The Laws of the Blessing of Hagomel - Rabbi Levi Yitzchok Hillel shlita

00:02 Speaker 1 You’re listening to “Lema’an Yishme’u,” a podcast of Machon Halacha Chabad.

00:10 Speaker 2 Good evening. First of all, yasher koach to everyone who came, especially in days as tense as these. As the verse says, “Outside, the sword bereaves; inside, there is terror.” It’s not so simple to go out, sit down, and learn at a time like this. So yasher koach to everyone who came to learn properly. Even if we’re not fighting the physical war, as those who are risking their lives are, we are fighting the spiritual war, which is, of course, important and gives strength for the physical war. So, with Hashem’s help, we’ll do that properly this evening through Torah study, and may Hashem give strength to all the soldiers and help with everything else. Let me just mention that the class is for the merit of Yosef ben Shulamis, that he should have a complete recovery, and for the merit of the parents who sponsored the class. With Hashem’s help, may they have abundance in material and spiritual matters, everything they need, and nachas from their children. I want to read you a text that most, if not all, of you probably know. We’ll read it, and you tell me what you think. It begins like this: “The terrorists came in through the bedroom window and took us upstairs. They were cruel. They came to kill. I told my husband, if we die, we’ll die together. They threatened to kill us. I saw they were angry, so I asked them if they were hungry. I made them coffee and cookies.” If anyone still had any doubt, I assume everyone now understands who’s speaking in this story. And I do mean speaking in the feminine.

01:59 Speaker 3 Rachel.

02:00 Speaker 2 “The police brought him a pineapple. I told him, ‘Eat something sweet; you’ll feel better.’” Who are we talking about? Rachel from Ofakim, of course. And how does she explain why she made sure he had something to eat and drink? “Because the whole time there was a grenade over my head, a Kalashnikov, and a LAW rocket launcher.” That’s how she describes it. She says there was a grenade over her head, a Kalashnikov pressed to her temple, and a LAW rocket launcher aimed at her too, in case the first two weren’t enough. Now, just so you understand, I wondered what this LAW rocket was. He’s holding a rocket—what does he have, a tank? I looked it up. It turns out it’s a relatively small rocket launcher fired from the shoulder, but it penetrates walls twenty-four centimeters thick. It’s used against tanks and the like, against jeeps—to stop them, fire at them. I don’t know if it blows them up completely, but in any case, it penetrates armor.

02:53 Speaker 3 Concrete.

02:54 Speaker 2 Right. And one might say that if it can take out a tank, it can probably give a person a bit of a scratch too, right? Or send him to another world. So they’re standing over her with a grenade above her head, a Kalashnikov, and a LAW rocket launcher. At two-thirty in the morning—and the timing of her rescue is important too—suddenly a grenade was thrown near us. It turned out afterward that two grenades had been thrown: one by the terrorists and one by the IDF—or rather, the police, or whoever was there. Bullets flew over us, right by our heads. And she ends: “I don’t know how I survived. I don’t know how I survived.” That’s her account. Well, thank G-d, she’s now famous: “Rachel of the cookies,” “Rachel from Ofakim”—everyone has their own name for her. Blessed are You, Hashem, our G-d, King of the universe, Who creates everything.

03:46 Speaker 3 Amen.

03:48 Speaker 2 Imagine you read that account, and someone comes to you and asks, “Do I have to recite the blessing of Hagomel after going through something like that?” More precisely, does she have to recite it? If you were this woman, Rachel, do you think you would have to recite Hagomel after what she went through? I want to hear from the expert dayanim here, as they say. What, just over a month ago we were calling every one of you an expert dayan, right? Hataras nedarim. What do you think? Does she have to recite Hagomel or not?

04:24 Speaker 4 [unclear].

04:26 Speaker 2 Apparently, obviously yes. Right? Obviously yes. She needs to recite Hagomel.

04:30 Speaker 4 I once got confused about whether someone who fell asleep in the middle...

04:33 Speaker 2 Forget about someone falling asleep. Don’t bring that into it now. Does she need to recite Hagomel or not?

04:35 Speaker 4 I once got confused about a person who fell asleep. No, apparently yes, because there was a threat of death here.

04:40 Speaker 2 A danger to life. No, so Yisroel says to her, “A danger to life? Just a rocket aimed at your head, a Kalashnikov, and all that.”

04:46 Speaker 4 [unclear], a danger to life.

04:48 Speaker 2 She was in mortal danger. If you don’t recite Hagomel for that, what do you recite it for?

04:52 Speaker 4 Perhaps Mechayeh Hameisim.

04:53 Speaker 2 Ah, perhaps Mechayeh Hameisim.

04:54 Speaker 4 Ah, you’re right.

04:57 Speaker 2 So someone here mentioned Mechayeh Hameisim, a similar blessing. We’ll get to that shortly. A prisoner recites Hagomel. “A prisoner” means someone imprisoned in a jail, as Rabbi Naveh [unclear] mentions here. It isn’t the category for what happened with these terrorists. Why? We’ll see in a moment that it means someone in prison—an ordinary, established prison—even if there’s a danger to life there. But the point is that it’s a prison. If terrorists come into your home and take control, that’s a different category. All right, I see that the general consensus is that she needs to recite Hagomel, plain and simple. So to understand the issue, let’s first raise two more questions. Every one of us has spent time in a safe room, right? Thank G-d, here in Nachlas Har Chabad we benefit from the Rebbe’s blessings. There have been hardly any sirens here in Kiryat Malachi. You should know, I once heard Rabbi Oirelfsky [unclear] himself say something when I spoke to him. He told me that the Rebbe once referred to “Kiryat Malachi, which is within Nachlas Har Chabad.” That’s how he put it. “Kiryat Malachi, which is within—” And the rosh yeshivah here was very upset about that. “What do you mean, ‘Kiryat Malachi, which is within Nachlas Har Chabad’? Nachlas Har Chabad is within Kiryat Malachi!” But that’s how the Rebbe expressed it. So apparently the merit of Nachlas Har Chabad protected the whole city. Now, what happens to someone who hears a siren? Rockets. Thank G-d, we’ve hardly heard them, though at least at the beginning there were many. He runs to the safe room. Thank G-d, nothing happens; he survives. He comes to the rabbi. Does he need to recite Hagomel or not?

06:21 Speaker 4 No.

06:21 Speaker 2 No. Was he saved from danger or wasn’t he? Apparently he was. What? Rockets? Hashem protect us.

06:25 Speaker 4 It just didn’t hit the...

06:26 Speaker 2 Okay. A helicopter pilot or a fighter pilot flies to Gaza, makes a sortie, bombs a target, and comes back. Or he flies in, evacuates wounded people, comes back, and transports units. I don’t know whether they fly over the sea or not, but the question is: Suppose he flies fifty sorties in a day. I don’t know whether fifty is realistic; twenty might be realistic, or at least ten. Let’s say ten—that’s realistic. Suppose he makes ten sorties one after another: brings out wounded people, takes them back into Israel, goes back to evacuate more wounded people, and so on. Or he goes out to bomb a target; it doesn’t matter. Does this pilot need to recite Hagomel ten times for ten sorties? Or do we tell him, “Every time you land at the base, gather ten people, recite Hagomel, and go out on your next sortie”? Or do we tell him to do it at the end? What exactly should this man do? He’s asking us. Now take a person whose house was hit by a rocket. This isn’t like hearing a siren and going into a safe room. A rocket hit his house, G-d forbid. The whole house is charred. He comes out covered in black soot; he didn’t make it into the safe room, for whatever reason. He looks at himself: a miracle! Nothing happened to him. Not even a scratch, just a bit of dust.

