Doubt in Blessings on Pleasure - Rabbi Avraham Haronian shlita

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

00:09 Speaker 2 When it comes to the blessings we say, we need to know the laws of blessings. There’s a saying that most people quote: “Shehakol covers everything.” So people don’t know which blessing to say, and they say Shehakol. But when we look at the Gemara in the sixth chapter of Berachos, it says that someone who doesn’t know should go to someone knowledgeable and learn. “Shehakol covers everything” is not the solution. When there is a halachic doubt—as we’ll soon discuss with rice, for example—we say Shehakol, a general blessing that resolves the questions and doubts. But that is a halachic solution, not a solution for anyone who doesn’t know which blessing to say. The solution is for everyone to learn. Today, boruch Hashem, there’s Machon Halacha. You can certainly contact them by text message; you can call, send a text, and ask. There are many detailed books covering all kinds of foods from different communities and traditions. You can consult them, ask questions, and learn. I want to give you a few examples of things the public may not know well enough. There’s a food called bulgur. More than once, I’ve seen people say either Shehakol or Borei Pri Ha’adamah over it. Of course, that’s a mistake. Bulgur is cracked wheat, wheat that has been baked or cooked. Its blessing is Borei Minei Mezonos. Even those who make the mistake of saying “Shehakol covers everything”—all right, if they said it, they fulfilled their obligation after the fact. But if we’re talking about bulgur, for example, its after-blessing is not Borei Nefashos but Al Hamichyah. Someone who said Borei Nefashos certainly has not fulfilled their obligation. So you can’t say, “I said that blessing—hey, I’ve fulfilled my obligation after the fact.” Likewise, with raisins, people often say Borei Pri Ha’eitz as the first blessing and Borei Nefashos afterward. That’s a mistake. Date spread: people don’t know when it falls into the category of

03:17 Speaker 2 Shehakol and when it’s still in the category where you can—and should—say Borei Pri Ha’eitz over it. So even if someone said Shehakol, they fulfilled their obligation after the fact. But when it comes to the after-blessing, there can be a case where you say Al Ha’eitz Ve’al Pri Ha’eitz over it, because it hasn’t lost its form; it isn’t liquid. If you said Borei Nefashos, you haven’t fulfilled your obligation. So a person can, G-d forbid, quite easily—simply through not knowing—make a mistake and derive benefit from this world without a blessing. Likewise, several kinds of fruit are more common today, and people don’t know that their blessing is not Borei Pri Ha’eitz. Everyone knows about bananas, but not everyone knows about pineapple, and there are similar examples. There are several kinds of fruit whose blessing is Borei Pri Ha’adamah, not Borei Pri Ha’eitz. If someone said Borei Pri Ha’adamah over a tree fruit, they fulfilled their obligation after the fact. But if they said Borei Pri Ha’eitz over a fruit whose blessing is Borei Pri Ha’adamah, they did not. So you need to know the blessing, and then go a step further: Why do we say Borei Pri Ha’adamah over this fruit when, at first glance, it seems to be a tree fruit? Is it definitely a fruit of the ground, or is there a doubt? Take the banana, for example, over which everyone says Borei Pri Ha’adamah. There’s a dispute among the halachic authorities of the last generation as to whether it definitely has the status of a fruit of the ground, as it appears in the Shulchan Aruch, or whether there’s a doubt. What difference does that make? We said we’d talk about rice. In the laws of blessings over food in the siddur, the Alter Rebbe rules that a person should say Shehakol Nihiyah Bidvaro over it. But a chossid who has a doubt wants to fulfill his obligation according to every opinion. A practice that has become common among many people is to say blessings over several other things and thereby cover the rice. Some say

