All right, Rabotai (gentlemen), Va'etchanan (And I pleaded). This is Shabbat Nachamu (Shabbat of Consolation), so that's good. What is the Ben Ish Chai going to talk about now? Hana'at hare'ach (pleasure of fragrance), so I'm in Derush Lamed-Tet (Discourse 39). Al hana'at hare'ach tzarich levarech. So there is a Berachah (blessing) that we make on smell, too. Vesamchu zeh akra depasuk, Kol haneshamah tehallel Yah (Let every soul praise Yah). Eizehu davar shehaneshamah nehenet mimenu? Zeh hare'ach, because it goes into the soul.
De'af al pi shehaguf nami neheneh mimenu—the body also benefits from it—al kol zot hana'at haneshamah min hare'ach yoter merubah mehana'at haguf. Wow. The neshamah (soul) gets greater pleasure from the re'ach (smell) than even the body. Ki hana'at haguf mistaleket teichef umiyad keshe'avar hare'ach. Right. The body gets a smell, but it's temporary. It dissipates. Aval hana'at hanefesh min hare'ach matmedet venishe'eret kochah bah. Interesting. We don't feel it, but there is a pleasure that the neshamah receives from the smell of a fragrant item, and it lasts longer than the body's pleasure.
So if it's a gashmiyut (physicality) item, why would the neshamah have any benefit from it? Right, exactly: the neshamah has an item to it. Aval hana'at hanefesh min hare'ach matmedet—it stays longer—venishe'eret kochah bah. Umitam zeh ein mevar'chin al hare'ach berachah acharonah. Interesting. No berachah acharonah after smelling. Mipnei ki etzel haguf hana'ah mu'etet hi she'over mimenu teichef vedami la'achilah she'ein mevar'chin aleha berachah acharonah achar ikul shenit'aklah. Interesting. Just as you can't make a berachah acharonah after the food has been digested, the smell goes away so quickly that its pleasure is like something digested. Therefore, you can't make a berachah acharonah.
There's a lesson in this with the manna, right, Rabbi? With the whole thing about the manna, because it had the Birkat Hamazon (Grace after Meals)—how do you say it if it was… Because it went right into the bodies. That was a whole… Umitam zeh gam ken ein mevar'chin Shehecheyanu al hare'ach, af al pi shehu besamim asher yitchadshu mishanah leshanah. Ah, why don't you make a Shehecheyanu—good to be alive at this moment—on a new fragrance? Mipnei shehana'at etzel haguf hi hana'ah mu'etet. It's not such a great pleasure. Ve'af al pi she'etzel hanefesh hi hana'ah merubah, lo shayach levarech Shehecheyanu ba'avur hana'at hanefesh. Okay, that's a kelal (principle). You only make a birkat Shehecheyanu for bodily benefits. Ki hanefesh nitzchit velo tamut. And therefore, velo shayach legavah birkat Shehecheyanu. Right, Shehecheyanu means it's good to be alive at this moment, but the neshamah is always alive. You say Shehecheyanu only on something where it's possible not to be alive—that's the body. But the nefesh is forever, so how could you say Shehecheyanu?
Asur lehanot mere'ach tov ad sheyevarech kodem sheyari'ach. Okay, so you can't smell something until you make a berachah. Ve'im hu mesupak im bedavar zeh yesh re'ach tov—let's say you don't know whether something has a smell—or o im hu mesupak be'atzmo, he doesn't know whether he's going to smell it. Maybe it has a smell, but maybe he's stuffed up. Covid. “Covid, exactly.” Here we go again; you had to mention that. Ki lif'amim yihyeh le'adam choli nazlah—that's COVID in Arabic; that's a cold—velo yargish chush hare'ach shelo, he won't be able to smell. Harei zeh meri'ach kodem, so he's allowed to test it first. Ve'achar kach yevarech veyari'ach kedei shelo tihyeh birchato levalatah. Sometimes we do that with the hadasim (myrtle) on Friday night. We rub them together to make sure they have a smell, and then we smell them.
Yitol habesamim beyado hayemanit veyevarech. Okay, the right hand. Uchemo shekatavti le'el gabei berachah shel achilah ushtiyah, tzarich litol beyamin devazeh hu mechabed haberachah. Everything in the right hand. Uvesefer Keter Malchut (Crown of Kingship), a handwritten text says it's good for a person to accustom himself, whenever he smells something, to say this verse while smelling: re'ach nicho'ach isheh l-Hashem (A pleasing fragrance offering to Hashem). Right, like we do on Friday night. We serve Friday night; we act out Shamor vezachor bedibur echad ne'emru (Keep and remember were spoken as one), re'ach nicho'ach isheh l-Hashem. That's according to the Kabbalah. Mipnei shebepasuk zeh nirmezu kol kavanot shel hare'ach. All the intentions. In other words, re'ach nicho'ach isheh l-Hashem is filled with all good things.
And for Havdalah, why don't we—no, at Havdalah we would say it, but we can't, because we'd be mafsik (interrupting) between the besamim (fragrant spices) and the other berachot. But on Friday night, when we come out of shul, we smell the besamim, the hadas, so we say this. Veyargil bekach bein bechol bein beShabbat. Even on a weekday. Good to know.