07:39 Speaker 4 Yes, yes, certainly.

07:39 Speaker 2 Does he have to recite Hagomel or not?

07:40 Speaker 4 Certainly. Totally, absolutely.

07:42 Speaker 2 Huh? You say he definitely has to recite Hagomel. Final answer, unequivocally. Are you sure? What do the rest of you say? Why are you just sitting there? Speak up.

07:47 Speaker 4 It’s somewhere between no and no.

07:49 Speaker 2 Rachel was threatened. Here, the man actually had the rocket come down on his head.

07:52 Speaker 4 They all had something aimed at their heads.

07:53 Speaker 2 So say, you know what, say it’s similar to Rachel. But forget about Rachel for a moment: he had a rocket hit his house. A rocket! It destroyed his whole house, and there he is, standing amid the ruins, with all the stones around him. He’s standing there, having survived. Does he need to recite Hagomel or not?

08:09 Speaker 4 Obviously!

08:09 Speaker 2 Huh?

08:11 Speaker 4 At the front door of the house. [unclear].

08:12 Speaker 2 If he had died. Hakadosh Boruch Hu said, apparently.

08:16 Speaker 4 No, that’s a surname.

08:16 Speaker 2 Oh, it’s a surname. All right, don’t spoil the surprise now.

08:21 Speaker 4 [unclear].

08:23 Speaker 2 And one last question. These are practical questions that came up during this war. I’m not just bringing you hypothetical questions. The last question is about someone who drove on Route 232, if I’m not mistaken—that’s the road the terrorists used to enter what they called the entire area of those communities. He was driving along, or perhaps he wasn’t just driving along—he was fleeing. I’ve spoken to several Jews like that. They escaped by the skin of their teeth. They were shot at and managed to get away, though they weren’t necessarily hit. What about someone who drove on a road like that? Does he need to recite Birchas Hagomel or not?

08:57 Speaker 4 Of course he does.

08:59 Speaker 2 Was a miracle performed for him? Nothing happened. He drove, nothing happened, nobody shot at him. They tried to chase him but didn’t catch him.

09:04 Speaker 4 Isn’t that a miracle?

09:04 Speaker 2 Is that a miracle performed for me?

09:05 Speaker 4 Of course!

09:06 Speaker 2 So where does he recite it? At what point on the road does he recite the blessing for the miracle?

09:09 Speaker 4 It doesn’t matter.

09:09 Speaker 2 What difference does it make? Anywhere on the road. And if the government decided to extend Route 232 all the way to Metula, where would he recite it? These are questions. It’s not just a hypothetical question; it’s a question people ask. All right, we won’t spend too long on the questions.

09:20 Speaker 4 Believe it or not.

09:22 Speaker 2 We’ll see; with Hashem’s help, we’ll see it all. To understand this, we first need to understand the Gemara’s discussion. What is the source for this entire law of Birchas Hagomel? I want to read it together with you. Let’s look at source number one. You have the source sheets; whoever can, look on with a friend, and so on. The Gemara in Berachos 54b says: Rav Yehudah says in the name of Rav, “Four must give thanks.” That is, four types of people must recite Birchas Hagomel: those who travel by sea, those who travel through deserts, someone who was ill and recovered, and someone who was imprisoned and was released. What is the source that these four must recite Birchas Hagomel? The Gemara explains—and I’ll shorten it for you—that it appears in Psalm 107, which we say every Friday afternoon. “Give thanks to Hashem, for He is good.” Where do we learn about those who travel by sea? The Gemara says: as it is written, “Those who go down to the sea in ships,” and so on. Later in the verses it says that He calmed the storm to stillness, and “they rejoiced when it grew quiet”—when the waves grew quiet. And at the end, after the whole storm, when they were saved and so on, it says, “Let them thank Hashem for His kindness and His wonders toward mankind.” So there you have it: they must give thanks. Next, where do we learn about those who travel through deserts? Why must they recite Birchas Hagomel? As it is written, “They wandered in the wilderness, in a desolate place; they found no road to an inhabited city,” and “they cried out to Hashem,” and “He led them on a straight path.” And how does it end? “Let them thank Hashem for His kindness and His wonders toward mankind.” So those who travel through deserts must also give thanks; they must recite Hagomel. Someone who was ill and recovered: as it is written, “Fools were afflicted because of their transgressions and their iniquities; their souls loathed all food.” That is talking about sick people who cannot eat, who find all food repulsive and have no appetite. “They cried out to Hashem in their distress,” and so on. “He sent His word and healed them,” and so on. “Let them thank Hashem for His kindness and His wonders toward mankind.” So we see that they too must thank Hakadosh Boruch

11:08 Speaker 2 Hu. Where do we learn about someone who was imprisoned? As it is written—this is the last verse—“Those who sat in darkness and the shadow of death,” and so on. And it says, “They cried out to Hashem in their distress,” after sitting in the shadow of death. And it says, “He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death,” and so on. And it says, “Let them thank Hashem for His kindness and His wonders toward mankind.” Hakadosh Boruch Hu saves them, so they must recite Hagomel. This is also how the Shulchan Aruch rules as a matter of halachah. Let’s see it: “Four must give thanks: those who travel by sea, when they come ashore; those who travel through deserts, when they reach an inhabited place; someone who was ill and recovered; and someone who was imprisoned and was released.” And the Shulchan Aruch gives you a way to remember these four types of people: “All the living will give thanks for kindness.” What does “chayim,” “the living,” stand for? It is an acronym: choleh, a sick person; yissurim, afflictions—that refers to prison, where he was bound in iron chains; yam, the sea; and midbar, the desert. That is the halachic ruling for these four. All right.

12:01 Speaker 4 The truth is that, with all of these, there’s no category of—

12:04 Speaker 2 We don’t find here someone who had a gun held to his head, someone who was shot at, earthquakes, or anything else. Right? We don’t find that here. We have four very clear categories: illness, prison, sea, and desert—people who traveled by sea or through a desert. All right, so where do we go from here? Is it just these four? Before we begin—no, as we begin studying the laws of Birchas Hagomel, we need to know two important principles. We need to keep them in mind throughout siman 219, which deals with Birchas Hagomel, or chapter 13 of the Alter Rebbe’s Seder Birchos Hanehenin. I want to read these two important principles with you now, inside the text. Let’s look at source number three. Here’s my question to you: What does it say? Those who travel through deserts must recite Hagomel. Good. Say someone traveled—not today, but in the past, by horse and wagon—and he wasn’t traveling through a desert. He went from one city to another, just as today there are roads between cities and you don’t pass through a desert. You pass through an uninhabited area, but it isn’t a desert. Someone traveled by horse and wagon from one city to another, say, five hundred years ago. What would you tell him? Is he considered someone who traveled through a desert and must recite Hagomel, or not? What do you say?

13:27 Speaker 4 No.

13:28 Speaker 2 No. Why not?

13:29 Speaker 4 It’s not—

13:29 Speaker 2 It’s not a desert. What’s the difference between a desert and an uninhabited area?

13:33 Speaker 4 Danger. It’s not the same.

13:35 Speaker 2 Different dangers. Okay, there’s a Yerushalmi that says, “All roads are presumed dangerous.” Are you familiar with that? Where do you know it from? Why do we say Tefillas Haderech? Why do we say Tefillas Haderech?

13:47 Speaker 4 All roads.

