Raw or Roasted Grains

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Background

The Gemara 37a writes that one who chews (and swallows) wheat kernels makes HaAdama. Magan Avraham 208:2 understands the Rambam (Brachot 3:2) as holding that even if the kernels are still intact but the shell was removed and then it was cooked, one should make a Mezonot. However, Magan Avraham understands that the Talmidei Rabbenu Yonah (Brachot 25b) hold that the kernels must be ground and cooked enough that the kernels could stick together in order to make a Mezonot. [Tosfot (D”H HaKoses) and Rosh (Brachot 6:9) agree that once it’s ground up well by the cooking the Bracha is Mezonot.]

Bracha Rishona

If the shell wasn’t removed

  1. If the shell wasn’t removed and the kernel wasn’t crushed in cooking, everyone agrees that the Bracha is HaAdama. (S”A 208:4, Mishna Brurah 208:3)
  2. If the shell wasn’t removed and the kernel was totally crushed in cooking, the Bracha is mezonot (Mishna Brurah 208:3). An easy example of this is barley in chulent. (Piskei Teshuvot 208:3)
  3. If the shell wasn’t removed and the kernel was slightly crushed in cooking, the Bracha is a safek. (Shaar Tzion 208:18)

If the shell was removed

  1. If the shell was removed and the kernel was totally crushing in cooking, the Bracha is mezonot (VeZot Bracha Birur 27 based on Mishna Brurah 208:3).
  2. If the shell was removed and the kernel wasn’t crushed in the cooking, the Bracha is a dispute between the Rambam and Talmidei Rabbenu Yonah. (Mishna Brurah 208:15, Sh"t Igrot Moshe 1:68)

If the grains were ground

  1. If the grains were cut or ground and then cooked, the Bracha is mezonot (whether it is crushed or not). (Mishna Brurah 208:3)

If a piece of the kernel was removed

  1. If the grains had the shell and a piece of the kernel removed, the Bracha is mezonot. (Mishna Brurah 208:15; Aruch HaShulchan 208:17, Igrot Moshe 1:68). VeZot HaBracha (pg 283, Birur 27) adds that if only a small piece of the kernel along with the shell was removed the bracha is the same as if it's a whole kernel without the shell which is a doubt. However, Rabbi Moshe HaLevi in Birkat Hashem (vol 2 pg 129) and Halacha Brurah 208:16 hold that the Bracha is HaAdama just like raw wheat even if it doesn’t have it’s shell, a piece was taken off, and was roasted (since the kernels weren’t cooked).

Puffed wheat

Those who say puffed wheat is considered raw

  1. VeZot HaBracha (pg 103) writes in name of Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, Rabbi Elyashiv, and Rabbi Sheinberg that the heating process isn’t considered cooking and so the Bracha is HaAdama just like raw wheat (S”A 208:4).
  2. VeZot HaBracha adds that Igrot Moshe would agree based on Sh”t 4:46 that heat alone isn’t considered cooking.
  3. Veten Bracha (Halachos of Brochos by Rabbi Bodner pg 527, Addendum five part A), Pitchei Halacha (Rabbi Binyamin Forst, pg 148 note 125), Birkat Hashem (vol 2 pg 129), and Halacha Brurah 208:16, and Piskei Teshuvot 208:8 all agree to the above conclusion. http://www.berachot.org/foods/cereals.htm goes by this opinion.

Those who say puffed wheat is considered cooked

  1. Chacham Ben Tzion Abba Shaul in Or Letzion (vol 2, 14:21) holds that the Bracha is mezonot as it’s dependant in the dispute in Magan Avraham 208:2 (quoted by Mishna Brurah 208:15) and still one should make the Bracha for the lesser important stage of the kernels i.e. HaAdama.
  2. Rabbi Ovadyah Yosef in Chazon Ovadyah (Brachot pg 183) writes that it has the status of something that was cooked with the shell removed which is a dispute in the Magan Avraham 208:2 (quoted by Mishna Brurah 208:15) and rules that one may make a HaAdama in such a case (like the opinions of the Olelot Efraim and Chaye Adam that Shaar Tzion 208:20 quotes).