Birkat achilah ushtiyah kodemet lebirkat hare'ach. Okay, so there's a precedence here: food comes before smell. If you have both items on the table, and you're going to eat and smell, you make the berachah on the food before the smell. Before the neshamah? Well, there's also a bodily benefit from smelling, but I guess eating and drinking are more tangible pleasures, so they come first. Vehainu davka kesheshnehem—that's specifically when both are in front of him. Aval orchim sheba'im levet ba'al habayit umevi'im lahem besamim: guests come to someone's home and the besamim are brought out. Right, you go to someone's house and they bring out the besamim first; you don't have to wait until they bring out dinner. You can make the berachah on the besamim right away. On Friday night, when you come out of shul, there are besamim. None of us says, “I'm going to eat dinner first and then come back to shul to smell the besamim.” That's what's in front of me. Ve'ein tzerichim lehamtin ela yevarech al habesamim. That's it.
Im zeh shehu meri'ach bo hu etz (tree). Okay, that's standard; we know the rules. The question is that we don't know the items. If it's an etz, it comes from a tree: borei atzei vesamim (Creator of fragrant trees). If it's an esev (herb), you make borei isbei vesamim (Creator of fragrant herbs). And if it's neither a tree nor an herb, like musk—misk—musk is like perfume. I don't want to say where it comes from, but it comes from a place that doesn't smell good. Right, the animal's excrement; that's where the musk comes from, and sweat, and different places. Or anbar? What is anbar? It says it's an Indian sharp spice. Vechayotze mevarech minei vesamim (various kinds of fragrance). Okay, that's a minei vesamim. If you're uncertain whether it's a tree or an herb, or there's a machloket (dispute), you make borei minei vesamim. So minei vesamim is like the shehakol nihyeh bidvaro (Everything came to be by His word) of besamim. Very good, Elliot. Devirchata zo shel minei vesamim havei kemo berachah shel shehakol she'amarnu kevar. Yes, shehakol. So there you go: besamim has a shehakol, which is minei vesamim.
And the sign—how are you going to know? That's the big question. How do you know when you pick up besamim? Pick up a hadas: you see it has a stick and know it comes from a tree. So hadasim get borei atzei. A rose comes from a stick; it's not an herb, it's a tree. So you make borei atzei vesamim on rosewater. Can you smell that? It doesn't matter. We'll see rosewater now. Is it mei zaher or mei vered? Orange juice? No, the real mei zaher they used to get from Mexico is like milk. It's white like coconut milk, beautiful, and you make atzei vesamim, as we'll see.
But this is the kelal: kol shehakelach shelo kasheh. The stem, the kelach (stalk), is hard, and venish'ar hakelach mishanah leshanah—it stays from year to year. Ve'ein alav yotze'in mishorashav ela migiz'o. The shorashim (roots) come only from the geza (trunk), and certainly from its branches. Harei zeh min etz lechulei alma: this is a tree according to everyone. Umevarech alav atzei vesamim. But if the stalk is soft, like a vegetable, or even if it's hard but doesn't remain from year to year, because it grows again each year, then harei zeh min esev umevarech isbei. Mint leaves. Mint for sure. Veyesh omrim de'afilu im hakelach rach im hu nish'ar mishanah leshanah harei zeh min etz. Ah, that's the issue: if it's soft but lasts from year to year, that's a machloket, so you make minei. Uvechol kehai de'yesh machloket yevarech minei vesamim.
All right, now he'll give you some examples. Let's see if we can get through this. Number one: Al hakelavina, shekorin be'aravi ward al-karanfil, ken, o ward shih lihni, mevarchin atzei. The vered is the rose. So you make atzei; it's basically a rose. Ve'af al gav de-vesefer Zechor LeAvraham hevi beshem Me'am Lo'ez levarech minei vesamim shehu safek. The plant that grows in Baghdad has no doubt about it. Hineh zeh hagadel po ein bo safek, ya'an dehakelach shelo kasheh. It has a hard stalk. Ve'ein alim yotze'in min hashorashim vegam hu nish'ar mishanah leshanah. The leaves don't come out of the roots; the stem comes out of the root, and it stays from year to year.
Vechen al kerinful—cloves. Haba mimedinat hayam yevarchu atzei vesamim. Oh, that's a big controversy. He holds that on cloves you make atzei. Vechen haminhag pashut po ireinu umizman ateret roshi harav mori zekeni rabbeinu Moshe Chaim. Okay, he says, “That was the custom of my father.” Why wouldn't it be? There's a machloket about how it grows, the same machloket as above.
Keshehayu holchim kahal rav lehishtate'ach bechol shanah al matzevet Yechezkel Hanavi (Ezekiel the Prophet), alav hashalom (peace be upon him). Wow, because Yechezkel Hanavi was buried somewhere in Baghdad. They used to go there and make a ziyara (pilgrimage visit). They used to visit the tzaddikim (righteous people), and when they got to Yechezkel Hanavi, they liked to make berachot. But there were no hadasim in the neighborhood; they had cloves. Shesham lo yesh hadas mevarchin bahavdalah bemotza'ei Shabbat al… Wow, so they'd say it there on Shabbat! They made a whole weekend out of it. A weekend at Yechezkel Hanavi! Better than a ski trip. The point is that they went there and had Havdalah at the grave. Right, Havdalah. You never spent a weekend in Oman. “Right, exactly. Exactly. Twelve hours, yeah.” The main answer about the cloves is that my father did it; that's the custom he wanted.
