[Avodah] Churva shul update (from areivim)

[Saul Mashbaum]

On areivim, after saying I was in the newly rebuilt Churva shul in the Old
City I

cited the following halacha:


Haroeh batei Yisrael b'yishuvan omer "Baruch... matziv gvul almana". See OCh
224:10, and MB there ot 14, who quotes the Rif that "batei Yisrael" refers
to batei knesset.


RGD responded

 > Don't leave us hanging:  did you make the beracha?  Beshem umalchus?

I was tempted to respond (Jewishly :)) why not? What do you see in the
source cited,
or any other source, that would make you doubt that one should make this
bracha
under the circumstanced I described ?

However, I am aware that such a response begs the question. There is a
strong sense about certain brachot, despite the obligation to say them being
 clearly delineated in SA OCh, that "the SA and poskim can say whatever they
want. It doesn't matter. We simply don't say these brachot, certainly
not b'shem
umalchut".

Indeed the MB does say something like this about some of the "rare, unusual"
brachot, and the Rama says that a certain bracha  instituted by chazal is
not now said. However,  when the poskim do not say our practice is not to
say a certain bracha, we may assume
by implication that they felt it *should* be said.

Part of the problem is that some the obligation to say certain brachot seems
to be a subjective feeling, a concept some are uncomfortable with; it seems,
if not antinomian,
at least non-nomian. Chazal instituted a bracha, "oseh maase b'reishit"  on
"natural wonders",  a concept difficult to define precisely. Rivers are
mentioned as being in this category; I find it difficult to imagine getting
so excited about the Hudson River that it would inspire in me a need to make
a bracha on it. OTOH I do think the stalactite cave near Beit Shemesh is so
stunning does "deserve" a bracha" as a natural wonder . Where does one draw
the line? If we can't define the chiyyuv precisely, some feel the bracha is
better off not being said, explicit unequivocal  statements in the SA
notwithstanding.

I find the following autobiographical passage by RYBS, quoted in "The Rav"
by R.Aharon Rakefet-Rothkoff, Vol II, p 165-6, relevant to this topic

"I remember how enthused I was the first time I saw the Baltic Sea. I was
born in Russia, and never saw a major body of water in my youth. It was a
beautiful sunny day in the month of Iyyar, after Pesach, when I went with a
cousin to the Baltic Sea in Danzig [Gdansk, Poland].

I remember that the water was blue, deeply blue. From afar it looked like a
blue forest. It resembled the aboriginal forests near Pruzhanam where I was
born. When I came close and realized it was the Baltic Sea, I was
overwhelmed by its beauty. Spontaneously, I began to recite the Psalm [104]
"Borchi Nafshi". I did not plan to do this, but the words flowed from my
lips "O lord, my God, You are very great; You are clothed with glory  and
majesty" "There is the sea, vast and wide" It was a religious reaction to
viewing the majesty of God's creation. When I recited the brocho upon seeing
the sea, I did so with emotion and deep feeling. I deeply experienced the
words of the brocho "oseh maase b'reishis'. Not all the brochos I make are
made with such concentration. It was more than simply a brocho, it was an
encounter with the creator. I felt that the Shechinah was hidden in the
darkness and vastness of the sea. The experience was unique and
unforgettable; the brocho welled out of me.
Since then, I have seen the ocean many times. I still recite the brocho if
thirty days have elapsed since I last saw it. Nevertheless, since that first
time, it has become a routine blessing, a kalte, misnagdishe brocho."

Saul Mashbaum
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