13:48 Speaker 2 All roads are presumed dangerous. You’re [unclear] from wild animals, from Arabs, and so on. But when was the last time you saw a lion waiting for you on Route 40, or a bandit still waiting for you at Gedera Junction? You say it because roads are presumed dangerous; you don’t know what might happen. So what is the halachah here: do we recite Birchas Hagomel after traveling from one city to another?

14:08 Speaker 4 Yes.

14:10 Speaker 2 The question of whether one recites Birchas Hagomel when traveling from one city to another is a matter of dispute among the poskim, and it bears directly on our subject. That is the first principle. Let’s see it. The Shulchan Aruch says, in source three, siman 219, se’if 7: “In Ashkenaz and France”—meaning, according to Ashkenazi custom—“they do not recite the blessing when traveling from one city to another.” Why? “Because they required Birchas Hagomel only of those who travel through deserts, where wild animals and bandits are common.” The Ashkenazim, the French, and so on—all the Ashkenazi lands. These are the words of the Rosh, who is the Shulchan Aruch’s source. They do not recite Birchas Hagomel when traveling from one city to another. Why? Because it isn’t a desert. In a desert, wild animals, bandits, and so on are common. But not on the route from one city to another. It may be uninhabited, but dangers aren’t common there.

14:59 Speaker 4 Yes, meaning—

15:01 Speaker 2 Indeed. The Shulchan Aruch continues: “But in Spain they are accustomed to recite the blessing.” Why? Because the Yerushalmi says, “All roads are presumed dangerous.” So, says the Shulchan Aruch, you’ve now traveled to Moshav Oros. First of all, the blessing [unclear]. According to the Ashkenazim, one recites it only after traveling through a desert, not after traveling from one city to another. According to the Sephardim, one does recite it after traveling from one city to another. In other words, according to the Ashkenazim, one doesn’t recite Hagomel for a possible danger. There may be danger on the road. Say Tefillas Haderech; don’t recite Hagomel for me after the trip, because it was only a possibility. When do you recite Hagomel? Only after facing a real danger. You go through a desert, where there are serious dangers, so you recite Hagomel even if you didn’t encounter anything.

15:46 Speaker 4 In Russia.

15:47 Speaker 2 In Russia too. When someone traveled through a desert, it’s not clear that we would define it as a desert in quite the same way. But if the area was a place where bandits were found, and so on, then yes, apparently one would recite it. Now, hold on: according to the Sephardim, one also recites Birchas Hagomel after traveling from one city to another. Why? Because Hagomel is recited even for a possible danger. Remember this forever and ever. This is the first principle: for Ashkenazim, the blessing is recited for a real danger; for Sephardim, it is recited even for a possible danger. So now someone will come along and say—

16:18 Speaker 4 That Spain was more dangerous.

16:20 Speaker 2 No, not at all. Spain may even have been calmer at the time. The government there was very strong.

16:25 Speaker 4 Morocco.

16:26 Speaker 2 Um, where? Or now—

16:29 Speaker 4 It’s a matter of custom.

16:30 Speaker 2 What?

16:30 Speaker 4 How can this be a matter of custom when the Shulchan Aruch gives the reason?

16:34 Speaker 2 Why is it a matter of custom? Because that’s how the Rosh phrases it. He presents both sides: “The custom in Ashkenaz,” “in Spain”—as though the custom determines the ruling. That’s how they understood the Gemara’s ruling.

16:43 Speaker 4 In Ashkenaz they understood it this way.

16:44 Speaker 2 In Ashkenaz they understood it this way. In Spain they understood it differently. Yes.

16:47 Speaker 4 Why?

16:47 Speaker 2 Why? Because in Ashkenaz they understood it this way: We follow the Gemara in Tractate Berachos. What does it say? Traveling through a desert—not from city to city. Ah, there’s the Yerushalmi. We don’t rule according to it. The Sephardim said no: we also rule according to the Yerushalmi, which says that all roads are presumed dangerous, and even when there is only a concern of danger, one must recite the blessing of Hagomel.

17:04 Speaker 4 Doesn’t the Shulchan Aruch generally follow two out of three—the Rambam, the Rosh, and the Rif? Because...

17:09 Speaker 2 That isn’t always true. In his introduction, he gives other rules too. When the Rif and the Rosh don’t address a case, it isn’t a matter of following the Rif and the Rosh. That’s a subject in its own right, for the scholars. Let’s put it aside. Now, one moment. How far must someone travel to recite Hagomel? If someone traveled from Kiryat Malachi to Orot, would he also recite Hagomel because he traveled outside the city? The Shulchan Aruch says: “That is if it is not less than a parsah.” In other words, if he traveled less than a parsah, he does not recite the blessing.

17:33 Speaker 4 Even according to you.

17:33 Speaker 2 How much is a parsah, even for Sephardim? What do I mean, “even for Sephardim”? The Sephardim, who say to recite Hagomel for travel from city to city, say so only for a journey of a parsah. How much is a parsah? A journey of seventy-two minutes. Now, if the place is known to be especially dangerous—not just an ordinary road between cities, but there’s a war going on, there’s shooting, there’s turmoil—then even if he traveled less than a parsah, he recites Hagomel, says the Shulchan Aruch.

18:01 Speaker 4 A parsah is seventy-two minutes. But today, a parsah isn’t the same as—

18:04 Speaker 2 A parsah. Now you’re getting into a different question. So let me address that for a moment. How do we measure the Gemara’s measures from back then, these parsahs? Do we measure them by time—seventy-two minutes—or by distance? A parsah is something like almost four kilometers. How long does it take to drive four kilometers? A few minutes? Yes. So for now, we’re taking the position that this parsah is not measured by travel time in a car today, but by the Gemara’s measures. We won’t get into it; it’s a subject of its own. I’ll put it in parentheses and leave it aside for now. In any case, that’s the first principle. According to the Sephardim, one recites the blessing for travel from city to city because one recites it even for a concern of danger. According to Ashkenazim, one recites it only for actual danger. Traveling from one city to another, you don’t recite the blessing, because that’s only a concern; it isn’t actual danger. That’s the first principle to know. The second principle—I want to read it with you in source number four. The Shulchan Aruch says in section 219, paragraph 16, two paragraphs later, as follows. Tell me, I’m asking you a question now: For what does the Gemara say we recite Hagomel? For a sick person who recovered, someone released from prison, someone who crossed the sea, and someone who traveled through the desert. Right? Those four, good. What about someone who was shot at and escaped an attack? Does he recite the blessing or not?

19:25 Speaker 4 No.

19:25 Speaker 2 Huh? Does the Gemara say to recite it or not?

19:27 Speaker 4 No, the Gemara doesn’t—

19:28 Speaker 2 It doesn’t say so in the Gemara. Now, I can tell you that there were plenty of violent confrontations back then. Anyone who reads a little Tanach sees that if someone wanted to become king, what did he do? He first got rid of his rival and then became king himself. There were plenty of confrontations, plenty. It wasn’t that these things didn’t happen. Are these four examples of miraculous escapes, or are they specifically these four and no others?

19:50 Speaker 4 Let’s check. Let’s look at the four—

19:53 Speaker 2 Let’s see what the Shulchan Aruch says.