Vechen asu keshehalchu livro'ach bizman hadever. There was a dever (plague), so they had to leave Baghdad and go to the mountains, or wherever they went; they had only cloves there. Lo tehei kupat Sarah vezeh minhag barur pashut po ireinu. Chacham Ovadia will bring different minhagim (customs), and bring down Halichot Olam, the Chida, and so on. They want to say it's minei, so you'll see some books that say atzei. Chacham Ovadia will bring the minhag of the Ben Ish Chai, but then he'll bring another opinion; I forget his bottom line. Don't we make atzei? It's a machloket. Will the rabbi make minei on it? I follow the Ben Ish Chai. But let's see what the rabbi says here. He says re'ach Teimani, then manta. Is that cloves? He discusses all these cases. Mutar im asah besamim borei atzei vesamim ve'esev veshemen, vechen yir'u chachamim minhag pashut etzlam.
All right, let me read it. We'll see the mint. Lema'aseh (in practice), look on the Daily Halachah: there's a discussion of cloves. Where will he have it? In Tu BiShvat (the fifteenth of Shevat). He says cloves are a tree. Cloves are aromatic flower buds of a tree in the family of Myrtaceae. Who's that, Chacham Wikipedia? Are you reading for us? Okay. “Maluku Islands.” So Chacham Ovadia spread his wings a little bit. He has birkat hare'ach, then Birkat Hamazon and birkat me'ein shalosh. Didn't he discuss cloves? Ikar poter et hatefelah. We should have something on cloves in the Daily Halachah. He has oil, rosewater, an herb called rechan, na'na (mint), and cloves. Here it is: Al hatziporen shenikra bilshon aravi qrunful mevarchim borei atzei vesamim vechen haminhag.
He writes below, Maran writes about cinnamon and hakla'o—cloves, tziporen—that one makes Hanoten re'ach tov bapeirot (Who gives fruit a pleasant fragrance). He thought it was like a fruit. Vehayom pashat haminhag levarech al hatziporen shenikra qrunful borei atzei vesamim. Beautiful. Lich'orah hu neged pesak Maran. It seems to go against Maran's ruling. He says, Hineh Maran Shulchan Aruch (Code of Jewish law) ruled that on cloves one makes Hanoten re'ach tov bapeirot. “The custom nowadays is to make…” That's his own ruling.
Then he says, “Against the ruling, I saw the great Rabbi Yehudah Ayash, in the responsa Bnei Yehudah, reject Maran's words and write that it requires further examination. We hold that hakla'o shel grufli is dry and that one doesn't make a blessing when eating it.” And since the fragrance comes only through a mixture, it shouldn't be considered a fruit; so perhaps it should go back to etz. Those are probably the ones they were discussing.
UMaran HaChida be Birkei Yosef amad al zeh vechatav shebaTur uvaBeit Yosef lo nizkar vehakla'o, vechen haLevush lo hizkiro. Also, in that section, the Levush writes that one makes no blessing when eating cloves. That implies cloves aren't like cinnamon. So how do we know that Maran held that the blessing on cloves is Hanoten re'ach tov bapeirot? Veshamati shemochakim halashon teivat kla'o, vechen ra'iti bekunteres hachelek hakadosh bichtav yad sheyesh lemochkah miShulchan Aruch, vehe amar she'al hakla'o mevarech borei minei vesamim.
Vechen ra'iti lehaRav Yosef Messas shenish'al al zeh vehevi divrei haBirkei Yosef, vechatav sheme'achar dekayma lan safek berachot lehakeil afilu neged Maran yesh levarech borei minei vesamim. He says that since we follow the rule to rule leniently in doubts about blessings, even against Maran, one should make minei vesamim. Besifrei hadamam sham Nachalat Tzvi kedei sheyihyeh shenei minei kla'o.
So then the Ben Ish Chai comes along and agrees. He quotes Ben Attar, that's the Ohr HaChaim HaKadosh, and says: Vehoreiti lahalachah lema'aseh levarech al re'ach qrunful borei atzei vesamim, mishum she'etzo kasheh. Bottom line: follow the rules; it's an etz. They had Maran's version as we have it here, and then he discusses all these opinions. That's what he wants to say: Lefi zeh gam re'ach peirot ha'etz, keivan she'ikaro etz—and he disagrees about the ruling for… That's where the sentence stops. However it comes out, cloves get borei atzei, and that's the minhag.
What's next? Zahar. Chaimi, read it. Al hazahar, shekorin be'Aravi kadach. What is that? Certain blossoms, such as etrog or lemon blossoms. Hinei, shel narinj, yevarech atzei. Orange blossoms. Okay, they come from a tree. So all these are orange blossoms and the like. Kemo shekatav biKvod Avraham. Maran disagrees on this one too? Let's see. Ve'al havared, shekorin be'Aravi raski, yevarech atzei. The custom is clear. All these roses and things like that get atzei. The blossoms come from the tree. Why make borei atzei anyway? Right, exactly what he's saying. No, that ruling is about the lemon itself. This is talking about blossoms from the tree, not the leaf that we take. In Tzfat, by the Ari zal's synagogue, you can take a leaf from a lemon tree, rub it in your hands, and your hands smell strongly of lemon. That's atzei. We'll get to some of these items later; we're going to have the halachah for each one.
