Thursday, January 17, 2008

A Bruchah for Chocolate and Coffee

My wife likes chocolate and coffee, and once asked me if there was a traditional Jewish blessing for beans to match the standard blessings for bread, fruit, and vegetables.

There isn't.

But at the recent IAMCS Conference, a friendly native Hebrew-speaker named Tzahi Shapira Kehilat Ahavat Ammi helped me compose the following, based upon the traditional blessings and Psalm 37:4

Barooch atah Adonai, Elohay-noo, Melech ha'olam, boray
Blessed are you, Lord our God, King of the universe, creator of

gargee-reem tehee-reem beesh-veel meeshalot lee-baynoo.
delicious beans for the desires of our hearts.

The word "beans" in Hebrew is actually unusually tricky. The plural is gargee-ray when it refers to one variety of beans, but gargee-reem when it refers to a mix of kinds of beans.

I suppose this bruchah works for chili too. My wife makes a great chili!

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