As I open my refrigerator each morning (or evening) I should sayâŚ
Take 1: âBlessed are you, Dear RefrigeratorâŚâ
No. Thatâs not right.
Take 2: âMay your shelves be full each and every day with food and drink. And especially with leftoversâŚâ
I donât think so.
Take 3: âMay the abundance and plenty I see in you, dear refrigerator, inspire me to appreciate more, thank more, and approach life differently as I begin each day.â
Weâre getting closer…
Rabbi Naftali (Tully) Besser, the Dean of Students at the Yeshivah of Flatbush High School, has dedicated his life to bringing a love of Torah into the lives of young adults. He has also expended extraordinary energy to build within them a deep felt and lifelong commitment to hesed (kindness).
A number of years back Rabbi Besser was scheduled to speak in Young Shaare Zion. Speaking in our synagogue demanded a long walk for the Rabbi but he mentioned that he used his walk to gather his thoughts about his remarks that day. He stood at the podium, and then to my amazement, and to the amazement of the scores of men and women in the room, he went on to talk about his refrigerator!
How amazing it was, Rabbi Besser described, that each time he opened his refrigerator it was full â never lacking in what he or his family needed or desired. How appreciative he was for that blessing.
The lesson he wanted to share with us that morning, was for each of us to open our refrigerator, pause after opening it, and reflect on how blessed we are in our lives.
At the time my sense was that maybe his walk to the synagogue should have been a little longer, or maybe, had he taken an extra walk around the block before coming in, he would have come up with something else for us to consider.
How wrong I was!
These days, I have an office at home, and work from there an average of 3 days a week.
This set up means I frequent the refrigerator very often.
My guess is, at this point I open the refrigerator door more times a day than I used to open it in a week.
With that in mind, and with the perspective that the goal of these essays is for us to grow and become better people, I recommend we incorporate a: âTefillah Bâfnei Hamekarerâ or âRefrigerator Prayerâ.
It might go something like this:
âBlessed are you Hashem, our G-d, King of the universe, who has created all of the different beings on the earth, and their needs, and provides for the physical sustenance of all living beings. Blessed are You Who lives foreverâ.
This tefillah would be said by men and women, and those children who are old enough to understand the concept. It would be said in the Land of Israel and anywhere else we may find ourselves, each time the refrigerator door is opened.
The purpose of this prayer is to recast our relationship to what we enjoy, and change our perspective from that of entitlement and expectation – to that of awe, recognition, and deep felt appreciation.
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The reality is, we donât create new prayers these days and the words of the above suggested prayer greatly resemble that which we say after eating most foods â Borei Nefashot.
Final Take: When we complete a non grain based meal, letâs say the borei
nefashot prayer slowly and carefully; with a full understanding of the words and their meaning.
And in front of the fridge?
Thinking the words every so often might make us and our children better people.
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Eat Live Great
Soy products are rich in nutrients while low in calories. Soy foods are made from soy beans. They are an excellent source of high quality protein, fiber, polyunsaturated fatty acids and omega 3 fatty acids.
by Jamie Cohen, Nutritionist