Menkeshi—what's that? Shekorin be'Aravi banafsheh. Banafsheh? Okay, minei. Mishum de'yesh bezeh safek, vechen anachnu nohagim po Iranu levarech al banafsheh minei. There's a doubt; we don't know what it is. It seems to be used for herbal tea, violet, and things like that. But aval al esev shekorin be'Aravi rechan—rechan is another item—one makes isbei, according to everyone. Ruda. We have ruda. Be'Aravi sadab, nimtza po Iranu… What's that, evil eye or something? Ein bo re'ach tov kelal. Theirs didn't have a good smell, but ours does. You think that smells good? Delicious! It smells good, so we make isbei.
Im hayu minim shel atzei ve'isbei me'urbavim yachad, vekavyachol hare'ach shelahem yotzei me'urbav… That happens at the Kotel on Friday night. The man gives you a bundle with everything in it. What do you make: minei, atzei, or isbei? Whatever the man smelled like? Right, exactly—he puts it in his face. Nihyeh re'ach shelahem yotzei me'urbav, yevarech minei. But if you can see that the bundle has separate kinds—po atzei upo isbei—then you can make separate berachot. If they're separate in the rubber band, atzei and isbei, then you could make all three berachot. But if they're all bunched together, a mishkababel, then you have a makat arov, so you have no choice: make minei. Does minei have to go last in that case? It should go last. Correct. Is there a doubt that it covers the others, if it's like shehakol? Did you make shehakol first? No, no, the man doesn't know what he's doing; he makes a general blessing. Let him make it last; it won't hurt.
Im bimkom atzei o isbei o minei berach shehakol nihyeh bidvaro, yatza. There you go. The man made shehakol nihyeh bidvaro instead of the other blessing. We had a man in Deal shul when I was a kid. Remember the old midrash (study hall), Eli, in Deal shul, with the sliding doors? There was a man in the first minyan (prayer quorum). We prayed with Isaac Goldman, peace be upon him, Joe Benun, may he live and be well, and all the old-timers. Exactly, Joe Benun. And Moshe Faham, peace be upon him, your grandfather, and the other old-timers.
They sent a man up for an aliyah (Torah-reading honor); he had a yahrtzeit (anniversary of death) or something. He was all geared up. I was reading the sefer. He was a once-a-year guy: he came for the yahrtzeit, and you wouldn't see him again for a year. I showed him the place, and he got flustered: “Baruch Atah Hashem, shehakol nihyeh bidvaro.” They made shehakol on the sefer Torah! Then they laid into him: “am ha'aretz (unlearned person), tipesh (fool)!” You know what it means: if you don't know the berachah, you make shehakol. That made it worse! They showed him the berachah. Because I was a wise-guy kid, I told him afterward, “Borei nefashot (Creator of living beings)!” He was so clueless he didn't get the joke. Okay, we would have made Birkat Hamazon!
Anyway, here the person made shehakol on the besamim, and he fulfilled the obligation. Ve'im berach al atzei be'ad isbei o bimkom isbei berach atzei… Ah, but you can't switch isbei and atzei; you have to get that right. Bameh devarim amorim? Bemin shehu isbei, vechulei alma atzei… Right, as long as it's definitely an atzei. But if it's uncertain, you fulfill the obligation. Aval im hayah zeh min shesavira lehu le'eizeh poskim shebirchato atzei, mipnei shesiman echad… Right, it has some of the signs. It's a hybrid, a doubtful case that could be atzei, so then you've already fulfilled the obligation.
Ve'anu mevarechim alav minei mishum safek berachot lehakel, me'ikara kesheba lehodot tzarich levarech isbei. At first, isbei. Im hata'ut shelo baberachah, az zeh… Vehayah zeh sheta'ah o berach alav isbei, lo yachzor veyevarech minei. Since according to one opinion the blessing should be atzei and according to another it should be isbei, and he made isbei, he has fulfilled his obligation. How can he go back and make minei? That would be a blessing in vain. So, basically, if you made a berachah of isbei or atzei on an item whose category is uncertain, it will be covered.
Still, there's a fourth category. Mi sheyesh lefanav… Im yesh lefanav min etz bevaddai, ve'od yesh min shehu safek atzei safek isbei… You have a certain etz and an item that's uncertain, either atzei or isbei. Yevarech al hasafek techilah birkat minei, ve'achar kach yevarech atzei al etz bevaddai. Make minei on the doubtful item first, and then atzei on the certain tree. That covers the doubt, because if you say etz, you're covered on the other one. If you want to make two berachot, make minei on the uncertain item and then the appropriate berachah on the certain item.
Im yesh lefanav min etz bevaddai umin esev bevaddai, veyesh od gam ken min acher shehu safek atzei safek isbei, im hu bechol, yevarech al havedayim veyechaven liftor et hamin shehu safek. The rule is that during the week, if you have a certain item and an uncertain one, make the berachah on the certain item and intend to cover the uncertain one. Ve'im beShabbat, yevarech al min hasafek… birkat minei techilah, techilat hakol, ve'acharei chen yevarech atzei al etz… Look at that! He wants you to make extra berachot on Shabbat. Make minei on the uncertain item, and then make atzei. During the week, we don't need the extra berachot. That's shrewd of the Ben Ish Chai. Veyevarech isbei al esev havedai. Vechach katav le'eil beParashat Pinchas gam bevirkat ha'achilah.
