[Avodah] Birchos ha-re'iyah

[Yitzchak Schaffer]

Hello all,

I was once at an aquarium, and saw a walrus. Though I'd seen pictures 
and figurines of walruses, it really made an impression in person as the 
strangest creature I'd ever seen. I figured this was an ideal time to 
say the berachah of "meshaneh ha-beriyos," but I think I recall from 
RNS's zoo tour that the "official" animals of this berachah are the 
elephant and monkey. So, I called up a (rather righty) rav I was close 
to for his opinion.

He said that some poskim prefer not to say the berachah at all nowadays, 
given our familiarity with these animals. So I didn't.

Recently I was at the Bronx Zoo, and seeing a giraffe, had a similar 
reaction. I also composed the following haiku later:

Tall and spotted beast
Unlikely grace and beauty
Canter, amble, stoop

But I digress. This time, as I contemplated the question, I felt a wave 
of despair. Chazal instituted these berachos (IIUC) as an avenue to keep 
our relationship with the world in sync with our relationship to the 
Creator. So how can one /not/ say a berachah when experiencing the very 
feeling the berachah is meant to embody? I said the berachah.

Similar experience at the Great Falls in Paterson, one of the country's 
largest falls.

So. It now occurs to me that the rav's logic does not appear to hold, in 
view of the fact that we say berachos over thunder and lightning, 
notwithstanding that we are familiar with these, and anyway might see 
pictures etc. within 30 days. But anyway: I think the question that 
comes out of this for me is, how formalistic is halachah when it comes 
to issues like this? It seems like taking pesak to its formalistic 
extreme leads to this type of chilling effect, where the personal 
relationship with the mitzvos is cut off in favor of the system. Related 
to the unnatural (IMO) results when one tries to be choshesh for all 
opinions.

-- 
Yitzchak Schaffer