MISC section - contents: Q If I eat (not during a meal) fruit salad
containing a variety of fruit, including melon, peaches, and grapes,
what beracha acharona (= BA) do I make on it? The BA on the majority of the ingredients in a standard fruit salad is Borei Nefashot. Assuming you eat a k’zayit of those fruit, you have an obligation to say Borei Nefashot. If you have less than a k’zayit of grapes (and/or the other of the five fruit that get an Al Ha’etz) then there is no possible obligation to recite Al Ha’etz. The question arises when you have a k’zayit each of Borei Nefashot fruit and Al Ha’etz fruit. Which of the berachot “wins out” or do you make two berachot acharonot? The main question is how to look at a fruit salad, which contains ingredients that form a new food, yet the “building blocks” are clearly discernible. Is it one food or many? When one “noshes” from a vegetable platter, we look at the individual vegetables as separate entities. When one mashes different fruits or vegetables together until the ingredients are not distinct, then we certainly have one entity. In that case, there is a single beracha, which is determined by the majority (volume- wse) of the ingredients (Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayim 208:7). The question is how to categorize a food, like fruit salad, which is intended to be eaten as a combination (i.e. each spoonful contains a few varieties), but the ingredients are distinct enough to select one at a time if one desires. In this case, a significant machloket exists. The Mishna Berura (212:1) says that one makes one beracha based on the majority, whereas the Chayei Adam (51:13) says that you make separate berachot. The more accepted opinion is the Mishna Berura’s that one makes only one beracha, but there are some who follow the Chayei Adam (or try to arrange things to accommodate both opinions) (Piskei Teshuvot 212:4; V’zot Haberacha 11:3). The outcome of this machloket has a direct impact on the question of the BA (see Piskei Teshuvot 208:14). According to the Mishna Berura, you look at the fruit salad as one unit, and, assuming the grapes (and other of the five minim, including raisins) do not constitute a majority, you recite only Borei Nefashot. However,if one has the practice to make two berachot (or, according to all, in a case that the pieces of fruit are so big that they are eaten individually), then there is an obligation to make Al Ha’etz even if the grapes are a minority. Here, the situation is tricky. When one eats separately, but at the same sitting, fruits of trees that get Borei Nefashot and those that get Al Ha’etz, then the Al Ha’etz exempts him from saying Borei Nefashot (Shulchan Aruch, OC 208:13). That is because Al Ha’etz is appropriate, on a certain level, for all fruit of tree, just that the more elaborate beracha was reserved for the five special species that Eretz Yisrael were praised for (see Beit Yosef, ad loc.). However, that would only exempt one from the BA on the peaches, apples, etc. But if the salad required a Borei Pri Ha’adama for melon, pineapple, etc. and one had a k’zayit of that component, then he would need a Borei Nefashot as well. But again, the Mishna Berura’s approach is the more prevalent one. Let’s end with a little mathematical /halachic riddle. If a fruit salad has 40% grapes, 35% melon, and 25% apples, what berachot (rishona and acharona) does one make, according to the Mishna Berura? The answer is that, regarding each beracha, we must find the common denominator that forms a majority. For the beracha rishona, the apples and grapes join up to require a Borei Pri Ha’etz. Regarding the BA, the apples and melons join up to require a Borei Nefashot. Paradoxically, the smallest component “wins” twice by teaming up to form a majority. Enjoy your summer (fruit)! Ask the Rabbi Q&A is part of Hemdat Yamim, the
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for Israel It was also his custom to visit the different inns and taverns late at night. It was there that people would gather to gamble at cards. R' Nachum knew that gamblers spend their money freely, and they were generous when asked to help the poor. He would enter a tavern and see a group playing cards. He would walk over to the group and say: "Play, my children, but the money of this round will be for the poor." The players knew R' Nachum, and were good-natured about it. They would immediately give him all the money of that game, and would add more of their own. Once, R' Nachum came into a tavern and saw a card game going on. As usual, he went over and asked for the money of the round to go to charity. These people, though, did not know R' Nachum, and began to make fun of him. R' Nachum, though, did not leave them and remained insistent. Finally, one of the card players got up and slapped R' Nachum in the face. R' Nachum rubbed his cheek and said gently: "That