Im shalak et habesamim vehotzi hashemen mehem… This is the case for you, Elliot. The person cooked the besamim enough to get the juice out, the way they extract oil. Mevarech alav kevirkat hayotzei bahem, she'im habesamim hem min ha'etz, mevarech atzei. So you make atzei. That's the rosewater. If it's an herb, you make isbei. Veshemen haparasmon… mipnei shegadal be'Eretz Yisrael, kav'u lo berachah bifnei atzmo, umevarech borei shemen arev. The balsam grew in the Eretz Yisrael (Land of Israel), so they established a blessing of its own: borei shemen arev (Creator of fragrant oil).
How many people know that berachah? If you get real balsam from Eretz Yisrael… Do we have the item? Do we know what it is? It was never presented to us. You have to go to Machaneh Yehudah; probably there's a man selling it. Cologne—we have to read the ingredients. We'll get to cologne in a second. That's a big question. We haven't got to anything synthetic yet. You asked me a good question. It might be synthetic; let's talk about synthetic. I'm a simple guy; I use Mennen, not the expensive stuff like you. “4711.” I have the Mennen aftershave. “Bengay.”
Umevarachim al hamugmar. There's another item we don't have. In the old days, people used to live! Mugmar (incense offering): they had coals and put incense on them. Remember the punks? Just like the punks. They used to light these items and put them over there. The clothing? Right, the clothing, to give it a good smell. Dehaynu besamim she'osim al hagachalim (coals), to smell them when the smoke rises. Aval lo yevarech kodem sheya'aleh kitor ashanam. You have to wait for the smoke to rise. Vegam bazeh berachah kefi habesamim: whatever you're burning, the blessing depends on the besamim, just like with a hookah. If it's a tree, atzei; if it's an herb, isbei.
Bameh devarim amorim? Bemugmar she'osim lehariach bo. That's for something you're burning in order to smell. But what you burn to fumigate utensils—like Daniel said, to remove the smell from clothing—isn't done for its own fragrance. Keivan de'ein asui lehariach be'atzmo, ela kedei liten re'ach bakelim. It is done to give a smell to the utensils. The same applies to something done for refu'ah (healing): you don't make a berachah. And Vicks VapoRub—the eucalyptus in the steam? The rabbi's mother is very into that. Well, Vicks VapoRub is good stuff; that'll knock it out. Eucalyptus, yes, but you're using it for refu'ah.
Vehu hadin nami, de'ein levarech al besamim shenimtza'im bevet hakisei. The same applies to besamim in the bathroom—the air freshener or potpourri. Real potpourri is real besamim. Yes, but they use it to get rid of the bad smell. If you take it out and smell it? That's right, but that's not what it was made for. No berachah. Or if it's used to remove a bad smell, or to remove the dirtiness from one's hands, and things like that.
Besamim shemunachim becheder lis'chorah. Let's say you have besamim in a business, a perfumery, like in Macy's. Afilu keshenichnas… nichnas… ein mevarech. If you enter the perfume department and smell things, you don't make a berachah. Verak im netalam beyado—only if you take one in your hand and test it. If you just walk in and smell a nice store, you don't make a berachah. Mihu im nichnas lechanut shel besamim venitkaven lehari'ach… The first case is someone entering a warehouse of merchandise; lis'chorah means it's merchandise. You make no berachah from the smell unless you take it in your hand. But if you enter a perfume shop intending to smell, then you make a berachah. Mishum debachanut chashivei omdim lehari'ach: in a shop, the items are considered to be there for smelling. Why do you go to a perfume store? To smell. The owner wants people to smell the items so they'll buy them. They draw you in with the smell. Don't they immediately give you cards and say, “Smell it”? Or put it on your hands? Exactly. The point is, you can make a berachah. Obviously, we're talking about smelling real items in an herb shop. We haven't got to synthetic things yet.
Now, re'ach she'ein lo ikar (fragrance without a source). Let's say the besamim were in a kli (vessel), and then you emptied it, but the vessel still has a residual smell. The vessel absorbed the smell; perhaps you put oil in it, and it acquired a good smell. Since there's no actual besamim in the vessel anymore, you don't make a berachah. The same applies if your fingers absorbed a good smell. That's the famous case on motza'ei Shabbat. You've seen people at Havdalah waiting. Why are they waiting? Because after a while the smell is absorbed into the hand. Once it's absorbed, you can't make a berachah. That's what the rabbi said here. The hand smells good, but there's nothing there. That's why they wait, and at the last minute pour some more: they want something tangible to be there when they make the berachah. Otherwise, by the time you say borei minei vesamim, there's nothing on your hand; it's absorbed. The Ben Ish Chai says you can't make a berachah then.
We solved that by giving out hadas. It doesn't disappear; it's there. And according to the Ari zal, you're supposed to use hadasim. It's cleaner for the shul, too. That's it. Hadas is there, one hundred percent. Baruch atah Hashem Elokeinu Melech ha'olam shehakol nihyeh bidvaro.
Lighting logs in a bonfire at Doheny—I like the smell. That's outside. Do I have to make a berachah on that? What do you like the smell of? Flavored wood? No, the wood has a nice smell. Is it special wood? Regular wood that's burning? He likes the smell of burning wood. Some guy likes the smell of burning wood. We'll get to a similar case now: the smell of ground coffee. For instance, you grind coffee and walk into the kitchen in the morning: “I smell the good coffee over there.” You want to take the grounds and smell the coffee in the morning. “Wake up and smell the coffee,” they say. Chacham Ovadia talks about smelling coffee; we'll see it now.