19:55 Speaker 4 Perhaps there’s a related case stemming from the—

19:58 Speaker 2 So the question is whether these four are the primary cases, with other cases derived from them—just examples—or whether it is specifically these four cases. Let’s see. The Shulchan Aruch says: “These four are not exclusive.” It isn’t only for these four that one recites Hagomel. Why? “For the same applies to someone for whom any other miracle occurred, such as if a wall fell on him, or he was saved from being trampled or gored by an ox, or a lion confronted him in a city to devour him and he managed to escape, or thieves or nighttime robbers came upon him and he was saved from them, and all similar cases: all must recite Hagomel.” That is the first opinion the Shulchan Aruch brings: Hagomel isn’t only for those four; they’re examples. If you were saved from any sort of mortal danger, recite Hagomel. “And some say,” the Shulchan Aruch says, “that one recites Hagomel only for these four specifically.” Only for those four, not for others. Let me give an example one of the learned students here gave me. According to the Sephardim, what does the Shulchan Aruch say? What does the “some say” opinion say? If, uh, uh, uh, uh, Hagomel is recited only for these four, what does that mean in other words? A missile lands to your right, a missile to your left, you do a somersault through the air and escape all the shrapnel. Must you recite Hagomel or not?

21:20 Speaker 5 No.

21:21 Speaker 2 No. You don’t—it’s unnecessary. You don’t recite Hagomel.

21:23 Speaker 5 Those are miracles.

21:24 Speaker 2 Wait, where did you see miracles mentioned here? I didn’t see miracles mentioned here.

21:26 Speaker 5 Ah, no, in the Shulchan Aruch.

21:28 Speaker 2 The Shulchan Aruch continues. As with the other cases, the Shulchan Aruch says, “It is good to recite it without mentioning Hashem’s Name and kingship.” Do you know what that means? The Shulchan Aruch is saying: I rule according to the opinion that Hagomel is recited only for the four things mentioned in the Gemara. For all the other miracles that happened to you, you can recite Hagomel without Hashem’s Name. Say, “Blessed are You, King of the universe,” or “Blessed, King of the universe, Who bestows good upon the undeserving, for He has bestowed every good upon me.” That’s it.

21:52 Speaker 5 But they wrote in the Gemara about what they had at that time.

21:55 Speaker 2 What—but I pointed out earlier that they had confrontations, murders, everything. They didn’t mention any of that, only these four. The Shulchan Aruch says they mentioned these four because it’s only these four. But the first opinion says no, these four are examples. Why did they mention these specifically? Because they were more common, more stan—these were the standard cases. But the same applies to all the other cases. The Shulchan Aruch rules like the second opinion, that only these four qualify. Why? Because the Sages instituted the blessing only for these four things. Why? Because only they are common. Do you see? Seemingly the same reasoning leads to both opinions. The first opinion says these four are examples; learn from them for all miraculous escapes. Why were they listed? Because they’re the most common, so those are the ones given. But the same applies to all the other cases in the world.

22:44 Speaker 5 Where do we see that it includes everything?

22:45 Speaker 2 But wait, wait—according to the Shulchan Aruch, no! The blessing was instituted only for these four because they’re common. As for the other cases, which aren’t common, we have a rule: Where something is uncommon, the Sages did not institute a blessing. That settles it. One moment. The Mishnah Berurah says—look at the continuation of source four—“And later authorities wrote that the custom follows the first opinion, and that is reasonable.” And here we come to the second principle in the laws of Hagomel. The second principle is: For what do we recite Hagomel? According to the Sephardim, only for those four things: illness, crossing the sea, traveling through the desert, and release from prison. According to Ashkenazim, for any miraculous escape from mortal danger, you recite Hagomel.

23:27 Speaker 5 Now it’s the opposite of what we had at the beginning with the Shulchan Aruch—now it’s reversed.

23:29 Speaker 2 Good, that’s where we start. That’s also how the Ashkenazic authorities ruled. When I say “Ashkenazic authorities,” I mean the Taz and the Magen Avraham. That became the practice. The Alter Rebbe rules like the Ashkenazic authorities—the Taz, the Magen Avraham, and so on—that the four cases mentioned in the Gemara are only examples. In fact, you recite the blessing for any miracle in which you escaped a life-threatening danger. So, to sum up, we have two basic questions in the laws of Birchas Hagomel. The first: What do we recite it for? Only for an actual danger, or even for the possibility of danger? That’s a dispute. According to the Sephardic authorities, you recite it even for the possibility of danger, and that’s why they recite it when traveling from one city to another. You’ll see Sephardic Jews here in our shul. They went to Tzfas, came back, went up to the Torah, and recited Hagomel. You ask, “Are you all right? Who knows what happened to you?” He tells you, “I came back from Tzfas.” What do you mean? “I came back from Eilat.” Yes, according to the Shulchan Aruch, you recite it for the possibility of danger, even a remote possibility. According to the Ashkenazic authorities and the Alter Rebbe, no. The Alter Rebbe says we rule like the Rosh: only desert travelers recite it, because that involves actual danger. Travel from one city to another does not. That’s a possibility of danger, and you don’t recite the blessing for it. That’s the first principle. The second—wait, let’s not miss the second principle. Which cases require Birchas Hagomel? Only the four mentioned in the Gemara, or other cases like them too? According to the Sephardic authorities, you recite it only for those four. For other miracles that happened to you, say it without Hashem’s Name or the reference to His kingship. You cannot recite the full blessing for them. According to the Alter Rebbe, the Taz, the Magen Avraham, and so on, you recite it not only for those four cases but for any life-threatening danger you escaped. From here—

25:47 Speaker 2 Let’s come to Mrs. Rachel Edri, I think that was her name. She’s sitting at home, right? Well, what do you say now? Does she need to recite Hagomel or not?

25:56 Speaker 6 She does. She’s Sephardic.

25:57 Speaker 2 She does? What did the Sephardic authorities say?

25:59 Speaker 6 It’s not just a possibility of danger.

26:01 Speaker 2 For what do you recite Birchas Hagomel?

26:03 Speaker 6 Only for the four cases.

26:03 Speaker 2 Only for four cases.

26:05 Speaker 6 So what does she recite it for?

26:07 Speaker 2 Only for four cases. For anything else, you would say it without Hashem’s Name or the reference to His kingship. This woman cannot recite Birchas Hagomel. Why? Because she says, “Excuse me, what do the Sephardic authorities say? You recite it not only for actual danger, but even for the possibility of danger. You travel from one city to another and recite Birchas Hagomel. So I certainly should recite it!” They tell her, “No, no, ma’am. Traveling from one city to another is an extension of the case of desert travelers. But which category does your case belong to? What did the Shulchan Aruch say? You recite it only for four cases, no more.”

26:41 Speaker 6 It’s an extension of—

26:43 Speaker 2 An extension of which one? Someone might come along and say that. First of all, do you understand why she cannot recite it? This woman, Rachel Edri, does not need to recite Birchas Hagomel because she is not a desert traveler, she was not ill, she did not travel by sea, and she was not imprisoned. I think that’s the list. She was not imprisoned. You do not belong to any of the four categories. If you belonged to one of them, I’d tell you, “Fine, even for a possibility of danger, recite it.” But you don’t belong to one of the four categories. Someone will come and say, “No. What do you mean? She was certainly a prisoner! Even the worst terrorist in an Israeli prison doesn’t have a submachine gun and a LAW rocket aimed at him every day in case he escapes. She was more of a prisoner than anyone!” That’s not correct. Why? Because the Shulchan—wait, according to the Alter Rebbe she does need to recite it, but she doesn’t follow the Alter Rebbe. She’s Sephardic. That’s why I emphasized Sephardic and Ashkenazic authorities. This woman is not called “imprisoned.” Why? Because of how the Shulchan Aruch defines imprisonment, as is evident from the Mishnah Berurah. I won’t go into all the details. The category applies only when imprisonment follows the ordinary course of things: there is a prison, people are put in it, some are executed and some are not. If, G-d forbid, someone was put in prison and faced a threat of death, then came out, he recites Hagomel. But terrorists entering your home and threatening you is not that ordinary course of things. It is not called imprisonment; it is not the usual kind of case. All right, good. Now, again, if she asks us and we follow the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch, what does the Alter Rebbe say? You recite it not only for the four cases; you recite it for any danger. So what does that mean for her?

