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Today's Halacha:
There is a time-honored custom to eat a new fruit on Rosh Hashanah and recite the Beracha of "Shehehiyanu" over the fruit.
The question arises as to whether one may recite this Beracha over a grafted fruit, such as a nectarine. The work Halachot Ketanot (Rabbi Yaakov Hagiz, Morocco, 1620-1674) ruled that one may not recite "Shehehiyanu" over a grafted fruit because the Torah forbids the act of grafting. One cannot recite a Beracha thanking God for allowing him the opportunity to enjoy a product that came about as a result of a forbidden act, in violation of the divine will. According to the Halachot Ketanot, then, one may not recite "Shehehiyanu" over a grafted fruit. This was the view of several other authorities, as well, including the Yafeh La’leb, the Sedeh Hemed, and the Ben Ish Hai.
However, Rabbi Yaakov Emden (1697-1776), in his work She’elat Yabetz, disagreed, and maintained that one does, in fact, recite "Shehehiyanu" over a grafted fruit. He argued that no distinction should be made between the Beracha of "Boreh Peri Ha’etz," which is certainly required when eating such a fruit, and the Beracha of "Shehehiyanu." Once the Torah allowed eating a grafted fruit, despite the fact that it resulted from a forbidden act, then a person who derives enjoyment from the fruit must recite "Boreh Peri Ha’etz" and, if he eats it for the first time that season, he must recite "Shehehiyanu," as well. Since he derives enjoyment from the fruit, and the Torah allows him to do so, he should recite all the relevant Berachot.
Hacham Ovadia Yosef, however, challenges this argument, claiming that we may, indeed, distinguish between the Beracha of "Boreh Peri Ha’etz," which one recites before deriving benefit from food, and "Shehehiyanu," an expression of particular joy and excitement. Even though we recite "Boreh Peri Ha’etz" over a grafted fruit, it may not necessarily be appropriate to recite "Shehehiyanu."
Rav Yaakov Emden also contended that since most of the grafting is done by gentiles, who are not bound by the Torah law, grafted fruits are not produced in violation of the divine will. God did not command non-Jews not to graft fruit, and so no wrong has been committed when gentile farmers mix different species of fruits. As such, Rav Yaakov Emden claims, there is no reason not to recite "Shehehiyanu" over a grafted fruit.
Hacham Ovadia Yosef refutes this argument, as well, noting the ruling of the Rambam (Rabbi Moshe Maimonides, Spain-Egypt, 1135-1204) that gentiles are, in fact, forbidden from grafting. Even though grafting is not included among the seven formal Noachide laws by which all people all bound, the Rambam nevertheless held that gentiles must abide even by this prohibition.
In any event, despite these arguments, Hacham Ovadia held that one may recite the Beracha of "Shehehiyanu" over a grafted fruit. Normally, when we confront a difference of opinion among the Halachic authorities with regard to a Beracha, we employ the famous rule of "Safek Berachot Le’hakel," which means that we do not recite a Beracha in situations of uncertainty. With regard to grafted fruits, however, this principle does not apply, because there was a documented custom among the Jews of Jerusalem to recite "Shehehiyanu" over grafted fruits. (Although the Kaf Ha’haim claims that this was not the custom in Jerusalem, other sources demonstrate that this was, indeed, the practice among the city’s Jewish community.) An established custom supersedes the principle of "Safek Berachot Le’hakel," and therefore one may recite "Shehehiyanu" over grafted fruits. This is also the ruling of Rabbi Moshe Halevi (Israel, 1961-2001), in his work Birkat Hashem.
The exception to this rule, as Hacham Ovadia writes, is a community that has an established custom specifically not recite "Shehehiyanu" over grafted fruits. Such communities should follow their custom, and not rely on the custom of Jerusalem mentioned above.
As for the final Halacha, our community does not appear to have any established custom in this regard, and therefore we invoke the rule of "Safek Berachot Le’hakel," which means that we do not recite a Beracha in this case for it is a situation of uncertainty. To avoid all confusion, one should preferably take for this purpose a regular fruit that was not grafted.
Summary: In Israel, one recites "Shehehiyanu" on a new fruit even if it is grafted, such as a nectarine, though it is preferable on Rosh Hashanah to use for the "Shehehiyanu" a non-grafted fruit. In our community in New York, we do not have this custom, and therefore, we do not recite "Shehehiyanu" based on doubt and the rule of "Safek Berachot Le’hakel."
