As Heard from Rabbi Avigdor Miller ZT”L

“For your favor” (23:11)

The acts which cause us to become more aware of Hashem are acts that gain for us Hashem’s favor. The waiving of the Omer before Hashem is intended for the purpose of declaring that Hashem bestowed the grain, and that the grain is a miraculous substance, which elicits our amazement and admiration. If we respond properly to this declaration, and we recognize the wondrous process of the growth of the grain and we perceive the vastness of the miracles which the grain performs when we ingest it, the grain thereby becomes the great demonstration of Hashem’s infinite wisdom and power and kindliness. When men learn these lessons they thus fulfill the purpose for which they were created, and thus they deserve Hashem’s favor.

The intention of gaining Hashem’s favor should be emphasized and should be kept in mind while doing any Mitzvah and even any ordinary act. But “A man’s food is more difficult (meaning: more miraculous) that the rending of the Sea of Suf.” (Pesachim 118A)

The sunlight travels 93 million miles to aid the plant-chlorophyll to convert the carbon dioxide of the air into starch. The sun evaporates the surface of the sea and the vapor rises to the clouds, where the winds sweep the clouds inland to be condensed and to fall as rain to nourish the grain. Every grain kernel possesses some millions of bits of information recorded on the helix of the DNA molecule with instructions how to produce the plant and how the plant should function to produce the grain. As the materials from the atmosphere and from the soil pass into the plant and are processed, thousands of complicated steps must be performed in precise sequence so that the final result is achieved. But the truth of the intricacy of the production of food is vastly more complicated and purposeful than men will ever know.

The waiving of the Omer is a declaration of our endless gratitude and wonderment and admiration for the work of him that “gives bread to all flesh, for his kindliness is everlasting.” (Tehillim 136:25) Hashem created these miracles of Kindliness in order that men should recognize Him. Therefore the waiving of the Omer to aggrandize and praise the gift of food is certainly deserving of Hashem’s favor. “And he shall waive the Omer…for your favor.”

Thus the appreciation of food is a major means of gaining Hashem’s favor. That is the reason that Birkat Hamazon is the sole blessing that is unanimously recognized as an original Torah obligation (based on the verse in Devarim 8:10).

Quoted from “A Kingdom of Cohanim” by Rabbi Avigdor Miller ZT”L

Shabbat Shalom

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