Blessings · Waking and the table
What blessing is said before bread?
Before eating bread we say the berachah (blessing) Hamotzi lechem min ha'aretz — 'who brings forth bread from the earth' — recited after netilat yadayim, the washing of the hands. This one blessing covers everything eaten in the meal that follows.
The blessing over bread
Bread holds a place of honor at the Jewish table. When a meal is built around bread, we do not bless each food on its own; we say a single berachah (blessing), Hamotzi lechem min ha'aretz, and it draws the whole meal under its wings. The words mean 'who brings forth bread from the earth' — a quiet acknowledgment that the loaf in our hands began as a seed, and that the One who feeds the world stands behind the whole long labor from field to table.
Where it comes from
The Mishnah, Berakhot 6:1 — the earliest layer of the Oral Torah on blessings — sets out which berachah belongs to which food, and gives bread its own wording: Hamotzi lechem min ha'aretz. First the hands are washed (netilat yadayim), and then, before the bread is eaten, the blessing is said.
What to do
Wash the hands with the blessing for washing, keep from speaking until the bread is tasted, then say Hamotzi lechem min ha'aretz and eat. Because it covers the meal, you need not bless the other foods served alongside the bread. For the exact wording and the customs of your table, your rabbi or community is the place to turn.
Source: Mishnah, Berakhot 6:1.
When you want the right blessing to be waiting for you at the moment you sit down to eat, Barkai (the blessings of the day; the sky and place tell you the moment) is a gentle companion for the table.
Open Barkai