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September 30, 2022

Charles Lamb and the Difficulties of Praising God in an Age of Plenty

Blessings after bread.

In his 1823 essay, “Grace before Meat,” the writer and poet Charles Lamb reflected on the awkwardness with which his fellow Englishmen utter benedictions before meals. Can the well-to-do, he wondered, really offer such prayers properly when they live without fear of going hungry? Ephraim Fruchter appreciates Lamb’s point, yet argues that the question yields different results when applied to the Jewish blessings said before and after eating, and the attitudes that underpin them:

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September 30, 2022

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