Before we get to this, let's finish Chacham Ovadia's discussion here. He says: Re'ach tov shel bosem hamiyutzar bizmanenu mechomer sinteti… she'ein bo shum re'ach tov, mikol makom yesh levarech alav borei minei vesamim. Synthetic perfumes, for example: even though they have no good fragrance, nevertheless one makes borei minei vesamim. There you go. You do? Yes. So if you're putting on perfume before you go to shul, make a berachah. You want to smell it, and you want people to smell you, so you make borei minei vesamim.
Remember Saturday nights, the besamim? Jean Naté was the best. Deal shul, too. Men's cologne was Jean Naté. My grandfather used to put it on after a shower; he had cases of it. There was more Jean Naté than shower. I remember that. The um-gun? Yes, the um-gun. It didn't spray. The old-timers used Jean Naté on Saturday night in shul. I had an aunt, Aunt Amy Safti, my Uncle Ralph's wife. Aunt Amy was from Tunis; she was from France. She had a very distinctive smell. Her perfume was incredible. When she walked into the room, you could smell her and know Aunt Amy was there. It was beautiful, and everybody knew that was her smell. We thought that, because she was from France, it must be some high-class perfume. When she passed away, we found it was something like a four-dollar item from Kings Pharmacy—Jean Naté or whatever it was. We expected some exquisite, one-of-a-kind perfume, but it turned out to be an ordinary item. She fooled us all those years.
Is there any issue with smelling or making a berachah on women's perfume, for a man? When she's a niddah (menstruant), for sure. No, I mean a wife sometimes, but in general? Is there an issue with taking a women's perfume bottle? No. Like when they bring out besamim at a wedding or a brit (circumcision ceremony)? No problem. Women make it for… As long as the bottle isn't peritzut (immodesty) or anything like that. That's what I thought. Women's perfume, why not? If the woman is like that, you better come back and ask. What about aftershave? Same thing. Atra, by Gillette—that's minei besamim. The green glow-in-the-dark, iridescent stuff. It's 98 cents at the pharmacy.
Anyway, he holds that you make a berachah on synthetic things. That's a very important shitah (opinion) of Chacham Ovadia, and it's good to know that halachah. It happens a lot at weddings, as Benny said. When the chatan (groom) comes, we tell him to bring the equipment, to bring besamim. Sometimes they have gardenias; we love the gardenias. That's atzei vesamim, so you make an etz blessing. But sometimes they bring roses, and the roses have no smell. So they bring perfume. They have to know that they can make the berachah borei minei vesamim.
We were at a wedding at The Pierre. A man came to me and said, “Do me a favor. My brother is coming from overseas. He's not such a talmid chacham (Torah scholar). Could you let him make the besamim, just to give him kavod (honor)?” I said, “No problem; give him whatever you want.” Someone told him what the berachah was. I told him it was mzahar, and told him atzei vesamim. The man practiced and practiced. I gave him the bottle. I said, “Borei atzei besamim.” Beautiful. He started drinking it! You're worried about shehakol, and now he's drinking the besamim. You can't make this stuff up. The man drank a revi'it (quarter-log measure) of the mzahar. He was thirsty. What did I just—when you thought you had seen everything, there it is. He drank the mzahar. He didn't know. It was a legal beverage. Who knows what it was? He thought he was intoxicated already.
Afilu hare'ach hamitchadesh mishanah leshanah, ein mevarachim alav Shehecheyanu. Right, no Shehecheyanu; we saw that. No berachah acharonah; we saw that. Hamor, myrrh, is one of the ingredients of the ketoret (incense). Mor uktzi'ah (myrrh and cassia), which is the blood of an animal that gathers in its neck. It has a certain smell, and people perfume themselves with it. Since it doesn't come from a tree or the ground, that's minei. Is that blood from an animal? Blood? There you go. I always thought they crushed it or mixed liquid into it. I think it's dried blood, like a powder.
He says here, peri etz hare'ui le'achilah. We'll see that; that's the last halachah. He mentions minta—which is the mint. We say that has to be isbei. Exactly. Tziporen, we saw. An herb called reihan temani—he says that's atzei. Na'na hanikra minta, mevarech borei isbei vesamim. Rosewater that they boiled: some say one makes borei atzei vesamim, and some say minei. That's why sometimes in shul they make minei on it, but Chacham Ovadia's opinion is that you can also make atzei.
Shemen shebismu kemo shemen hamishchah o be'atzei vesamim, mevarech borei atzei vesamim; im be'isbei vesamim mevarech… If oil was scented with something—correct. Exactly. If you put cinnamon or hadas in it, it takes on the smell. Even if the item isn't there anymore? No. Ve'im sinenu vehotzi'u minei habesamim: if they filtered out the besamim, some say one makes borei shemen arev. Then it's just a different berachah; it's shemen. Wow. But only when the item is in the oil and you're smelling it with the oil? No, the oil has no smell of its own; they cooked the other item in it. That's right. Veyesh omrim… So then it's minei? No, it's borei shemen arev, a separate berachah. There's a separate berachah on oil that has a smell. Did you ever make that berachah? I never made shemen arev. I said that earlier. Isn't there an item for Erev Yom Kippur (eve of Yom Kippur)? No, shemen arev is for something different; that's for balsam oil. That's the special one, from a special tree.
