nourishes and sustains a little; and it is written11: ייני עם חלבי ("my wine with my milk"), and the word עם indicates secondary status; thus it is explained that milk has more nourishing power than wine (also from the aspect of the order of inanimate, vegetative and animal — corresponding to Beriah, Yetzirah and Asiyah, in reverse; behold, milk is from an animal, and it is a greater virtue than wine; nevertheless, the main thing is from the aspect of nourishment). And from the aspect of ta'am k'ikar, it takes the place of eating and drinking, and there is in this the virtue of morning bread and a pitcher of water. And there is also an advantage in this: that even judges appointed over the public, who should not eat in front of three, nevertheless with this drinking, and likewise with eating that is not a fixed seudah, there is no concern at all — like casual work permitted on Chol HaMoed, which judges are permitted to do in front of many, as I wrote elsewhere; and like writing a mushita, from which there is not even a measure of piety to refrain; and likewise making a quill, all of which are included in the work of a layman. And so it is with casual eating, which is permitted according to all, and all the more so drinking'12.
> Thus we have seen that some held that morning bread must specifically be bread [however, there is no requirement that it be bread over which HaMotzi is recited13]; but some wrote that there were great ones of Israel who fulfilled [the practice of] morning bread with a nourishing beverage, such as coffee with milk. And "bread" is not specific; rather, any item of food is considered morning bread.
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Notes:
1 Bava Metzia 107b ↩
2 Bava Metzia there ↩
3 Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim, siman 155, Mishbetzos Zahav, se'if koton 1 ↩
4 And see the Kaf HaChaim, se'if koton 23, who writes that there is a virtue specifically in drinking *hot drinks*; and see also Yosef Ometz, siman 333 ↩
5 Sukkah, ch. 2, siman 13 ↩
6 There, s.v. Ochlin ↩
7 Shemos 23:25 ↩
8 69b ↩
9 Shulchan Aruch there ↩
10 Tehillim 81:17 ↩
11 Shir HaShirim 5:1 ↩
12 And see Alei Tamar, Nedarim, ch. 8, halacha 1, who writes on his words: 'And a proof for his words is from the Yerushalmi here, where it appears that Rabbi Yonah ate cheese and drank a pitcher of water for the sake of eating morning bread, which sustains the heart and nourishes until the time of the main seudah, which is the sixth hour, the mealtime of Torah scholars. And so several great ones and Torah scholars in Galicia were accustomed to drink either tea or coffee and eat potatoes with butter for the sake of morning bread; and so was the practice of my teacher, the sharp Gaon Rabbi Pinchas Yehoshua Bombach, author of Ohel Yehoshua, Av Beis Din of the holy community of Oshpitzin z"l, and they ate the fixed seudah after chatzos. And so I heard was the practice of the Gaon Rabbi Shlomo Kluger zt"l' ↩
13 And see also Shu"t Yehudah Ya'aleh (Asad), vol. 2, siman 253; and the Kaf HaChaim there; and Shu"t Ohr LeTzion, vol. 2, ch. 10, se'if 6 ↩
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