06:23 Speaker 2 its blessing is Mezonos. All right, so he takes a piece of cake and says Mezonos. Some say it’s Borei Pri Ha’adamah, so he takes a vegetable whose blessing is Borei Pri Ha’adamah, and he drinks something whose blessing is Shehakol. “Ah, all right, I’ve said three blessings and fulfilled my obligation according to every opinion.” But that requires a person to be sufficiently knowledgeable about blessings and their laws. If you don’t know enough, you may have resolved one doubt but entered another. As they tell of Rabbi Neria, who was once at a farbrengen with the Rebbe, and the Rebbe asked everyone to wash their hands. It was Yom Tov. Rabbi Neria had a doubt about whether or not to do so, so he went outside to resolve that doubt. When he came back, the Rebbe told him, “True, you’ve left doubt A, but you’ve entered doubt B.” It’s similar with rice. Take the drink, for example: if someone said a blessing over water, it may be a blessing in vain, because we say a blessing over water only when we’re thirsty. The wording of the halacha is “one who drinks water to quench his thirst.” But if I’m not thirsty—right now I’m in the middle of a class, my throat is a little hoarse and dry, and I drink so I can keep speaking—I don’t say a blessing. When someone takes pills and drinks water, the purpose of drinking is to swallow the pill. He isn’t thirsty, so he doesn’t need to say a blessing over the water. In that situation, if someone said a blessing over the water, for example, it may be a blessing in vain. Another example: he’s served rice with various vegetables mixed in. Usually, those vegetables are secondary; the rice is the main thing. If he says Borei Pri Ha’adamah over a vegetable in order to cover the possibility that rice requires Borei Pri Ha’adamah, he may again have said a blessing in vain, because there’s no need to say a blessing over

09:04 Speaker 2 that vegetable in the rice, since it’s secondary. Another example: I’m sitting here—and we mentioned bananas—with an apple and a banana in front of me. I said Borei Pri Ha’eitz, and the banana was in front of me. If we say that a banana’s status is doubtful, and there’s an opinion that its blessing is Borei Pri Ha’eitz, then because of that doubt I shouldn’t say another blessing over the banana: perhaps I already covered it. That’s what we meant when we said you have to learn the laws of blessings—and not just which blessing to say, but why each blessing is said over each fruit. Is the blessing certain, or is there a doubt? When it comes to Borei Minei Mezonos, there’s an example brought in halacha: pas haba’ah b’kisnin. There are three opinions. The Shulchan Aruch and the Alter Rebbe’s Shulchan Aruch discuss what it means—what exactly is pas haba’ah b’kisnin? Why do I need to know its definition for what we’re discussing now? The Alter Rebbe says: if I eat cake during a meal, after having said Hamotzi over bread, and the baked item brought before me may be pas haba’ah b’kisnin—there’s a doubt whether its blessing is Mezonos or Hamotzi—then I’ve already fulfilled my obligation. The distinction is between something like a boureka, which is generally eaten for sustenance, and cake, which may be considered pas haba’ah b’kisnin and which I eat for enjoyment. Once we know the definition, we know when there is a doubt and when there isn’t, and we avoid saying an unnecessary blessing. Since we’ve mentioned pas haba’ah b’kisnin, we’ll mention the Alter Rebbe’s novel ruling on the subject. There are three opinions. The first: pas haba’ah b’kisnin is any baked item made in the shape of a pocket and filled. That generally includes bourekas, various kinds of filled cheese pastries, and all sorts of filled pastries from different communities. Some fill them with meat; some fill them with different kinds of

12:17 Speaker 2 Vegetables. That is the first approach. Even though we baked the pastry rather than frying it, because it is filled, the first approach holds that the blessing should be mezonos. The second approach: pas haba’ah b’kisnin includes anything made with fruit juice. That is, I mixed the dough with water and fruit juice. Of course, as with the first approach, we are talking about baking, not cooking or frying. So if I took flour and mixed it with fruit juice, there are two views about this. One view says the main thing is that the majority of the liquid be fruit juice—fifty-one percent. Oil can also count. “Fruit juice” can include various extracts, sugar, and the like. The second view says it is not enough for the majority to be made up of these ingredients; you must be able to taste the sweetness in the pastry itself. And this appears to be the Alter Rebbe’s position: ideally, only then should one recite borei minei mezonos over it. An aside: when there are rolls that people say are mezonos, you need to check who provides the kosher certification and whether they say to recite mezonos over them—not rely merely on people’s impression that the rolls are sweet and therefore require mezonos. Back to our subject, the third approach: something dry that people normally crunch, such as crackers or pretzels. In his Siddur, the Alter Rebbe brings only the first two approaches. He does not bring the third approach—that something dry which people normally crunch is mezonos—as the halachah. So one needs to check: if those crackers, pretzels, and the like are baked, according to the Alter Rebbe their blessing may be hamotzi rather than borei minei mezonos. Here we have another example of why it is not enough just to know which blessing to recite over something. We know the reason, the source, and, of course, the Alter Rebbe’s position. That way, we know how to avoid questions of an unnecessary blessing, a blessing in vain, and other doubts that arise. Doubts and the like.

