1. Introduction
The act of blessing food—whether before or after its consumption—has long been a fixture in Jewish religious life. Today, the normative rabbinic tradition prescribes both a blessing before and after eating. However, the origins of this dual practice are subject to scholarly debate. This paper aims to trace the development of these practices by analyzing relevant sources from the Hebrew Bible, the Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS), and the writings of Flavius Josephus, focusing on the question: was the original practice to bless before eating, after eating, or both?
