DailyHalacha.com for Mobile Devices Now Available

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

      
(File size: 628 KB)
Birkat Ha’re’ah - Honeysuckles, Cinnamon, Shampoo, Deodorant, Soap and Air Freshener

Somebody who smells honeysuckles recites the Beracha of "Baruch Ata Hashem…Boreh Aseh Besamim." Since they grow on a bush, the proper Beracha is "Aseh Besamim" ("fragrant trees").

If one smells cinnamon – as many people do for the Besamim at Habdala – the Beracha depends on which cinnamon is used. Although cinnamon grows on trees, and should thus require the Beracha of "Aseh Besamim," most cinnamon that people have in their homes was ground for seasoning, and not for smelling. Therefore, before smelling such cinnamon one recites "Boreh Mineh Besamim." One recites "Aseh Besamim" over cinnamon only if it was bought specifically for its fragrance.

One does not recite any Beracha at all before smelling a substance that was made for the purpose of cleaning or eliminating odor. This would include shampoo, soap, deodorant and air fresheners. All these products are made for either cleaning or deodorizing, and thus one does not recite any Beracha before smelling them.

 


Recent Daily Halachot...
Passover- Searching for Hametz in the Synagogue
Passover- Do Not Regard Meat As 'This Is For Pesach'
Passover- If A Hametz Pot Was Mistakenly Used For Pesach Cooking
Passover- The Laws regarding Glass Dishes On Passover and Throughout The Year
Passover- The Time To Start the Seder and Saying HALLEL At The End of The Seder
Passover- The Importance of MAGID In The Seder , and Leaning on the Night of Pesach
Passover- Is It Permissible To Drink Milk from A Non-Jew Owned Farm Cow Which Itself Consumed Chametz
Passover- Kashrut Questions and Answers Regarding Baby Formula, Sugar, Rice, and Food for Live Fish
Passover- Is It Permissable To Eat ROASTED Foods On Seder Nights
Passover- If A Tiny Amount of Hametz Falls Into A Pot & Cooking in Hametz Pots
May Two People Eat Meat and Milk at the Same Table?
Smelling Forbidden Foods; Heating Meat and Dairy Foods in a Microwave Oven
Drinking Non-Dairy Milk While or After Eating Meat
Serving at a Meat Meal Parve Foods That Were Served at a Dairy Meal
Is It Permissible to Use A Meat Pot To Cook A Parve Item That Will Be Mixed With A Dairy Item
Page of 239
3585 Halachot found