DailyHalacha.com for Mobile Devices Now Available

Click Here to Sponsor Daily Halacha
"Delivered to Over 6000 Registered Recipients Each Day"

      
(File size: 806 KB)
Reciting Ha’tob Ve’ha’metib Over Wine

If people drank wine together, and then a different kind of wine was brought to the table, they recite the Beracha of "Ha’tov Ve’ha’metib" before drinking the new wine. (This Halacha is subject to several conditions, which we will not address in this context.)

Normally, it is preferable for one person to recite a Beracha on behalf of everybody else at the table, who listen to the Beracha and fulfill their obligation by listening. Thus, for example, it is customary for one person to recite Kiddush for everybody at the table, and this is preferable to having each individual recite Kiddush personally. This is not the case, however, with regard to reciting "Ha’tob Ve’ha’metib" over wine. This Beracha is recited during a meal, when people are preoccupied with eating, and might therefore not pay proper attention to the Beracha. As opposed to Kiddush, which is recited before the meal when everybody can properly concentrate on the recitation, the Beracha of "Ha’tob Ve’ha’metib" is recited when people’s minds are on their food. It is therefore preferable for each person to recite "Ha’tob Ve’ha’metib" individually over the second wine. In fact, some Rishonim (Medieval Halachic scholars) maintained that even if one listened attentively to somebody else’s recitation of "Ha’tob Ve’ha’metib," he has not fulfilled his obligation. Halacha does not follow this view, but it is nevertheless preferable for each person to recite the Beracha individually.

There is a debate among the Rishonim as to whether one recites this Beracha anytime he drinks two kinds of wine, or only when this occurs in the context of a meal. The Rambam (Rabbi Moshe Maimonides, 1135-1204) and some other Rishonim indicate that this Beracha is recited only during a meal; if people get together to drink without eating a meal, they do not recite "Ha’tob Ve’ha’metib." Other Rishonim, however, disagree, and require reciting this Beracha whenever people drink two kinds of wine, and this is the view accepted by Hacham Ben Sion Abba Shaul (Israel, 1923-1998). Hacham Ovadia Yosef, however, in his Yabia Omer (vol. 9), rules that one should not recite "Ha’tob Ve’ha’metib" over wine outside the context of a meal. It is therefore advisable not to recite a Beracha if one drinks two kinds of wine outside the context of a meal, in order to avoid the possibility of reciting an unwarranted Beracha.

It should be noted that wine drunk for Kiddush is considered as having been drunk as part of the meal for the purposes of this Halacha. Even though one drinks Kiddush before the meal, since it is drunk just prior to the meal it can be considered the first of two kinds of wine drunk during the meal. Hence, if people recited Kiddush and then brought a different kind of wine to the table, they would recite "Ha’tob Ve’ha’metib." This applies even if Kiddush was recited over grape juice. Since one recites the Beracha of "Boreh Peri Hagefen" over grape juice, it is considered wine even for purposes of the Halacha of "Ha’tob Ve’ha’metib."

Summary: People who drink two kinds of wine during a meal recite the Beracha of "Ha’tob Ve’ha’metib" over the second kind of wine. Kiddush counts as the first wine drunk at a meal, and grape juice is considered wine with respect to this Halacha. It is preferable for each individual to recite the Beracha of "Ha’tob Ve’ha’metib" personally, rather than having one person recite the Beracha on behalf of the others.

 


Recent Daily Halachot...
Cases Where One Eats a Fruit Followed by a Food Which Requires "Ha'etz" According to Some Authorities
Reciting a Beracha Before Eating Shells or Peels
Reciting a Beracha Before Drinking Olive Oil
Reciting a Beracha Before Eating a Lemon
Holding The Talet When Reciting The Beracha
May One Recite Netliat Yadayim In Shul If He Forgot But Washed At Home
Can One Recite Boreh Nefashot If He Does Not Have The Ability To Say Meen Shalosh When Required
Is One Permitted To Recite Birkat Ha’levana or Asher Yatzar For A Friend If The Friend Answers Amen
Does One Recite a Beracha Before Smelling a Lemon?
The Order of Beracha Rishona When Eating a Mezonot, Etz, and Adama
What is The Beracha on Rice with Vegetables and When Eating Apples with Bananas
The Beracha Recited Upon Seeing a Rainbow
Is It Proper For Sephardim To Make HaMotzih on Shabbat on Halah That Contains Strong Sweeteners
Reciting Birkat Ha'gomel When Experiencing Temporary Relief From a Chronic Illness, Upon Being Saved From Drowning, and After Parachuting
Reciting Birkat Ha'levana When a Thin Cloud Covers the Moon
Page of 239
3585 Halachot found