[Avodah] New Brachos

[Micha Berger]

On Tue, Jan 12, 2010 at 09:19:54PM +0000, kennethgmiller at juno.com wrote:
:> 1- Does the situation call for a berakhah?
:> 2- Is this berakhah an established nusach?

: WADR, I'm not convinced that #1 is a legitimate question. Can there be a
: situation which calls for a bracha, yet Chazal neglected to establish one?

I think you mean it's not a question if the answer to #2 is "no".
However, I gave an example:
:> But the question with puffed wheat or toasted grains isn't
:> question #1. The person is about to eat, so the time is
:> appropriate, there is no berakhah levatalah. However,
:> arguably none of Chazal's standard coinages apply. So then
:> the question is between (1) using a berakhah that post-dates
:> gemara, (2) sheqer, or (3) not making a berakah desipte the
:> general taqanah to make one before eating.

: None of those three options is a good idea. But the system allows
: for situations like this, and tells us exactly what to do: Use the more
: general bracha.

Which is what? I thought the whole reason why the rishonim had to
coin the berakhah we are discussing WRT granola bars is that we simply
ignore the fact that it's a grain and go with a more generic berakhah.
The situation, eating, calls for a berakhah. None of the berakhos coined
by chazal fit the particular food. Thus, a case where "does the situation
call for a berakhah" is "a legitimate question" even though there is no
appropriate nusach.

But in any case, a new coinage said to thank HQBH before eating can't be
a deOraisa, as Chazal's matbei'ah isn't on the deOraisa level either.
Thus, question one, being about a deOraisa, is distinct from the problem
of writing one's own berakhos.

: I have a very simple place where *I* draw the line between situations
: which call for a bracha, and situations which don't. Namely, if there is
: a bracha which I'm obligated to make, then it is a situation which calls
: for a bracha...

What about the 19 berakhos in a tefilas nedavah. They aren't levatalah,
if said bekavanah.

>                                                        Sounds pretty
> straightforward to me. Where do *you* draw the line?

I am not suggesting an answer. I'm suggesting a different set of
questions with which to frame the question.

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             You cannot propel yourself forward
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