This morning, we’re going to study a very interesting halacha (Jewish law). Do you say Shehecheyanu (Who has kept us alive) on a grafted fruit? Many, many fruits that are on the market today are grafted between two species and become one. For example, I think the grapefruit is a hybrid between the orange and the lemon. The nectarine is between the peach and the apricot, I believe. We have a lot of fruits like this. We don’t even know, but really, originally, it’s not a natural fruit. It was made by people. Do you say, Rabbi, that we are recording? Do you say Shehecheyanu on a fruit that didn’t exist, that people made, of course, based on what Hashem made?
It’s asur (forbidden) to do that. He writes the following: When it’s the same min (species), which means that you take... Maybe the pomelo is that; I don’t know. But when you take two-sided citruses, citrus fruits, and make one, maybe we could say it’s the same species. You just make a very small change. It’s very similar to the original fruit. But when you take two fruits that have nothing to do with each other and create a new fruit, he calls that something that was done against the will of God. God didn’t invent that fruit. The person invented a fruit that didn’t exist. It’s asur to do. So then, how can you say Shehecheyanu for seeing this or for eating this the way we do it in the minhag (custom)? It’s not asur. However, he says, he has a point. Many, many, many poskim (halachic authorities) agreed with him, including Kaf HaChaim and very big poskim who agree that when you talk about a fruit that is not in the spirit of what the Torah says, then how can you say a Beracha (blessing) on that fruit? You could eat it because it’s written in Gemara, and you’re allowed to do that. But at the end of the day, he would say not to say Shehecheyanu.
Although a goy (non-Jew) is allowed to do that, you’re probably eating a fruit from a goy. The majority are goyim. Therefore, there’s no issur (prohibition) with it. However, he and many poskim say not to. What’s the other side? Many other poskim disagree. They say, why not? At the end of the day, the goy didn’t do anything wrong. It’s available. You know, it’s asur for a Jew to do it, but it’s mutar (permitted) be’achila (for consumption), et cetera. They say there’s no problem saying Shehecheyanu. There’s a machloket (dispute) there.
Normally, you would expect Hacham Ovadia to be posek (halachic decisor) halacha like always: safek Berachot lehakel. He always says, “If there’s a safek on Berachot, you don’t do the Beracha.” Here he says to say Shehecheyanu. Why? Because you don’t say safek Berachot lehakel against the minhag. He says the minhag from Yerushalayim, and the minhag of Yerushalayim, is to say the Beracha of Shehecheyanu on a pri murkav (grafted fruit). But then he says that in chutz la’aretz (outside the Land of Israel), it seems that there was a minhag not to, or that there are places that have a minhag not to. He says, “Ki miTzion tetze Torah u’dvar Adonai miYerushalayim.” If the Torah comes from Yerushalayim, if the minhag in Yerushalayim is to say the Beracha, he says tze Beracha. It’s a very interesting psak (ruling), because you have a lot of reasons not to say the Beracha, but you have to do it. He’s posek halacha to say Shehecheyanu on grafted fruits.