Go to Our New Site
Weekly Torah Updates

Home    Forums  Hop To Forum Categories  Torah Forums  Hop To Forums  About the Torah    A question on Havdalah

Read-Only Read-Only Topic
Go
New
Find
Notify
Tools
-star Rating Rate It!  Login/Join 

Posted
When making havdalah on motzei Shabbat, we make the bracha on the wine first, but continue to make three more brachot before actually drinking the wine.

Why is this the case (i.e. why don't we drink the wine straight away, why isn't this considered a hefsek?)? Also, is this the only mitzvah where there is a delay between making the bracha and performing the action?
 
Posts: 49 | Location: Israel | Registered: November 12, 2005Report This Post
GY Moderator

Picture of Yisroel Phillips
Posted Hide Post
I think the answer to your first question is that all the brachos of Havdala are on the wine. This means that when making the bracha on the besamim (spices) one should be holding the cup of wine and not put it down like so many people do. Likewise for the bracha on the fire.

As to your second question, what about Kiddush on friday night or on a Yom Tov night, especially the first 2 nights of Succos? The same principle applies.
 
Posts: 797 | Location: London, England | Registered: June 10, 2005Report This Post

Posted Hide Post
quote:
Originally posted by Yisroel Phillips:
I think the answer to your first question is that all the brachos of Havdala are on the wine. This means that when making the bracha on the besamim (spices) one should be holding the cup of wine and not put it down like so many people do. Likewise for the bracha on the fire.

As to your second question, what about Kiddush on friday night or on a Yom Tov night, especially the first 2 nights of Succos? The same principle applies.


I'm not sure if that is correct. Virtually all the siddurim that I have looked at mention that when one makes the bracha on spices, one should take the spices. Similarly, one should have the flame from the candle reflect on your fingers (difficult to achieve when holding the wine!). I still feel that my original question still stands.

With regards to your examples of kiddush, this is certainly an example of another bracha/brachot being said between making a bracha on wine and drinking it. However, since the kiddush is a sanctification of the day, and wine is necessary as a means of sanctifying, one could argue that all the brachot encompass one thing - the sanctification of the day. With havdalh, though, we are not sanctifying. In fact, it is the opposite - making a break between the holy & non-holy. So my question of making brachot over the spices & the flame between making the bracha on the wine & drinking it still stands I believe.
 
Posts: 49 | Location: Israel | Registered: November 12, 2005Report This Post
GY Moderator

Picture of Yisroel Phillips
Posted Hide Post
quote:
Originally posted by Michael Lewis:
I'm not sure if that is correct. Virtually all the siddurim that I have looked at mention that when one makes the bracha on spices, one should take the spices. Similarly, one should have the flame from the candle reflect on your fingers (difficult to achieve when holding the wine!). I still feel that my original question still stands.


What I wrote I found in the Shulchan Aruch Orach Chaim Siman 296 Seif 6 and the Mishna Berura there Seif Katan 30 and Seif Katan 31. Indeed, in SK 30 the MB writes that "all the brachos of Havdala are commanded to be on the cup [of wine]."

In SK 31 we see that for the besamim and fire one transfers the cup to one's left hand.
 
Posts: 797 | Location: London, England | Registered: June 10, 2005Report This Post

Picture of Bracha
Posted Hide Post
Thank you for including the information about transferring the cup to the LEFT hand, because otherwise it would have posed a Difficuty in making the bracha on the bsamim- as the halacha for making brachos is that the item the bracha is being made upon is required to be in the right hand.


Question Does the halacha change according to the dominant hand? If for instance, the person making havdallah is left-handed, he should hold the cup in his left hand and then transfer to his right for the bsamim to then be in his dominant hand? Or is it universal that it goes from right to left?
 
Posts: 123 | Location: Olam HaZeh (currently) | Registered: November 10, 2005Report This Post

Picture of laurence shore
Posted Hide Post
It is unusual to interupt a bracha before the action like in havdallah. It has been suggested this came about as follows:
Before Maariv become a "chovah", people made havdallah immediately after the third meal. The first bracha is the blessing on the wine which they made after the bircat hamazon. The then did the mugmar, a spice thrown on the fire, usually during the meal to remove the odors, but it can't be done on shabbat so it was done immediately afterwards, one then lit the candle the light the dark room and made havdallah for the leaving of the shabbat.

Aryeh Shore
 
Posts: 548 | Location: Rechovot, Israel | Registered: February 11, 2005Report This Post

Picture of laurence shore
Posted Hide Post
quote:
Originally posted by laurence shore:
It is unusual to interupt a bracha before the action like in havdallah. It has been suggested this came about as follows:
Before Maariv become a "chovah", people made havdallah immediately after the third meal. The first bracha is the blessing on the wine which they made after the bircat hamazon. The then did the mugmar, a spice thrown on the fire, usually during the meal to remove the odors, but it can't be done on shabbat so it was done immediately afterwards, one then lit the candle the light the dark room and made havdallah for the leaving of the shabbat, that is the cup of wine is doing double duty as the cup at the end of the meal and for havdallah.

Aryeh Shore
 
Posts: 548 | Location: Rechovot, Israel | Registered: February 11, 2005Report This Post
 Previous Topic | Next Topic powered by eve community  

Read-Only Read-Only Topic

Home    Forums  Hop To Forum Categories  Torah Forums  Hop To Forums  About the Torah    A question on Havdalah


Weekly Torah Updates
Enter your Email


Preview