[Avodah] Shehecheyanu on Matza

[Zev Sero via Avodah]

On 10/19/2015 02:53 PM, Micha Berger wrote:


> As for berakhos on posessing things... the berkahah is on the first
> time you enjoy your new suit, not when you buy it. The thing here is
> that mitzvos lav leihanos nitenu.
>

Not true.  The chiyuv is when you buy it.  You actually say it when you
put it on.  Same with fruit -- the chiyuv is actually chal as soon as you
see it, even *before* you buy it, but you say it when you eat it.  And
that is precisely why the bracha on acquiring a sukkah is said when you
first use it.

> The thing here is that mitzvos lav leihanos nitenu.

Irrelevant; it's not on the mitzvah but on the sukkah.


> This distinction, between a shehechiyanu enjoying on a new keli and
> shehechiyanu on a mitzvah one hasn't done in a while, was what
> brought me to discussing R' Eisenman's between-minchan-and-maariv
> about guns. I wanted to cast the gun in the role of sukkah, RRYE was
> treating it like a suit.

But the shecheyanu on the sukkah is exactly like shehecheyanu on a suit.

I would raise a different objection to shehecheyanu on a new gun: we
should not say it for the same reason we don't say it on new shoes,
but much more so.  A gun is inherently a keli of destruction, which
is unfortunately necessary in the current era when there are predators
(both human and animal) that need destroying.  But just as we pasken
that even today a weapon does not have a din of an adornment, because
le'asid lavo when it's no longer necessary it will not be worn, so
also it's not something whose acquisition should fill us with joy.



-- 
Zev Sero               All around myself I will wave the green willow
zev at sero.name          The myrtle and the palm and the citron for a week
                And if anyone should ask me the reason why I'm doing that
                I'll say "It's a Jewish thing; if you have a few minutes
                I'll explain it to you".