Now, any other items? What if a person has hot coffee? Here it is: kafeh chamah. Hot coffee, ground coffee. Verichah hatov nodef, yesh omrim she'af de'omrim she'ein levarech al pat chamah, mikol makom al re'ach kafeh mevarech Hanoten re'ach tov bapeirot. Even according to the opinion that says you don't make a berachah on hot bread, nevertheless, on the smell of coffee one makes Hanoten re'ach tov bapeirot. That's what he says you can make. Veyesh cholkim, vehamevarech alav yesh lo al mah lismoch. There are those who disagree, but someone who makes the berachah has what to rely on. What are you going to make? What's coffee? Is it a tree? It's a tree.
Bishut Perach Shoshan horah shelo levarech kelal al pat chamah—he ruled that one should not make a berachah on hot bread—and concluded that when mint gives off a smell, one makes a berachah on it. The same applies to someone smelling ground coffee when it gives off a fragrance and people enjoy its smell: one should make a berachah. The early authorities didn't mention it because the Tanna listed some things and left others out. The Tanna isn't a peddler, listing every item. We gave you the rules.
Vechen hu besefer Yad Aharon. I have Yad Aharon, Chaim; he just brought me the set. Do me a favor, Chaimi, go in… That's the book he brought me. Which one? He says Yad Aharon, section Orach Chayim (Way of Life), 216. You'll see it there.
Uvesefer Tefilah LeDavid amar, vedomeh lemah shepasak haRambam, shemen zayit shetachanu ad she'asah reicho nodef, mevarech alav borei atzei vesamim. Vechen pasak Maran baShulchan Aruch, vehu hadin lere'ach kafeh, yesh levarech. Before, did you say to smell olive oil? If you crush olives in a certain way until they give off a smell, make atzei. Derei'ach kafeh lo damei lerei'ach pat cham, deshani hatam she'ein reicho nodef kol kach. He says the smell of coffee isn't like the smell of hot bread, because the bread's smell doesn't waft as strongly, even though it smells good. Gam bishut Tzror Hakesef pasak, bePerach Shoshan—he also ruled that one makes a berachah on coffee. Cinnamon is certainly atzei. Rabbi Ya'akov Krespin ruled in Shemo Ya'akov that one should make noten re'ach tov bapeirot on the smell of coffee. He holds it's a fruit. The same is written in Kerem Shelomoh, and the Mishnah Berurah also ruled that way.
But those cases are about smelling beforehand, right? To know that it has a smell? That's for testing. Section 216. I just got the book this week, so I want to use it. A lot of people use coffee beans. He has something here that can knock you out—your head could… You have it when you're five years old and an old man gives it to you. The snuff? Yes, the snuff. Covid put an end to that industry. After everyone's fingers have been in there, and you stick it in your nose and put it back, that's not good.
He says it's in section 215. What does it say? In the notes—note 9? I see 7, not 9. I don't see the note. He has a different discussion here, about tobacco. Avak hatabako hanikra be'Aravi tutun shesho'afin oto bachotem, venotenim letocho merokechai sam tov, mikri re'ach she'ein bo ikar. Tobacco snuff is called tutun in Arabic; they inhale it through the nose and put flavoring into it. That's called a fragrance without a source, because the smell is absorbed into it. Al kol panim, vechatav sham hamani'ach shera'iti anshei ma'aseh shekodem shesho'afin oto mechazrin levarech al eizeh re'ach tov. The tzaddikim, before taking snuff, smell something else and make a berachah on it so they don't get into trouble with the snuff. That sounds like very, very pious people.
Then he says, re'ach tov, vehinei halachah haRambam… Let's see here: semalak, jasmine. That's the famous contradiction, Jasmine. Katav haRoke'ach, lo matzati beRoke'ach, uverach atzei vesamim… It's discussing different items. Now let's finish the rest of the Ben Ish Chai's halachah. I don't see it here, but I'm sure it's here; he doesn't give me an address. He says section 216, note… I don't see any notes. Maybe it's in this new edition. Pri adamah, semalak, a violet: that's the berachah on a violet.
The last thing he says here is the berachah on fruit. What about rosemary? Is rosemary a tree or an herb? I don't know. Does it smell? It's a spice. But is it a tree or an herb? All right. Kol peri hara'ui la'achilah, veyesh bo re'ach tov: any edible fruit that has a good smell, such as a lemon or orange, im netalo lehari'ach—if you take it to smell—or even if you take it to smell and eat, mevarech Hanoten re'ach tov bapeirot. That's a new berachah: Hanoten re'ach tov bapeirot.
Veyesh omrim im haperi omed la'achilah uva lefanav le'ochlo, she'im lo hayah rotzeh le'ochlo lo hayah mevi'o kedei lehari'ach, ein levarech alav mishum re'ach bo. Some say that if the fruit was brought to him to eat, and if he hadn't wanted to eat it he wouldn't have brought it over to smell, he shouldn't make a berachah for its smell. He wasn't planning to smell it; his plan was to eat it. He shouldn't make a berachah because his intention wasn't to smell it. He's smelling it while he eats, but that wasn't his intention. Veyesh lachush ledivreihem mishum safek berachot lehakeil, ve'ein levarech ela davka im hevi'o lefanav kedei lehari'ach bo davka. We should be concerned about that opinion because of the rule to rule leniently in blessing doubts. You should make the berachah only if it was brought specifically for smelling. That's the clear custom. When they bring fruit with a good smell for eating, people don't smell it, so they don't put themselves into doubt; they just eat it.
