Brachot on a Nice Smell: Difference between revisions

Just like it is forbidden to benefit from a food without making a [[Bracha Rishona]], it is also forbidden to benefit from a nice smell before making a bracha.<ref>Kitzur S"A 58:1</ref>

# For edible fruits that give off a strong smell (from the fruit and not from the peel) the Bracha required is HaNoten Rayach Tov BaPerot. The major limitation of this category is that one should only make the Bracha for a strong smell and only if the fruit is taken to smell and not to eat. <Ref>Vezot HaBracha (pg 175, chapter 19) </ref>

# The general Bracha for nice smells is Boreh Minei [[Besamim]] and is made for non-plant or fruit products, or for items for which there’s an unresolved dispute in the poskim. <ref>Vezot HaBracha (pg 175-7, chapter 19) </ref>

# Examples: cinnamon, cloves (common for [[Havdalah]] ), lemon, hot ground coffee beans (taken to smell), mixture of tree and shrub products. <ref>Vezot HaBracha (pg 397, Luach [[Brachot]]) </ref>

# For synthetic smells, as is common in cheap perfumes, some say that the Bracha is Boreh Minei [[Besamim]] and some say that there’s no Bracha on such a smell. <Ref> Vezot HaBracha (pg 182, chapter 19) quotes a dispute between Rav Chaim Pinchas Scheinberg who says that synthetic products have a Bracha, and Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach who holds that no Bracha is made. [http://www.dailyhalacha.com/Display.asp?PageIndex=&ClipID=2622 Rabbi Eli Mansour] quotes Chacham Benzion Abba Shaul (Sh"t Or Litzion volume 2: pg. 137) as well as Chacham Ovadia Yosef (Chazon Ovadia [[Berachot]] pg. 313) that a beracha should be recited. He adds that even though Chacham David Yosef (son of Chacham Ovadia) says that he convinced his father that a beracha shouldn't be recited, nevertheless, one may recite a beracha or use it for [[havdalah]] </ref>

# There’s a dispute whether Bracha of [[Shehakol]] covers any Bracha for a nice smell and because of the dispute, after the fact, one may not make another Bracha. <ref>Vezot HaBracha (pg 176, chapter 19) </ref>

# The Bracha of Atzi doesn’t cover the products that require Isbei and the Bracha of Isbei doesn't cover products that require Atzi. <Ref>Kitzur S"A 58:7, Mishna Brurah 216:39, Vezot HaBracha (pg 176, chapter 19) </ref>

# If you have a plant which has a nice smell but you personally are in doubt as to whether the Bracha is Atzei or Isbei, if it’s easy to find out the correct Bracha, one should do so, otherwise, one may make Boreh Minei [[Besamim]]. (This is different than foods where there’s an obligation to figure out the appropriate halacha instead of making [[Shehakol]].) <ref>Kitzur S"A 58:7, Vezot HaBracha (pg 176, chapter 19) </ref>

# If one is unsure whether a product has a nice or strong smell, one may smell it to check, make the Bracha, and then make the Bracha. <Ref>Vezot HaBracha (pg 180, chapter 19), [https://docs.google.com/viewer?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thehalacha.com%2Fattach%2FVolume4%2FIssue11.pdf Halachically Speaking] quoting Ben Ish Chai (VaEtchanan#2). </ref>

# No Bracha is made on a smell that was absorbed or rubbed off a nice smelling product, but now there’s no substance of the Basamim existent. Example: perfume bottle, [[etrog]] box, tea leaves. <ref>Vezot HaBracha (pg 180, chapter 19) </ref>

#The beracha of [[shehecheyanu]] is not recited on a fragrance, even those that are renewed each year. <ref> Mishna Brurah 225:16 </ref>