28:23 Speaker 2 What does Mrs. Rachel do? I don’t know what she actually did afterward, but presumably they took her on a vacation somewhere in the Galilee. And how long did she travel? More than sixty-two minutes. So she recites Birchas Hagomel.

28:33 Speaker 7 For the trip.

28:34 Speaker 2 For the trip. People would jump on her: “What are you reciting Hagomel for?” [unclear] “Yes, but I traveled for sixty-two minutes.” Do you see? It’s a bit funny. Yes, even a possibility of danger—that part is straightforward. It sounds a bit funny, but those are the halachic rules here. That’s what determines it, not what feels right to me or seems right to me. According to the Alter Rebbe, she certainly needs to recite Hagomel, but not for the trip. She would recite it for the trip; we would not. We don’t recite Hagomel for travel. That’s only a remote possibility of danger. We recite Hagomel because of what happened to her. Now, we need to understand this. There’s the familiar joke about Hershele, right? One day he came to shul, and they saw him reciting Hagomel. They asked him, “What happened? Did an ox gore you? Did someone threaten you?” He said, “No. I was walking down the street and saw my wife shaking out a pair of trousers and hanging them on the line.” They said, “So what does that have to do with Hagomel?” He said, “What if I’d been inside those trousers?” Do you see? You can’t recite Hagomel for just anything. There are halachic rules about what we recite it for. Fine. So someone comes and says: What a tremendous miracle happened to this woman! She spent twenty hours with terrorists. Think about it—twenty hours with terrorists. You know, at one point she even said to them, “Maybe you should just kill me and be done with it.” A person can be under that much stress for so long. To keep your composure for twenty hours in the face of a threat to your life—

29:56 Speaker 2 That’s extraordinary. Someone will come and say, “Wait, Hakadosh Boruch Hu showed this woman such great kindness. How can she not recite Hagomel? Doesn’t she thank Hakadosh Boruch Hu?” She should say the entire Tehillim three times a day! What do you mean, she doesn’t recite Hagomel? Does that mean she doesn’t thank Hakadosh Boruch Hu? The story is over, she got out of it, and that’s it? Yes, hold a seudas hoda’ah, a meal of thanksgiving. Say thank you to Hashem. Some blessing, something. Nothing? Isn’t that a little ungrateful? Think about it for a moment. The answer is no. Why? She doesn’t recite Birchas Hagomel. What does she recite?

30:38 Speaker 7 “Who performed a miracle for me.”

30:39 Speaker 2 She recites—huh? What?

30:40 Speaker 7 “Who performed a miracle for me.”

30:41 Speaker 2 “Who performed a miracle for me.” What does that mean?

30:42 Speaker 7 With Hashem’s Name.

30:42 Speaker 2 There is a blessing with Hashem’s Name and the reference to His kingship. There’s another blessing that we haven’t—

30:46 Speaker 7 “In this place.”

30:48 Speaker 2 Wait, I’ll get to that. Yes, there is another blessing. It isn’t Birchas Hagomel; it is the blessing “Who performed a miracle for me in this place.” Who recites it? A person who experienced a miracle—meaning, was saved from death. Say someone like her, who was saved from the terrorists and so on: she can recite “Who performed a miracle for me.” Now, here’s the point about this blessing. She left her home; the house was badly damaged by all the explosions there. So she went on vacation. I don’t know where she is now. When will she come home? Only after the repairs are finished, right? The moment she opens the door and steps across the threshold, she needs to recite “Who performed a miracle for me” again. And if she decides to vacation in Greece, stays there for thirty days, and returns home, she again recites “Who performed a miracle for me in this place,” with Hashem’s Name and the reference to His kingship: “Blessed are You, Hashem our G-d, King of the universe, Who performed a miracle for me in this place.” The person for whom the miracle happened recites this blessing once every thirty days. What does “once every thirty days” mean? If he has not been at that place for thirty days, he recites it.

31:47 Speaker 7 He is in a state of purity.

31:48 Speaker 2 Understand? It’s like, lehavdil, a cemetery: someone who hasn’t been to a cemetery for thirty days says the blessing when entering, “Who gives life to the dead,” and so on. Okay, her sons are police officers. Right, everyone knows the story about the police officers. Suppose they were sent on an assignment and couldn’t get to their parents’ house. They come a month later and enter the house. What’s the first thing they do? They say, “Blessed are You, Hashem our G-d, King of the universe, Who performed a miracle for my father and mother.” And if they don’t come back to the house for another thirty days, they say it again. So don’t worry: there may be no Hagomel here, but there is thanks to Hakadosh Boruch Hu for performing a miracle for me, and so on. There certainly is an expression of thanks. It was important to me to stress that, so it shouldn’t come across, G-d forbid, as though there were some kind of denial of the need to give thanks, chas veshalom. Let’s look at it. I’ve given you the introduction; now let’s see it in the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch. “I have a question. Can I—” One moment, please, just a second. Sorry. Let’s look at source seven. Source seven. I just want to finish this point. I’ll give you time for questions in a moment. “An individual for whom a miracle occurred in a particular place”—source seven. This is from the Alter Rebbe’s Seder Birchos Hanehenin, chapter 4, halachah 1: “An individual for whom a miracle occurred in a particular place, such as when a wall fell on him and he was saved, or he was saved from a wild animal or robbers.” I’ve emphasized “robbers” here because that’s the case we’re discussing. These really were robbers. “When he sees that place after thirty days, he himself must say: ‘Blessed are You, Hashem our G-d, King of the universe, Who performed a miracle for me in this place.’” Why after thirty days? Because according to the Alter Rebbe, he said Hagomel. He said Hagomel when he got out—say, when he left the house—so he can’t then say “Who performed a miracle for me.” He has already thanked Hakadosh—

33:22 Speaker 2 Boruch Hu through Hagomel. But since she is Sephardi and did not say Hagomel, she needs to say “Who performed a miracle for me” immediately upon leaving the scene of the miracle. And after the miracle—pay attention. Oh, wait, let’s bring up this passage: “If he returns and sees this place thirty days after the first sighting, he says the blessing again, and so on forever. And all the descendants of the person for whom the miracle occurred in that place—if the miracle is associated with a known location,” meaning people know the place and can identify the area, “such as where a wall fell on him—his children and their children, to the end of all generations”—to the end of all generations, his descendants—“must say, when they see the place: ‘Blessed are You, Hashem our G-d, King of the universe, Who performed a miracle for our father in this place,’ because they all share in that miracle.” Why do they all share in it? Because if they had shot her in the head, you wouldn’t be here. Someone might say, “Excuse me, [unclear]. How old is this woman? Sixty-five. She already has two children.” So if she were to have another child, that would be true: had she been killed, that child would never have seen the light of day. But this woman already has two grown children, perhaps married—I don’t know. She’s a grandmother. So even if, G-d forbid, she had died, they would still have survived. Why do they have to say the blessing? Why do the grandchildren? The Alter Rebbe continues: “Even children born beforehand, who do not share in this miracle, must say the blessing for their father’s miracle.” You say a blessing for a miracle that happened to your father regardless of whether, had he been killed, G-d forbid, you would or would not have existed. It makes no difference. Do you understand the point? That’s as far as we’ll go with this. If there are more questions, you can ask. Did you want to ask—