Ve'im adam choleh vechayotze shemevi'im lo peri sheyesh bo re'ach tov lehari'ach davka, tzarich levarech lechulei alma. If a sick person is given fruit with a good smell specifically to smell, then he should make a berachah according to everyone, because he's not eating it. That's a law of the Gemara, as we said in the discussion of be'alim. People of exemplary practice avoid smelling fruit at all. Even if they want to eat it, they don't smell it, because there's a dispute about the berachah on fruit. The Maharam says we should say Hanoten re'ach tov bapeirot, and Eliyah Rabbah says Asher Natan re'ach tov bapeirot. There are different texts and different stringencies. You know what? Because of the text—minei vesamim? No, no, it's perot here. Chacham Ovadia writes, first of all, that tabak harachah, snuff, gets no berachah because there's no actual item here.
Then he says, “Here's one for Benny: besamim shel ervah.” For example, besamim placed around the neck of a woman forbidden to him. If a married woman is wearing a flask of besamim, you shouldn't go up and smell it. That's good advice from the rabbi. But mixed dancing is okay at a wedding; just don't smell the besamim. We don't want you to get too close, but it's okay to give her a social kiss and things like that—just close your nose while you're doing it. They're learning. They just don't want you to smell the besamim, but apparently everything else is allowed. You have to put these halachot into context. They were concerned about the besamim because that might lead to something more than mixed dancing or social kissing could lead to. But we don't have to say more. Ein mevarech aleihem.
Venachon lehachmir af bivsamim she'al ishto niddah. It's proper to be stringent even with besamim on one's own wife when she's a niddah. But if she removed them and put them on the table, you can smell them. Then he discusses re'ach tov baperot. Some say that for the smell of hot bread one makes Hanoten re'ach tov bapeirot; others disagree, and the rule is to be lenient in a doubt about a berachah. So he doesn't want you to make the berachah on bread. But on coffee he said you can make Hanoten re'ach tov bapeirot. There are those who disagree about that too.
Etrog (citron) used for a mitzvah (commandment): here's the famous case. An etrog smells good. If you take it to smell, you make Hanoten re'ach tov bapeirot. Some say you don't make a berachah on it because it's not designated for smelling; you're using it for the mitzvah. If you made the berachah on another fruit, you can smell all of them. Therefore, the etrog used for the mitzvah is not muktzeh (set aside from use) on Shabbat. That's why it's not muktzeh: you can smell it. They don't want you to make the berachah on the etrog, because it isn't designated for smelling. What about after Sukkot? For sure, that's okay. But on Sukkot it's designated for the mitzvah. It isn't muktzeh on Shabbat, though, because I can smell an orange and then pick up my etrog.
What if I'm eating an orange, and after I finish, the peel is on the plate? Can I pick it up and make the berachah and smell it? Why not? If you had the kavanah (intention)—“I'm not going to eat it; I want to smell it”—then it smells great and you want to smell it. You're not eating it; you've finished. The Ben Ish Chai's point was that if it was brought to you to eat and you weren't going to smell it, that's different. But now you're not eating the peel at all. What do you make on the peel itself? That's a question. Presumably atzei, because it comes from the fruit itself. Would you treat it like a fruit? Is the peel a fruit? You might make atzei. The question is re'ach tov bapeirot.
We had a big issue with Moises and Rabbi Saul about the lemon. We have cloves. We have a custom in shul on Kippur (Day of Atonement): we take a lemon and put cloves in it. So it's a big she'eilah (question) what berachah to make on this mixture. On the cloves, atzei. But on the lemon, seemingly, it should be Hanoten re'ach tov bapeirot. And you have both together, giving off a collective smell. Which berachah wins? Does Hanoten re'ach tov bapeirot cover atzei? I'd think so, since we say cloves are also edible, right? There's also an opinion that re'ach tov bapeirot applies to cloves before they're dried. So maybe you make the berachah on the lemon. Is there an opinion that says atzei vesamim for a lemon? No, especially when you're not eating it on Kippur; it's made for smelling. Seemingly, the berachah should be Hanoten… We wrote a Daily Halachah about that. We'll check it after Shabbat, where we discussed the lemon and cloves.
In practice, on Saturday night, if they bring you cinnamon for the besamim at Havdalah, make a berachah of atzei. You're planning to smell it, not eat it, so there's no problem. Does it matter whether it's ground or whole? They bring you a cinnamon stick; make sure it has a smell. At home, we have a jar of cinnamon sticks. I never knew what they were used for. That's what you smell for besamim.
And if I go to the closet and find tea leaves, and I'm not making tea but want to smell them, can I make a berachah? I have to know what it is, probably an herb, so make isbei vesamim. Chamomile is a flower, maybe they have that. But not when they're bringing you tea to drink and you happen to smell the bag. Stay away from that, because you wouldn't have gone to the closet to smell it if they weren't bringing you tea. That's the Ben Ish Chai's rule. But if they specifically bring it for a sick person to smell, and you make a berachah, that's a precious berachah. Chacham Ovadia, peace be upon him, would have all the besamim in front of him on Shabbat, in order to reach one hundred berachot. He would keep making atzei, isbei, and so on from time to time to reach one hundred berachot.
If there are two different atzei items and Hanoten re'ach tov bapeirot for the lemon, does one berachah cover them? If you had that intention, yes, it covers them.
Okay, gentlemen, we'll stop here.