15:37 Speaker 2 Suppose I ate five bourekas. Bourekas are pas haba’ah b’kisnin. I’ve made a meal of them. I need to recite hamotzi and Birchas Hamazon. Whether it counts as a meal depends on how much I eat. The Alter Rebbe cites a disagreement between the Rashba and the Rambam as to whether the amount is the volume of three eggs or four eggs. Three eggs is roughly 160 to 180 grams. So the Alter Rebbe says: eat less, because once you eat more, you enter another area of doubt. Or eat the amount of four eggs, which is roughly 220 to 240 grams. So if I know that this food falls into the category of pas haba’ah b’kisnin—not just what it’s called, its common name, so to speak—I know whether its status as pas haba’ah b’kisnin is in doubt, and I know how much I’m eating. If I ate five, that will usually amount to a meal-sized quantity with average bourekas. So before I begin eating, I wash my hands, recite hamotzi, and, of course, Birchas Hamazon. But some foods do not fall into the category of pas haba’ah b’kisnin at all. Someone who ate a whole bag of macaroni—it might come to a quarter of a kilo or half a kilo—would still recite borei minei mezonos, and the after-blessing would be al hamichyah. The amount eaten makes no difference here, because there is no question of its being pas haba’ah b’kisnin. It is definitely mezonos. Another example: which of us, as a bochur or as a young married man, doesn’t go out on mivtza Chanukah? When you go out on mivtza Chanukah, quite often the food is a sufganiyah, a doughnut filled with jam. Some people think, “Okay, so it’s like a filled boureka. Its status as pas haba’ah b’kisnin is in doubt. Should I eat more than three or four, or not?” But once we know that pas haba’ah b’kisnin is something baked, while something deep-fried is

18:39 Speaker 2 unquestionably different. When I say deep-fried, I don’t mean pastries made with a little oil in the pan so they won’t stick. Even there, the Alter Rebbe raises a doubt as to whether that counts as baking or not. But for our purposes, the blessing over a sufganiyah is borei minei mezonos, so the amount eaten makes no difference. The after-blessing will still be al hamichyah. Several books have lists intended to help people become familiar with the laws of blessings, and I want to give you another example. Cranberries, which have become common recently. Quinoa. Stores sell something called buckwheat. The blessing over all three is borei pri ha’adamah. You need to distinguish between cranberries and raisins; they are not in the same category at all. Raisins come from a tree, while cranberries fall under ha’adamah. Buckwheat is a kind of legume, like quinoa, which is a kind of legume. Its blessing is borei pri ha’adamah; it is not one of the five grains, namely spelt. Again, they are not related at all. They are two entirely different things. Pineapple is borei pri ha’adamah. Although it looks like a tree, and so on, its blessing is borei pri ha’adamah. It is very important to instill the practice of reciting blessings in children’s education. At every yechidus for the Temimim, the Rebbe gave the blessing that they should be a living example. Many of us are young married men who don’t have enough time to sit and learn with a child—though we must find it. We can still be a source of learning through the example we set: saying a blessing properly, saying it aloud. In the name of Rabbi Yehuda HaChassid, the Magen Avraham and others say that someone who does not recite a blessing aloud is, G-d forbid, in the category of a thief, because he could give others the opportunity to answer amen, as with the blessings at the Torah reading and the like. Of course, one should not recite a blessing aloud in the beis midrash, where it would interrupt others’ learning. But when you are in a communal setting anyway, as with the blessings over the Torah, you should recite the blessing

22:16 Speaker 2 aloud. In educating our children, we set an example by saying every word of a blessing. We should recite it loud enough for them to hear. A. We show them how to recite a blessing. B. We get them used to answering amen. The Jerusalem Talmud, in Tractate Shekalim, asks: When does a child merit life in the World to Come? From the moment he answers amen. So how good it is when we recite a blessing aloud and the child answers amen. We have already given him that merit, taught him, educated him, and set an example of reciting a blessing. Educating a child about blessings means getting him used to never putting anything in his mouth before reciting a blessing. Our approach is to look at the food: Is it clean or not? Does it have worms or not? Are the conditions suitable for reciting a blessing? Is the place clean enough to recite a blessing? That is the example. That is how we can be a living textbook for our child. When he sees his father or mother reciting blessings, then, with Hashem’s help, he too will get used to reciting them. May Hashem’s blessing be upon you. May Hashem bless each and every one with the true and complete Geulah, a Geulah after which there will be no exile. Long live our master, our teacher and our Rebbe, King Moshiach, forever and ever. Thank you very much. A guest’s blessing for his hosts: the Halacha Institute, which makes it possible for us to give this class, to learn and to teach, and, with Hashem’s help, to observe and to do.