Those who hold it’s mezonot

  1. Sh”t Igrot Moshe 4:44-46 writes that sugar crisps which are cooked and whole kernels have the Bracha of either Mezonot or HaAdama. [Rabbi Dovid Heber of the Star-K writes that for Honey Smacks one may make a mezonot or HaAdama like the Igrot Moshe. (http://www.star-k.org/kashrus/kk-brochosforbreakfast-fall06.htm) The Kof-K holds similarly. (http://www.kof-k.org/articles/040108110437W-25%20Breakfast%20Cereals.pdf)]
  2. Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu (VeZot HaBracha pg 384) writes that the Bracha is HaAdama unless one crumbles it, puts it in milk or water (especially if the water is hot) in which case the Bracha is Mezonot.
  3. Vayamod Pinchas pg 160 quotes Rabbi Elyashiv as retracting from the earlier ruling (as quoted by Vezot HaBracha) that one makes a HaAdama on puffed wheat and after seeing the cooking process he held the Bracha was Mezonot.

Bracha Achrona

  1. Because there’s a dispute concerning Bracha Achrona, one should be strict not to eat it except as part of a meal. [1] Some suggest that one may avoid the doubt about the Bracha achrona by having two foods, one that requires a Boreh Nefashot, and one that requires an Al HaMichya. [2]
  2. However if one did go ahead and eat a kezayit of raw wheat (or any of the five grains) one should make a Boreh Nefashot. [3]

References

  1. ↑ S”A 208:4 in name of Tosfot writes that since there’s a doubt about the Bracha achrona one should be strict to only eat in a meal where the Birkat HaMazon will exempt it from Bracha Achrona. Sefer Brachat HaNehenin pg 147 writes the name of Rabbi Shlomo Zalman that it’s only a preferable and proper but not necessary. However, Zvot HaBracha (pg 103) argues that it’s certainly necessary to have it in a meal since we really do follow this opinion of Tosfot.
  2. ↑ The Aruch HaShulchan (208:9) and Or Letzion (vol 2, 14:21) suggest that an advise to avoid the doubt of which Bracha to make is to have two foods, one that has the Bracha of boreh nefashot and one that has the Bracha of Al HaMichya. VeZot HaBracha (pg 379 note 8) brings Rabbi Binyamin Forst who argues that this advise isn’t helpful to remove oneself from the doubt (since Tosfot’s opinion wasn’t to make an Al HaMichya on the raw kernels but an Al HaPri, an emended text of Al HaMichya.) Nonetheless, VeZot HaBracha defends this advise of the Aruch HaShulchan and quotes Rabbi Elyashiv who also says one may rely on it after the fact (that one didn’t have it in a meal.) See Birkat Hashem (vol 2, 2:8) who writes that it’s enough just to have a food that requires a Boreh Nefashot to cover the kernels.
  3. ↑ Magan Avraham 208:7 writes that since Bet Yosef really holds like the Rambam one should make a Boreh Nefashot. [Birkat Hashem (vol 2, pg 128) comments that from Bet Yosef it seems the opposite, however from S”A it seems that we hold like Rambam.] So rules the Mishna Brurah 208:18 and Kaf HaChaim 208:29. However, Birkat Hashem (vol 2 pg 112 note 8), Yalkut Yosef (Brachot pg 482 note 7) and Or Letzion (vol 2, 14:21) hold that there’s no Bracha achrona since there’s a doubt as to the proper Bracha and we follow the rule of Safek Brachot LeHakel. Nonetheless, Rabbi Ovadyah Yosef in Chazon Ovadyah (Brachot pg 183) rules that one may make the Bracha since the majority of Rishonim hold like the Rambam including S”A. [This ruling on it’s own is very strange considering that Rabbi Ovadyah holds of Safek Brachot LeHakel even against S”A. Therefore,] Halacha Brurah 208:18 adds that really there’s a Safek Safeka here considering that 1) perhaps we hold like the Rambam and we should make a Boreh Nefashot, and 2) even if we hold like the Tosfot perhaps Boreh Nefashot covers the Bracha of Al HaMichya (like Sh”t Ginat Veradim 1:15 unlike most achronim as in Sh”t Yabea Omer 1:12). Based on this Safek Safeka and the fact that S”A holds that a Bracha should be made, one may make Boreh Nefashot. [This ruling seems to be in line with Sh”t Chazon Ovadyah vol 2 pg 866 that by a double Safek with S”A holding one may make the Bracha, there’s enough to rely on to make the Bracha.] [It seems that Yalkut Yosef would retract after seeing the Chazon Ovadyah.]
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