Class #034 VIDEO / Berachot 6.1 / Before eating every type of food requires a blessing to be specific why?

1. Location and function of the Mishnah

• Treaty: Berachot (Blessings).
• Order: Zeraim (agricultural Laws and blessings).
• Chapter: 6.
• Chapter: What blessing initial corresponds to each type of food?

Berachot 6:1 is the Mishnah “matrix” on blessings of food: fixed the basic structure of the berachot before eating and defines two “products kings”: wine and bread, which are separated from the general categories.

2. Technical summary of the Mishnah

The Mishnah states:

1. Fruits of the tree → “Boré perí ha etz” (Creator of the fruit of the tree).
   • Exception: the wine, which receives “Boré warranty hagáfen” (Creator of the fruit of the vine).
2. Fruits of the earth → “Boré perí ha adamá” (Creator of the fruit of the land).
   • Exception: the bread, which receives “Hamotzí lejem min ha áretz” (the one Who brings forth bread from the earth).
3. Vegetables and herbs → the Jajamim say “Boré perí ha adamá”.
   • Rabbi Yehuda proposes a bracha different: “Boré minei deshaim” (the one Who creates various kinds of herbs). The halachah no follow your opinion.

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3. General principles learned from this Mishnah

3.1. Basic classification of foods

From here it follows the classic structure of the berachot on food:

1. Bread of the five grains → “Hamotzí lejem min ha áretz” + Birkat Hammazón after.
2. Wine and grape juice → “Boré warranty hagáfen”.
3. Fruit of tree → “Boré perí ha etz”.
4. Fruits of the earth, and vegetables → “Boré perí ha adamá”.
5. Other foods (meat, fish, cheese, eggs, drinks not wine, etc) → “Shehakol nihyá bidvaró” (Not mentioned in this Mishnah, but it is the sixth general category).

The Mishnah is concentrated in the first three categories vegetables and it highlights two special products that come out of the general rule: bread and wine.

3.2. Central Idea

• The Mishnah teaches that not all foods are equal to the level of spiritual and halachic.
• Certain foods, for its central role in jewish life and worship, receive specific blessings and more “actors” (bread and wine), even though technically, they may enter into a general category.

4. Detailed analysis of each part

4.1. “On fruits of the tree: Boré perí ha etz”

Categoryperot ha ilan” includes:

• Fruit typically trees, grapes (fresh fruit), figs, pomegranates, olives, dates, apples, pears, etc
• All of them, if they eat in their usual form, they require “Boré perí ha etz”.

What is “tree,” according to the halachah?

The Talmud and poskim discuss what is considered to be “tree” for the purposes of the bracha:

• Criterion classic: is a tree plant whose stump remains of one year to the next, and then the fruit on the same tree trunk.
• If the stem is dry and is renewed completely every year, even though people call it “tree”, halájicamente is product of the earth and leads ha adamá.

Practical examples (according to most authorities):

• Ha etz: apple, pear, peach, olive, fig, pomegranate, lemon, orange, mango, avocado/avocado.
• Ha adamá (although people call them “fruit”): banana, pineapple/pineapple, strawberry/strawberry, papaya, most of the fruits of low plants.

If you said the bracha wrong

• If someone says ha adamá on a fruit tree, meet a posterioribecause the tree also grows from the earth.
• Instead, say ha etz on something that is not tree not served and should be repeated correctly (if you haven't ate in a significant way).

This point shows a hierarchy:

• Ha adamá is more general and you can cover it ha etz bediavad, on the contrary, is not.

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4.2. Exception: the wine and “Boré warranty hagáfen”

The Mishnah emphasizes that, although the wine is made from grapes (fruit tree), its bracha is unique:

“Boré warranty hagáfen” – Creator of the fruit of the see

Why the wine has a bracha special?

The Talmud (Berachot 35a-b) and the subsequent literature give several reasons:

1. Qualitative transformation: the grape changes significantly to turn into wine; it is not just grape juice.
2. Centrality ritual: the wine is used for the majority of the jewish ceremonies:
   • Kiddush of Shabbat and holidays,
   • Havdalá,
   • weddings, brit milah, etc
3. Use in the Temple: the wine is poured as a libation on the altar, together with certain sacrifices, giving it a status as liturgical high.

That's why, although it could have been under ha etz, the Wise established a formula independent that reflects your spiritual status and higher social.

Practical range

• Grape juice (not fermented) also receives “Boré warranty hagáfen”because it shares the same origin and ritual use.
• Alcoholic beverages from other fruits or cereals (beer, cider, liquors, etc..) no enter hagáfen, but in shehakol.

4.3. “On the fruits of the earth: Boré perí ha adamá”

Here the Mishnah enters the second major category: everything that grows from the earth but no it is considered the “tree”:

• Vegetables: lettuce, tomato, cucumber, carrot, onion, etc
• Fruit plants low or non-perennial (banana, pineapple, strawberry, melon, according to number of views, etc).
• Legumes, grains in many performances, etc.

General blessing: “Boré perí ha adamá”.

Hierarchy versus ha etz

As already indicated:

• Ha adamá is wider; you can cover, a posteriori, the fruit of tree.
• That's why, in case of doubt if something is a tree or the ground (for example, species new or confusing), many poskim recommend saying ha adamá to avoid a berajá in vain.

4.4. Exception: the bread and “Hamotzí lejem min ha áretz”

Although the bread, materially, is “the fruit of the earth,” the Mishnah what separates:

“On the bread, it is said: ‘Hamotzí lejem min ha áretz’.”