34:55 Speaker 2 something? Yes. “The truth is, the Rabbi has now explained that one does need to say a blessing for the miracle. What the Rabbi said is simply the Sephardi position, which interprets the Gemara specifically as referring to those cases. It seems a little strange, but no, it isn’t a denial of [unclear]. It really doesn’t seem reasonable to interpret the Gemara that way.” No, it isn’t unreasonable. For me to say it’s unreasonable, we’d need to— I’m not going to. Again, this isn’t an in-depth class, so I won’t go into every detail, but they demonstrate this explicitly; it has a source. It isn’t arbitrary. If someone is driving at night, at two in the morning, and the car overturns—or he falls asleep, and at the last moment sees a tree on the right, sees someone coming out [unclear]—if someone was driving down the street, driving on the road, and his brakes failed, or whatever happened, and he had a serious accident, and so on and so forth—then you’re asking whether he needs to say Hagomel. So again, according to the Sephardim, no. No, that wouldn’t— You’re not going through a desert; you’re not— It depends. Actually, you know what? I won’t address the details here, because it depends somewhat on what happened. All right? But broadly speaking, according to our approach he would need to say the blessing, if it was an accident involving danger to life. Say he lost control, hit a barrier, overturned, got out, and people [unclear]: “How did you survive that?” He certainly needs to say the blessing, according to the Alter Rebbe. The question is about a near miss: he woke up at the last moment, but wasn’t actually saved from anything. So could she, as it were— This is discussed by the halachic authorities. What if someone was stabbed near the eye, or near the [unclear]? Is he obligated or not? We won’t go into that now, because it isn’t our case, but you’re right: it is discussed by the halachic authorities. What—

36:22 Speaker 2 happens if someone almost came to harm? I must emphasize: the four cases we spoke about—those who go down to the sea, and so on. Someone comes to a rabbi and says, “Listen, Rabbi, I traveled through a desert. I didn’t see any wild animals or robbers; everything went smoothly. Do I need to say Hagomel?” Yes. The answer is yes, because you’re not saying the blessing because you encountered something. This isn’t some obstacle course where you encountered danger and escaped it. No. You say the blessing because you traveled through a dangerous place and came through unharmed. Okay? That’s what we need to understand about the blessing. “Does driving in Ramat Gan today count as traveling through a desert?” I touched on that earlier. In principle, no. Today, when the roads are paved and clearly marked and so on, it certainly isn’t considered a desert. That said—and this brings me to one of the questions we discussed—but first let me review the questions. We spoke about Rachel, the woman with the cookies. We said that she does not need to say Hagomel. She is Sephardi and does not say Hagomel; this is not one of the four cases. She will say “Who performed a miracle for me” once every thirty days, and that’s enough. If she goes on vacation in the Galilee after this incident, she will say Hagomel for the journey. Period. According to our approach, someone who experiences a miracle like this—whose life was in danger and who was saved—certainly says Hagomel according to the Alter Rebbe. There’s no question. Someone who stays in a safe room because of missile attacks and so on, goes into the safe room, shuts it, and everything turns out all right—nothing happens, baruch Hashem; nothing hits the house or even his area—clearly does not need to say Hagomel. Why? What would he say Hagomel for? Was his life in danger? No. But what about someone whose house was hit by a rocket, everything exploded, and he survived miraculously? According to the Sephardim, again, you do not say Hagomel. It isn’t one of the four cases. According to the Alter Rebbe, you certainly do, because you were saved from danger to life, plain and simple. Likewise—yes? “Even if he wasn’t there and left [unclear] just in time?” No, no, no. Only if he was there and was saved—he was there and was saved. A man asked me this in connection with the tragedy in Meron, rachmana litzlan, where forty-five Jews were crushed to death. A young man told me—[unclear]—from the yeshivah in Tzfas, I think, that he had been doing mivtzoim in the area. He had passed through that passageway literally half a minute earlier, and it was terribly crowded, so he got out. Literally a minute later, the terrible crush began. He said, “I should have died, really.” But I don’t think he says a blessing for that. What about someone who traveled on Highway 232—I think that’s its name—where terrorists were roaming and shooting? What do we say here? Does it count as traveling through a desert? As going to sea? As being ill? No. But the Shulchan Aruch has already given us an answer, as anyone who saw the end of source three will have noticed. There the Shulchan Aruch says that if a place is known to be dangerous, one says Hagomel even for a journey of less than a parsah. When someone travels on Highway 232, where terrorists are lying in wait, there’s shooting and so on—even if he personally wasn’t shot at, but he knew terrorists were there and had to escape them—that person is traveling through a dangerous place. Everyone agrees that he says Hagomel once he gets out. “Once he gets out? Why?” Yes, everyone agrees. Why? Because you are traveling through a dangerous place. It really is like an actual desert, a place everyone agrees is dangerous. No matter how far you traveled, you say Hagomel. The same applies to people evacuated from Sderot under fire, as they say. There was a time when terrorists were still roaming the city.

38:00 Speaker 2 You don’t recite Hagomel. It isn’t one of the four categories. According to the Alter Rebbe, you certainly do recite it—you were saved from a life-threatening danger, plain and simple. As above, right? Even if he wasn’t there—does that follow the Meiri [unclear] exactly? No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Only if he was there and was saved—he was there and was saved. A Jew asked me about the tragedy in Meron, rachmana litzlan, where forty-five Jews were crushed to death. A young man [unclear] told me—he was at a yeshiva in Tzfas, I believe—that he was doing mivtzoim in the area. Just half a minute beforehand, he had walked through that passageway, and it was terribly crowded, so he left. Literally a minute later, the terrible crush began. He said, “Basically, I was supposed to die.” But he hasn’t recited Hagomel for it yet. What about someone who traveled on Highway 232, if I’m not mistaken that’s its name, where terrorists were roaming around and shooting? What do we say here? Is he considered someone traveling through the desert? By sea? Someone who was ill? No. But here the Shulchan Aruch has already given us the answer—and anyone who looked saw it at the end of source three. The Shulchan Aruch says there that if a place is known to be dangerous, even if the journey through it is less than a parsah, one recites Hagomel. When someone travels on Highway 232 while terrorists are lying in wait, with gunfire and so on—even if they didn’t specifically shoot at him, but he knew there were terrorists there and had to escape them—that person has traveled through a dangerous place. According to everyone, he recites Hagomel once he gets out. Once he gets out? Why—yes, according to everyone. Why? Because you traveled through a dangerous place. It’s just like an actual desert. It is genuinely a dangerous place according to everyone. No matter how far you traveled, you recite Hagomel. The same applies to people who were evacuated from Sderot “under fire,” as they say. There was a time when the terrorists were still roaming around the city.

