Grace and the Land

And you shall eat and be satisfied, and bless the Lord your God for the good Land which He has given you.                                              Deuteronomy 8:10

         This verse presents the positive mitzva to say the Grace After Meals. The Torah mandates that the blessing be not merely for the food which one has eaten, but as well for the gift of the Land to the People of Israel, an obligation which applies universally, no matter whether a Jew says the Grace within the Land or the furthest reaches of the earth.

      My father explained that since our Sages taught [Babylonian Talmud, Ta’anit 10a] that the rest of the world is blessed through God’s continual looking after the Holy Land [Deuteronomy 11:12], wherever one’s food was grown, it has been blessed through the Land, hence, no matter where one finds himself, he must thank God for the Land when he says the Grace After Meals.

          Additionally, the command conveys the concept that the Land is eternally Israel’s, whether or not they are within her.