What does the bread different?

1. Staple universal: the bread of the five grains (wheat, barley, spelt, rye, oat, according to some definitions) is the mainstay in the diet classic.
2. Base of the seudá: a meal with bread is considered a a full meal and drag other food under their framework of blessings (the principle of 'ikar ve tafel).
3. Birkat Hammazón: after eating bread in a minimal amount (kezait), is recited Birkat Hammazóna blessing extensive biblical origins.
4. Netilat yadayim: before eating bread is required ritual washing of hands with berajá (according to the rules of netilat yadayim).

That is to say, the bread is the food emblematic of humanity in halachah: concentrated human work (ploughing, planting, harvesting, grinding, kneading dough, bake) and it therefore has a status liturgical top.

4.5. “About the herbs and vegetables: Boré perí ha adamá” – Opinion of the majority

The Mishnah distinguishes finally:

• “Yerakot” (vegetable, edible herbs) → ha adamá.

This includes:

• Leafy vegetables (lettuce, swiss chard, spinach).
• Stems and edible herbs (parsley, cilantro, celery, etc).
• Sprouts and green plants in general.

4.6. The opinion of Rabbi Yehuda: “Boré minei deshaim”

Rabbi Yehuda holds that:

• Which vegetables and herbs deserve a bracha more specific: “Boré minei deshaim” – Who creates various kinds of herbs.

The Talmud discusses this proposal, and the decision is do not follow it:

• Halachah: it maintains the general formula ha adamá also for vegetables and herbs.

However, the stock of this opinion shows a conceptual tension:

• Is it worth more precision (mention “herbs” specifically), or unification (a bracha for all the products of the earth)?
• The Wise choose the unification practiceto avoid confusion and multiplication of unnecessary formulas.

5. Criteria halájicos derivatives

5.1. Technical definition of tree

As we saw, the halachah does not follow the language of the people, but the technical criteria:

1. Trunk standing: if the trunk lasts several years, and then the fruit on the same tree trunk → ha etz.
2. Plant that renews or boots each year: although fruit is considered ha adamá.

This affects the bracha of many tropical crops, and modern.

5.2. Hierarchy of specificity

It provides a kind of pyramid:

• Bread and wine → berachot more specific and high.
• Then ha etz, then ha adamá.
• Last shehakol, which covers everything that does not fit in the above.

Golden rule:

• In case of doubt between two categories, we choose the more generally acceptable bediavad (for example, ha adamá in front of ha etz).

5.3. Relationship with “'ikar ve tafel”

Although not mentioned here, this Mishnah is the basis for another principle of the same chapter:

• When a food is main ('ikar) and another is secondary (tafel)makes the bracha only by the principal.
• Bread and wine, for his great hierarchy, tend to become the 'ikar of the food or of the act of ritual.

6. Practical applications of modern

1. Bread, biscuits, pasta, cakes, flour, etc
   • Classic bread: hamotzí + Birkat Hammazón.
   • Cakes, biscuits, pastries, breakfast cereals based grain: typically wear “Boré minei mezonot” (another category to be learned from this same framework, not formulated explicitly in the Mishnah but is derived from the five grains, cooked or baked with no pan of seudá).
2. Wine and grape juice
   • Red, white, rosé, sparkling wine, grape juice pasteurized → hagáfen.
   • Apple cider or alcoholic beverages from other fruits → shehakol.
3. Fresh fruits
   • Apple, pear, orange, peach, etc → ha etz.
   • Banana, pineapple, strawberry → ha adamá, by the criterion of the trunk is not permanent.
4. Vegetables and salads
   • Salad of lettuce, tomato, cucumber → ha adamá (if the main intention is to greens).
5. Dishes mixed
   • If a dish contains a variety of foods with different berachot, you must analyze:
     • Is there a main food that defines the dish?
     • What others are accompaniment (sauce, seasoning, garnish secondary)?
   • If the bread is present in sufficient quantity, it is usually to “cover” the rest of us by hamotzí.

7. Dimension conceptual and spiritual

Beyond the technical legal, this Mishnah also to build a theology of food:

1. Difference in recognition of the creation
   • Do not bless “in general” for the food: it is recognized each type of production (tree, earth, bread, wine) as a specific expression of the divine creation.
   • It educates the person to do not eat in the automatic: before each bite must be to identify what you are eating.
2. Bread and wine as symbols of civilization
   • Bread: symbol livelihoods and human effort. A raw grain to loaf there's a whole cultural process.
   • Wine: symbol joy sanctified and elevation; it is not a simple pleasure, but a central element of the sanctification of the time and the key moments of jewish life.
3. Order and spiritual discipline
   • The structure of berachot forced to live food as a practice of consciousness continues: before you enjoy, you recognize the Font, and placed each item in its proper place.

8. Conclusion

In short, to master this Mishnah you need to be clear on these points:

1. Basic categories: ha etz, ha adamá, hamotzí, hagáfen, and its place in the general system of berachot.
2. Exceptions key:
   • Came out of ha etz and receives hagáfen.
   • Bread comes out of ha adamá and receives hamotzí and drag Birkat Hammazón.
3. Definition halachic tree vs. earth and their practical consequences (bananas, pineapples, etc).
4. Hierarchy of berachot and rules in case of doubt (preference for the bracha more general that is still valid).
5. The opinion of Rabbi Yehuda (“Boré minei deshaim”) and decision of the halachah of maintaining ha adamá also for vegetables.
6. Relevance current: all daily decisions about what bracha to say in front of almost any food begin in this Mishnah.