Halacha requires reciting a Beracha before smelling a fragrant smell. Depending on the nature of item which one smells, he would recite beforehand the Beracha of either "Aseh Besamim," "Asbeh Besamim," "Mineh Besamim" or "Ha’noten Re’ah Tob Ba’perot." This Beracha over smelling is a "Birkat Ha’nehenin," a Beracha which one recites before deriving benefit from this world, similar to the Berachot we recite before eating or drinking.
The Ben Ish Hai (Rabbi Yosef Haim of Baghdad, 1833-1909), in Parashat Vaethanan, raises the question of why the Sages did not institute the recitation of a Beracha Aharona after one smells a fragrance. Just as we must recite a Beracha Aharona after eating or drinking, we should, seemingly, be required to recite a Beracha after smelling. Yet, the Sages required that we recite a Beracha only before smelling, but not after smelling.
The answer, the Ben Ish Hai explains, lies in the fact that the moment a person stops smelling the fragrance, he no longer derives any benefit or enjoyment. Smelling differs in this respect from eating and drinking, which leave an effect upon the person that leaves an enduring effect. Eating or drinking leaves a person feeling satiated and content even after he has ingested the food or the drink, and this ongoing benefit warrants the recitation of a Beracha Aharona. Indeed, Halacha states that a person who forgot to recite a Beracha Aharona after eating may recite the Beracha later, on condition that he still feels satiated. Once he feels hungry again, then he no longer enjoys the benefit of his eating and he may therefore no longer recite the Beracha. This Halacha proves that the Beracha Aharona depends upon the ongoing enjoyment that one experiences. We therefore do not recite a Beracha Aharona after smelling a fragrance, since smelling leaves no lasting effect after a person has stopped smelling.
The Ben Ish Hai adds that smelling provides more benefit to the soul than it does to the body. Its beneficial effect upon the soul lasts even after one smells, but because this is a spiritual – rather than physical – effect, we do not feel it. The Sages instituted Birkot Ha’nehenin only for benefit which we can physically experience, and therefore although we recite a Beracha before we enjoy a fragrance, there is no Beracha recited after smelling.