39:37 Speaker 2 And there were battles with them and so on, and they rescued people from one street, then another, and got them out. That’s someone who traveled through a place of danger by any standard; he would have to say Hagomel afterward. But what would you say to someone from Meitar[?]? As mentioned, many poskim consider the roads in Judea and Samaria places of danger, requiring Hagomel afterward. So it depends very much on the situation. It depends very much on the period, because there have been times when, for example, in Hebron, the main street near the Jewish area was full of Arab markets all day. There was a lot of trouble there, and it was dangerous. Today that place is closed off and deserted; not a single Arab walks around there. Arabs do pass through and so on, but I don’t know if I would define it as such a dangerous place. But certainly roads where they throw stones, Route 443 back in the day and the like—yes, it would seem that people would have to say Hagomel after getting out of there. Someone who drives there twice a week? Possibly, yes. What about a pilot? Again, you have to know the conditions on the ground. I’m speaking in general terms; for any particular place, you have to check what it’s like. A soldier who goes forward knowing he’s going to come under fire—does he have to say Hagomel afterward? Soldiers—we’ll talk about soldiers too. We’ll talk about them. Now, about flying. I’m going to start talking about flying right now. What about our righteous pilots? Yes, they’ve had hard work to do. Dvir, how long does that take? Rabbi Dvir, did you check how long the flight takes? About ten minutes? Ten minutes. I know. Yes, that’s the kind of thing I’m talking about. Yes, ten minutes. So we have Rabbi Dvir here. So if we start

41:04 Speaker 2 to reveal—my brother is there in the Air Force, involved in these matters, and [unclear], and so on. Someone who—or our pilots, yes, the soldiers who fly to bomb in Gaza or to evacuate wounded people from the Gaza border area, and so on—they flew through a place of danger, apparently. Do they have to say Hagomel or not? Before we talk about our pilots, let’s first ask: What is flying in general? Is flying listed among the four situations, or isn’t it? No. It isn’t listed among the four. Do you have to say Hagomel for it or not? Isn’t it considered like traveling through deserts? Wait—is flying mentioned or not? It’s mentioned. Is flying mentioned or not? It isn’t mentioned. What would the Shulchan Aruch say? Say the blessing or not? No, you wouldn’t. And according to the Ashkenazim, like the Alter Rebbe, what would they say? Would they say it or not? Would they say it or not? Is there apparently enough danger to say the blessing? Yes. Has anyone here ever taken part in a jump from—Before you fly, you always see that video, right? If the plane breaks apart, or if you fall into the sea, and no one... There are already people you can see aren’t interested in it anymore because they’ve seen it so many times. It’s happened before. It’s safer than a car. Very good. I was waiting for someone to say that. Statistically, it’s safer to travel by plane than by car. You don’t say Hagomel for a car trip, yet you’re telling me about planes. Do we say Hagomel for flying? Apparently, there’s no need to say Hagomel at all. According to the Ashkenazim, you don’t say Hagomel because it isn’t a place of danger. It’s safer than a car, and you don’t say Hagomel for a car trip. According to the Sephardim, it isn’t included among the four situations. So what’s the ruling? If so, it’s a matter of custom. Hm? You passed over water. Ah, very good. First of all, then, we have to distinguish between flights from one country to another that pass over deserts

42:42 Speaker 2 or over seas—oceans or any other sea. We have to distinguish between a flight that passes over a sea or desert and one that doesn’t. So let’s start with flights over a sea or desert. If you pass over a sea or desert, it would seem simplest to compare that to people traveling through deserts or by sea, right? And indeed, the common practice today—this is a lengthy subject, and I’m only touching on it briefly—is that both Ashkenazim and Sephardim say Hagomel after a flight over a sea or desert, as we do when we fly to the Rebbe. Although flying isn’t mentioned by our Sages, there are several reasons for saying the blessing. The first reason is brought by the Tzitz Eliezer in the name of Rav Hai Gaon. Rav Hai Gaon explains why someone who travels by sea has to say Hagomel. What’s the reason? [unclear]. What danger is there? The danger is that if, G-d forbid, a hole opens in the ship and it breaks apart, or there’s a storm, they can be lost in an instant. That’s what Rav Hai Gaon says: they can be lost in an instant. You have no way to save yourself. Where are you? In the middle of the sea. Where can you go? Where can you flee? That’s why people traveling by sea, on a ship, say the blessing. The Tzitz Eliezer says the same applies to flying. G-d forbid, if something goes wrong and the plane crashes... Anyone who was here at the farbrengen on Shabbos heard the story. My father told about a group of shluchim who found themselves in a situation where they were told, “Guys, it’s very possible that this is it for you.” There’s no way to save the plane; it’s falling, it crashes, and people die. So they can be lost in an instant. It’s just like traveling by sea, as Rav Hai Gaon says. Therefore, says the Tzitz Eliezer, we say the blessing after flying, unlike after a car trip. A car is easier

44:18 Speaker 2 to save, even a car whose brakes fail. Today there are police units that get ahead of those cars, clear the way for them, and stop them by various means. What’s a second reason for saying the blessing after a flight? Rabbi Sternbuch, the rabbi of the Eidah Hachareidis, says in Teshuvos Vehanhagos: We mentioned earlier that when someone crosses the sea or a desert, he says Hagomel even if he didn’t encounter any wild animal or any other danger, right? Even if everything went smoothly—he traveled by sea and everything went smoothly, or traveled through the desert and everything went smoothly—he still has to say Hagomel. Why? Because these are dangerous places where something could have happened. They’re places where a person can’t live. You can’t live in the middle of the sea, and you can’t live in the middle of a desert. You passed through such a place and made it through safely, so you say Hagomel. Teshuvos Vehanhagos says the same applies to flying. Can anyone live up there, in that cold or without oxygen? No one can live there; there are no living creatures there. If you passed through such a place and made it through safely, it’s just like crossing the sea safely or crossing a desert safely. So you have to say the blessing for that too. It’s an extension of travel by sea or through a desert. The responsa Yechaveh Daas brings a very interesting idea, and I’ll be honest: I didn’t fully understand it. I opened the source, but I didn’t quite manage to understand his holy words, as they say. He brings a proof from the Machazik Berachah. The Machazik Berachah tells a very interesting story—really interesting, almost, I don’t want to say funny, but rather amusing. The Machazik Berachah, the Chida—you all know the Chida—writes in his sefer, in the section on the laws of Hagomel: “I found a manuscript in my father’s house,” and this is what it says. A friend of his father’s, Rabbi Eliezer Nachum, writes to the Chida’s father: “I saw you in a dream.”

45:51 Speaker 2 Yes, a friend of the Chida’s father saw him in a dream. “I saw you in a dream, and I asked you a question.” What was the question? Did Yitzchak Avinu have to say Hagomel when he came down from the altar after the Akeidah? That’s one question. “Wait,” he tells him, “I asked you another question in the dream. Does the Kohen Gadol have to say Hagomel after entering the Holy of Holies on Yom Kippur, or not?” A third question: You all know about the four who entered Pardes—Rabbi Akiva, Ben Zoma, Acher, and so on. Rabbi Tarfon. Yes, the four who entered Pardes. Did they have to say Hagomel when they came out or not?

46:46 Speaker 8 Two minutes.

46:47 Speaker 2 He asked him those questions, and then at the end he writes to him: “In the dream you didn’t answer me, so I’m asking you to answer me in writing.” Can you imagine? And the Chida’s father goes along with it, so to speak, and sends him a long, reasoned answer, citing the Gemara, poskim, Rishonim, and Acharonim. He brings him all the sources and gives an explanation for each case. So Yechaveh Daas says: Wait, what do you see from this? There’s a basis for saying Hagomel after the four entered Pardes. What does it mean that the four entered Pardes? They, so to speak, flew through the heavens.

47:19 Speaker 8 Danger.