was what you gave me, and that will you now give to the poor?" The Torah continues that Israel is a land which “God
cares for… the eyes of the Lord your God are always upon it, from
the beginning of the year to the end of the year” (11:12). One can
be of two minds about this. There are those who would probably
prefer that God not be looking over their shoulders, so to speak. In
fact, R. Meir of Rothenburg (13th century) wrote that sinners should
stay away: it is one thing to sin outside of Israel, but quite
another to rebel against the King inside His own palace! At first
glance, R. Meir’s statement contradicts a midrash which quotes God
as saying: “Even if they profane it, would that they were in their
Land!” But there is no contradiction. On the individual level,
sinners should stay away; but as a nation Israel is the only place
for the Jewish people. Rabbi Yehuda Henkin, Jerusalem TORAH THOUGHTS as contributed by Aloh Naaleh members
for publication in the Orthodox Union's 'Torah Insights', a weekly
Torah publication on Parshat Ha'Shavuah The envelope, please... Birchat HaTorah. Specifically, LAASOK B'DIVREI
TORAH, which we say each morning in anticipation of a day filled
with Torah learning and Torah activity. One can be engrossed with Torah when deep into Torah study. One is also immersed in Torah when one is performing acts of Chessed, G'milat Chasadim. When one is conducting his daily life in accord with the dictates of halacha. We can even suggest that when one is about to say a juicy piece of gossip about someone, and refrains for doing so because of an awareness of the prohibition and seriousness of R'CHILUT and LASHON HARA, then he is fulfilling LAASOK B'DIVREI TORAH. The ultimate behavior for a serious Torah Jew is that he is immersed in Torah every moment of his life. It follows that the bracha is not like AL ACHILAT MATZA, that covers an act of a mere few minutes at the Seder table. All other brachot "cover" a small part of our actions. The goal of LAASOK B'DIVREI TORAH is to be totally and constantly applicable. In fact, there are sources that address the issue of mitzvot that don't have their own bracha. Honoring one's parents, giving Tzedaka, returning a lost object, and many other mitzvot are not preceded by a bracha. There are reasons for this. Often more than one reason. But whatever the reason or reasons for not saying a bracha for one of these mitzvot, the question remains, B'CHOL ZOT, notwithstanding the good reasons for not saying a bracha, after all, what you are doing IS a mitzva and therefore should have a bracha. ME'AM LO'EZ (quoted in BIRCHOT HAMITZVOT K'TIKUNAN) says that LAASOK B'DIVREI TORAH is the bracha for any mitzva performed during the day that does not have its own bracha (for good reasons). What's the bracha for living a life as a good Jew,
and a good person, kind, considerate, helpful to others... Well,
technically, there is none. But the other answer is beautiful, if
you think about it. LAASOK B'DIVREI TORAH. May we merit living up to
the standards of this Super Bracha, to say it, mean it, and do it,
all our lives. Here's the other side of the raccoon dog story -
Remember that a raccoon dog is not a raccoon; it's a wild dog.
Raccoons and dogs are both carnivores, but they are not closely
related. Except for this wild dog that looks remarkably like a
raccoon. Here's another strange connection. PROCYON is the 8th
brightest star in our sky. Procyon is the alpha star of Canis Minor,
the Lesser Dog. Procyon is sometimes called the Dog Star. (So is
Sirius.) The name Procyon means "before the dog", because Procyon
rises before Sirius (of Canis Major) the "Dog Star". So what? What
does that have to do with raccoons. Procyon also means raccoon,
that's what. It is the sientific name for raccoons. Go figure. The text continues with the command to place these words on our hearts and souls and to bind them for a sign. This is the mitzva of Tefillin, one of the objectives of which is to help us to continually ponder the words of the Torah intellectually, emotionally and through action. Ramban notes that the juxtaposition of this duty with the threat of exile teaches that the Jewish people should observe the commandments in which- ever land they find themselves – although mitzva performance in Eretz Yisrael is the most significant. However, for Rashi, anticipating the Redemption, the purpose of observing mitzvot in exile is solely to ensure that the Jews there not forget how to perform them. Surely this is a sobering thought for those who have not yet made Israel their home. Shabbat Shalom Menachem Persoff [The Parshat Eikev Homepage]
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