​Saying Hamotzi: A Reward for Our Efforts

From Test of Emunah (#557) by Rabbi Avigdor Miller
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Baking bread requires a lot of hard work. Plowing and planting are not easy jobs, and then the farmer must wait for the wheat to grow. In the meantime he has to pull out the weeds, and in some countries water the field.

​Finally the time comes to reap the grain, which is also heavy work. Then he has to thresh the grain — also strenuous. Next comes winnowing, and then grinding and sifting the grain, all involving heavy labor. After baking, Mr. Farmer finally has a loaf of bread on his table. If his neighbor doesn’t have any bread on his table, he must be lazy; he didn’t want to plow, didn’t want to plant.

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"Hashem, You’re the one who brings forth bread from the ground"

Food is a result of living properly. According to the laws of nature, we have food. If you’re the one who produced the food, that’s your reward. But what does the Jewish farmer do? He doesn’t sit down at the table and say, “I thank myself, Mr. Farmer, for all the labor I put in, the wisdom that I invested in order to get the bread.” He says, “Baruch Atah Hashem Elokeinu Melech ha’olam, hamotzi…”: Hashem, You’re the one who brings forth bread from the ground.
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His wife might say to him, “What do you mean, Hashem brings forth bread from the ground? Where were you all the time? Weren’t you laboring the whole year for it?” And the farmer will reply, “Don’t be foolish. My labor was nothing. I had to work hard. Hashem rewarded my efforts in a natural way with the bread, and I have to thank Him. The good deed of making a berachah (blessing)—that’s why I deserved the bread.” Therefore we learn that there are two different, separate ways that Hashem conducts the world, and they both have a common purpose—to test mankind.

Climb the Ladder: At your your next meal, spend a moment thinking about where the food comes from and how much labor (and how many different types of labor) were involved.