47:20 Speaker 2 That it is a place of danger. But you see that they recite Hagomel. There’s an argument—it says the same thing about flying. That’s interesting too. Flying is similar to—think about it: you’re flying upward, somewhat like the four who entered Pardes. It’s that sort of thing. Why did I have a little trouble with this proof? I’ll say this in parentheses, because I opened Machazik Berachah to look inside at the words of the Chida’s father. And there he writes: What are you talking about? Of course they don’t recite Hagomel. The four who entered Pardes didn’t recite Hagomel, even though one of them “cut down the shoots” and another, Ben Zoma, lost his mind. They didn’t recite Hagomel. Why? Why didn’t they recite Hagomel? Because, he says, the enactment to recite Hagomel was for miracles that happened in this world. The four who entered Pardes didn’t literally climb hidden steps into the higher worlds. They secluded themselves in thought. That’s what it means. Atzilus, spirituality—it’s all here. It’s not that you physically go up to—your thought and your deep contemplation of G-dly matters rise to a spiritual level. So he says you don’t recite Hagomel for something like that. We haven’t found that anywhere. But it’s a sort of proof that one recites Hagomel after flying. A nice proof, so I brought it. I just want to finish this point. Up to now we’ve been talking about a flight over the sea and the desert. All right? When you fly over the sea and the desert, you recite Hagomel after the flight. Yes, a flight over the sea and the desert. Why? Either because you can be lost in an instant, as at sea or in the desert—or at least at sea—or because these are places where people cannot live at all. Right? So it’s similar to the sea and the desert, or because of an interesting proof brought here in the responsa Yechaveh Da’as. One moment. What happens when you don’t fly over the sea or the desert? That concerns us. Why does it

48:56 Speaker 2 concern us? Because the pilots flying over Gaza—I don’t know whether they even fly over the sea; they fly straight along the country’s border. Maybe they make some detour, but even then, we need to understand what counts as “the sea.” And if I went out for a boat ride from the marina, traveled for fifteen minutes, and came back, do I recite Hagomel now? What do you say?

49:11 Speaker 9 No.

49:11 Speaker 2 So it’s not quite like that. The great poskim set measures for these things. It’s not that a person goes kayaking on the Jordan River, gets out of the kayak, and recites Hagomel in front of everyone on the bus. No, it doesn’t work that way. There are rules. So what happens when you don’t fly over the sea or the desert, like our pilots? On this we find a disagreement. There’s a disagreement about it. Many poskim say you don’t recite Hagomel. Why? I’ll explain the reasoning. Today’s planes are so safe and well maintained that you almost never hear, G-d forbid, of planes falling—aside from airlines where Hashem knows who’s flying them. But in principle, planes don’t fall. Flying is safe. So you can’t recite Hagomel for a flight unless you flew over the sea or the desert. Then I say it’s like crossing the sea or the desert. But if you didn’t fly over either one—an internal flight like that—you can’t recite Hagomel.

50:01 Speaker 9 Eilat.

50:01 Speaker 2 Yes. A flight from Eilat to Haifa, and the like. You don’t recite Hagomel; that’s what many poskim say. But Igros Moshe—one moment, I’m not taking questions; I want to finish this—Igros Moshe and Ketzos Hashulchan say no, you do recite Hagomel. Why? Ketzos Hashulchan says that travel by air is dangerous. That’s what he says. Now, in his time it was. In our time, somewhat less so. Today aircraft are much more advanced, much more so. So his reasoning is less persuasive.

50:27 Speaker 9 It’s a matter of land.

50:28 Speaker 2 One moment. According to Igros Moshe, you have to understand that our Sages instituted the blessing for people who cross the desert and the sea because, again, those are places where people cannot live. You cross a desert, you cross the sea—it’s not a place where people live. You can’t live there ordinarily. You made it across? You didn’t get stranded? You were saved? Recite Hagomel. He says the same thing about a plane. What difference does the plane make? You’re flying up in the sky at I don’t know how many feet.

50:56 Speaker 9 How many tons.

50:56 Speaker 2 You’re traveling on a plane. Could you live outside the plane’s window for even a moment? No, you couldn’t.

51:02 Speaker 9 You’re only flying over it.

51:03 Speaker 2 So that’s why—one moment—that’s why they tell you to recite Hagomel. What difference does it make that you didn’t fly over the sea? That’s what Igros Moshe says. In practice, since many of the poskim disagree, there is a doubt about reciting a blessing, and in cases of doubt we are lenient. So apparently we would say not to recite Hagomel after a flight that wasn’t over the sea or the desert. But there’s a big “but” here. Our pilots, at least the combat-helicopter pilots who fly, are considered people traveling through a place of danger. Why? Because you fly relatively low, and there are missiles that can bring you down—and it has happened. Let’s put it that way: it has happened. Especially when you’re facing a country with anti-aircraft defense systems and the like. It happened two or three years ago, sometime: a plane was hit, after thirty years in which no Air Force aircraft had been brought down. They fired at a plane and it went down. It landed somewhere in the Jezreel Valley or something. Someone correct me? There was such an incident. So when fighter pilots fly near Gaza, they can certainly be brought down. They can certainly be brought down, and since that can happen, it’s a place of danger, and you absolutely must recite Hagomel. Well, then that helicopter pilot will say, “I’m going back and forth to evacuate the wounded. Every moment I have to—wounded, wait! Gentlemen, gather ten people here, let’s recite Hagomel, and then I’ll go pick up the next person.” The answer is no. When a person experiences a series of miraculous escapes, he recites one Hagomel for all of them. So if someone knows he’ll be going back and forth, back and forth, back and forth—I won’t get into a lengthy discussion of the poskim here—but in practice, he recites Hagomel only when he returns for the last time. If he really wants to, he can say Hagomel without Hashem’s Name and kingship after each separate flight. But he can certainly recite it

52:42 Speaker 2 with Hashem’s Name and kingship only on, uh, uh, the last time he returns. Conclusions—one moment, sorry. Conclusions. I’ll summarize the lesson. Uh, conclusions. Does Rachel from Ofakim have to recite Hagomel or not?

52:59 Speaker 10 No.

52:59 Speaker 2 According to the Shulchan Aruch, for Sephardim—she’s Sephardi, Moroccan—she is exempt from reciting Hagomel. But everyone agrees she must recite “Who performed a miracle for me” once every thirty days. Yes, if she hasn’t been at the house for thirty days, she must recite it again, and so must her children, once every thirty days. According to the Alter Rebbe, they certainly must recite Hagomel when they leave the house after the terrorists’ missile, and after thirty days they recite “Who performed a miracle for me” if they see that house. Someone who was in a safe room does not recite Hagomel. Even if he went in after the siren and so on, he does not recite Hagomel, because he was not caught in actual danger. If, G-d forbid—G-d forbid, it should never happen—there had been a direct hit on the house, then according to the Shulchan Aruch, would he recite Hagomel or not? He would not recite Hagomel. It is not one of the four categories, end of story. What would he recite Hagomel for? For the trip to Soroka, if it took seventy-two minutes. According to the Mishnah Berurah and the Alter Rebbe’s ruling, of course he recites Hagomel, because a person recites Hagomel whenever his life has been saved. Pilots—we said that pilots engaged in strikes in Gaza or in rescues and so on certainly recite Hagomel. They certainly recite Hagomel, because, G-d forbid, they could be shot down; it’s a place of danger. As for an airplane pilot, that depends on whether there really is—if he could be shot down and that situation could arise, he certainly must recite Hagomel. It depends on the disagreement among the poskim. But if there are [unclear] in the air[?], he recites Hagomel; if not, uh, he does not. May it be Hashem’s will that violence and destruction no longer be heard within our borders, and may we merit the coming of Moshiach, with our father at our head, immediately, right now.

54:26 Speaker 10 Amen.