There is a major controversy among the Halachic authorities concerning the Halachic status of bread with a sweet flavor, such as raisin bread (or bagels), cinnamon bread, and bread sweetened with honey, sugar, oil and the like. Maran, in the Shulhan Aruch, writes explicitly that bread which has a sweet taste is not considered bread with respect to Berachot, and thus the Beracha over such bread is "Mezonot," rather than "Ha’mosi." As long as the sweet taste is unmistakably discernible, the Beracha is downgraded from "Ha’mosi" to "Mezonot."

However, Rabbi Moshe Halevi (Israel, 1961-2001), in his work Birkat Hashem, qualifies the Shulhan Aruch’s ruling, claiming that the Shulhan Aruch refers only to a case where one eats sweet bread as a snack. If, however, one uses this bread as a meal, then the Beracha over the sweet bread is "Ha’mosi," just like ordinary bread. Rabbi Moshe Halevi cites several proofs to his position, but Hacham Ovadia Yosef, in Yabia Omer, as well as his son, Hacham David Yosef, in Halacha Berura, refute these proofs and dispute Rabbi Moshe Halevi’s ruling. Hacham David argues that if there were a distinction between sweet bread eaten as a snack and sweet bread eaten as a meal, the Shulhan Aruch would have made this distinction explicitly. According to Hacham Ovadia, then, under all circumstances one recites "Mezonot" over sweet bread, and not "Ha’mosi."

Nevertheless, both Hacham Ovadia and Hacham David add that it is preferable to avoid this question and only eat sweet bread in the context of a meal with ordinary bread. This is also the view of Hacham Bension Abba Shaul (Israel, 1923-1998), in Or Le’sion, where he writes that it is proper for a "G-d-fearing person" not to eat sweet bread except in the context of a meal with ordinary bread. If, however, this is not possible, then one may certainly rely on Hacham Ovadia’s ruling and recite "Mezonot." For example, if a person is traveling on a plane and he is served a sweet roll with a sticker that says "Mezonot," he may recite "Mezonot" and eat the bread, as quite obviously he does not have the option of eating non-sweetened bread. (Of course, we are assuming that the roll indeed has a sweet taste to it; there are some situations where a roll has a sticker that says "Mezonot" but it does not taste sweet at all.)

For Shabbat, then, Sepharadim should should use Hallot that are not sweetened, such as Pitot or "water Hallot" so they could be used for the Beracha of "Ha’mosi." Of course, if one wishes to eat sweet Halla with the meal afterward, this is certainly acceptable. But for the Beracha, a non-sweetened Halla should be used. Hacham Ovadia Yosef ruled that a sweet Halla may be used as the second Halla for "Lehem Mishne."

It should be noted that Ashkenazim follow a different view, and recite "Ha’mosi" even over sweetened bread. Therefore, if a Sepharadi visits an Ashkenazi for a Shabbat meal, and his hosts will be using sweet Hallot for "Ha’mosi," the guest should ensure to bring his own Hallot for "Ha’mosi."

Summary: According to Sephardic tradition, it is preferable to eat sweet Hallot only after reciting the Beracha of "Ha’mosi" over non-sweetened bread, but if this is not possible, one recites "Mezonot" over sweet Hallah. Sepharadim should not use sweet Halla for the Beracha of "Ha’mosi" on Shabbat, but a sweet Halla may be used as the second Halla for "Lehem Mishne."

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