[Avodah] Boreh Minei Bessamim: Stop And Smell The Flowers

[Micha Berger]

On Wed, Mar 09, 2011 at 10:37:19AM -0500, Zev Sero wrote:
>> I was under the impression that if I take something for the purpose of
>> refu'ah but happen to also enjoy the taste, I do not make a berakhah.

> Not so.  So long as you enjoy it you have to make a bracha...
> (OC 204:8-9)

Seems it's a machloqes acharonim. Here's R' Jachter's "the rest of
the story"
<http://www.koltorah.org/ravj/14-37_Medicines_that_Contain_Non-Kosher_Ingredients_or_Chametz_4.htm>
(or <http://bit.ly/dTUKnz>):
    The Shulchan Aruch (O.C. 204:8) rules that one should recite a
    Bracha on "any food or drink that one consumes for healing purposes
    if it has a good taste and is pleasant to the palate." Accordingly,
    it would seem that one should recite a Bracha on pleasant-tasting
    medicine. However, applying this Halacha to modern medicines is
    not a simple matter. Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach originally ruled
    (cited in Nishmat Avraham 1:91 and Shmirat Shabbat Kehilchata 40
    footnote 191) that one should recite a Bracha on pleasant tasting
    medicine. In addition, Dr. Abraham S. Abraham reports (Nishmat
    Avraham ad. loc.) that Rav Ovadia Yosef told him that he agrees with
    this ruling.

    However, Rav Yehoshua Neuwirth (ad. loc.) disagrees arguing that
    since the active ingredient of the medicine is bitter, one does
    not recite a Bracha on the sweet inactive ingredient (the active
    ingredient of medicine is the ingredient that effects the cure;
    inactive ingredients are added to assist in the consumption of the
    medicine). He argues that the sweet inactive ingredient is considered
    Tafel (insignificant) and thus does not merit a Bracha. He cites the
    Gemara (Brachot 35b-36a) as proof to his position. This Gemara states
    that one who drinks pure olive oil to cure a sore throat does not
    recite a Bracha because the olive oil "damages" him (even though it
    effects a cure) and is not considered to constitute an act of eating
    (see Rashi s.v. Azukei). However, if one places the olive oil in a
    vegetable soup (apparently this was a common practice in the time
    of the Gemara) he recites Borei Pri Haetz on the mixture since the
    active ingredient (the olive oil) is considered the primary and
    significant ingredient. Ordinarily, though, one who places olive
    oil in vegetable soup and drinks it for non-healing purposes recites
    Borei Pri Ha'adama, since the vegetable soup is the primary ingredient
    (see, though, Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim 205 for further discussion
    regarding whether to recite Borei P'ri Ha'adamah or She'hakol on
    vegetable soups).

    Accordingly, Rav Neuwirth argues that this passage in the Gemara
    teaches that when medicine is mixed with another product (to make
    taking the medicine easier) the medicine is considered the primary
    ingredient that determines which Bracha should be recited. Thus,
    when the active ingredient (the "medicine") is bitter (and merits
    no Bracha) and is mixed with pleasant tasting inactive ingredients
    (which do merit a Bracha), the active ingredient should be considered
    the primary ingredient and thus no Bracha should be recited on the
    elixir. Thus, just as in the Gemara's case, the active ingredient
    determines which Bracha should be recited, so too, the active
    ingredient determines whether a Bracha should be recited altogether
    on the mixture. Rav Shlomo Zalman replies, though, that the Gemara
    (Berachot 35a) writes that one who benefits from this world without
    reciting a Bracha is compared to a thief (as he takes from Hashem
    without paying "the fee," i.e. reciting the Bracha).

    One could reply that the active ingredient characterizes the elixir
    as a medicine and not as a food. The prohibition to benefit from
    this world applies only to benefiting from food without reciting
    a Bracha. Medicine, simply put, is not food. In addition, one
    could argue that the Halacha requires a Bracha on "medicine" only
    when one consumes food or drink for healing purposes. However,
    modern medicines are, generally speaking, not considered food or
    drink, as no one other than a sick individual would take such food,
    unlike the olive oil that is discussed on the Gemara. Accordingly,
    Dr. Abraham (Nishmat Avraham 4:7) reports that Rav Shlomo Zalman
    retracted his ruling and agreed with his student Rav Neuwirth that
    no Bracha should be recited on pleasant-tasting medicines. However,
    Rav Shlomo Zalman is cited (ad. loc.) as nonetheless ruling that a
    Bracha should be recited if the medicine is coated with sugar, since
    one tastes the sugar before taking the medicine. Rav Heber reports
    that the common practice appears to accord with Rav Neuwirth's ruling.

    Dr. Abraham cites (ad. loc. 1:91) that Rav Waldenberg told him that
    one can avoid this controversy simply by reciting the very brief
    Tefillah mentioned in the Shulchan Aruch (O.C. 230:4) that one should
    recite before one undergoes a medical procedure. Rav Waldenburg
    argues that this recitation functions in a similar manner to a
    Bracha and therefore obviates the problem of stealing from Hashem,
    as one enjoys the sweetener only after he has thanked Hashem.

-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             "'When Adar enters, we increase our joy'
micha at aishdas.org         'Joy is nothing but Torah.'
http://www.aishdas.org    'And whoever does more, he is praiseworthy.'"
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