1)

THE BERACHAH ON FRUIT JUICE [Berachos: fruit juice]

(a)

Gemara

1.

120a (Reish Lakish): "A soul (who will eat Chelev)" includes one who drinks.

2.

Similar verses obligate one who drank melted Chametz or the Nevelah of a Tahor bird.

3.

120b (Beraisa - R. Yosi): We bring "fruit" for Bikurim, and not liquids. "You will bring" includes grapes that were pressed.

4.

"Terumas Yadecha" equates Terumah to Bikurim;

5.

(Mishnah - R. Eliezer): If Terumah fruit was used to make date honey, apple wine, or other fruit juice, and a non-Kohen drank it b'Shogeg, he gives the amount he drank and an added fifth;

i.

R. Yehoshua exempts (from the added fifth).

6.

(Mishnah): The only liquids of Orlah for which one is lashed (for eating them) are wine and olive oil.

7.

This is like R. Yehoshua. He learns Bikurim from Terumah. He learns Orlah from Bikurim from a Gezeirah Shavah "Pri-Pri."

8.

Berachos 38a (Mar bar Rav Ashi): One blesses sheha'Kol on date honey.

9.

This is because it is a mere Zei'ah (secretion, or extract). It is not the essence of the fruit.

10.

This is like R. Yehoshua.

11.

The Halachah is, one blesses Borei Pri ha'Etz on Trima (crushed) dates.

12.

This is because they are still considered dates.

(b)

Rishonim

1.

Rambam (Hilchos Berachos 8:4): Vegetables that are normally cooked, one blesses Borei Peri ha'Adamah on the water in which they were cooked, if he cooked them with intent to drink the water. The water is like the vegetables in a place where it is normal to drink it. One blesses sheha'Kol on date honey. If one crushed dates by hand, pitted them and made like a dough, he blesses Borei Peri ha'Etz on it.

i.

R. Yonah (Berachos 27a DH Hai): One blesses sheha'Kol on date honey, for it is a mere Zei'ah. Some say that we say so only when it is not intact, but if it is intact, one blesses Borei Peri ha'Etz. This is wrong. In Chulin, we say that the only liquids of Orlah for which one is lashed are wine and olive oil. Since other liquids are considered mere Zei'ah regarding Orlah, the same applies to Berachah, and one blesses sheha'Kol.

2.

Rosh (Berachos 6:3): R. Eliezer mi'Mitz asked why we bless Borei Peri ha'Gafen on wine. It is not considered fruit regarding Bikurim. In Chulin, we include only pressed grapes (grape juice), but not proper wine! R. Yehoshua exempts date honey from Terumah. I answer that we learn from Orlah that it is called fruit, therefore it is called fruit also regarding Berachah. The initial reasoning is that a liquid that comes from the fruit is like the fruit. However, since the Torah discusses eating Orlah, one might have thought that liquids are unlike the fruit, and we would have learned Terumah from Orlah. Therefore, a verse was needed. Similarly, we needed verses to teach about drinking Chelev, Chametz and the Neveilah of a Tahor bird only because the Torah discussed eating these.

3.

Rosh (12): One blesses sheha'Kol on date honey, for it is a mere Zei'ah. Bahag says that this is if water was added. On pure date honey one blesses Borei Peri ha'Etz, for it improved, just like olive oil. This is wrong. It is like what comes from pomegranates and figs, i.e. mere Zei'ah. It is no better than apple wine. Perhaps Bahag holds that since the Torah says "honey", and does not say 'dates', it refers to what flows by itself. It is one of the seven species. It is unlike what is squeezed from pomegranates or figs and apple wine. If one made Trimu from dates, he blesses Borei Peri ha'Etz, for they are intact.

4.

Rosh (ibid.): One blesses sheha'Kol on beer of dates or barley (Bava Basra 96b). What is the reason? The barley is primary, and it improved! This is because there is something better it could have become i.e. bread. Alternatively, the liquid is clear; it is primarily water. It has a mere taste. Rav and Shmuel's law (one blesses Borei Minei Mezonos on anything from the five grains) does not apply, for it is a mere taste, like we say about Shesisa (which is made from flour ground from parched grain, oil and water).

i.

Tosfos (Berachos 38a DH Hai): Even if the beer has k'Zayis of barley within Kdei Achilas Pras, one blesses sheha'Kol. It is a mere taste, and there is a greater product that comes from barley. Also, we bless sheha'Kol on drinking.

ii.

Hagahos Ashri: Maharam supports Bahag. One blesses sheha'Kol on cooked vegetables. Just like there the Berachah descends one level, also here (it goes from Borei Peri ha'Etz to Borei Peri ha'Adamah). It is unreasonable to descend two levels unless he added water. The Rosh brought a proof only that apple wine is not considered fruit, but perhaps one blesses Borei Peri ha'Adamah, for it does not descend two levels!

iii.

Beis Yosef (OC 202 DH v'Al): All the Poskim disagree. (One blesses sheha'Kol.)

iv.

Kaf ha'Chayim (202:60): Even though all the Poskim disagree, it is important to know that an opinion says to bless Borei Peri ha'Etz or ha'Adamah. B'Di'eved, if one did so, perhaps he was Yotzei!

(c)

Poskim

1.

Shulchan Aruch (OC 202:8): One blesses sheha'Kol on honey that flows from dates. Similarly, one blesses sheha'Kol on liquid that exudes from all fruits, except for grapes and olives.

i.

Beis Yosef (DH v'Al): The Rosh suggested that perhaps Bahag says to bless Borei Peri ha'Etz only on date honey that flows by itself. The Rambam says that we bless sheha'Kol, without distinguishing. It seems that the Tur wrote 'that flows by itself', i.e. even what flows by itself, and all the more so what is extracted through crushing.

ii.

Taz (5): Surely, more comes out through squeezing or crushing than what flows by itself! The latter is mere Zei'ah. Through squeezing or crushing, the fruit itself comes out! It seems that the Rosh meant that the honey that the Torah discusses is of dates, for it flows by itself, whereas from other species it comes out only through squeezing or crushing, and this is not 'Zivah' which is said regarding honey. Here the Tur discusses what is simpler, i.e. what flows by itself. In Siman 205 he discusses what comes out through squeezing.

iii.

R. Akiva Eiger (here, and 210:7): If one sucks fruits, he says the blessing for the fruit (Pri Chodosh, Mayim Chayim 7). The Shi'ur for a Berachah Acharonah is a k'Zayis.

iv.

Kaf ha'Chayim (63): The Pri Chodosh calls this eating. This is when he sucks through chewing, i.e. the fruit is in his mouth and he presses with his teeth. If he holds the fruit in his hand and sucks, this is drinking. He does not say a Berachah Acharonah, even if he sucked a Revi'is, for it was not within the time to drink a Revi'is.

v.

Mishnah Berurah (46): The Torah says 'Zayis Shemen u'Dvash". This refers to dates, from which honey comes out. The honey itself a mere Zei'ah. It is not the fruit.

vi.

Kaf ha'Chayim (62): If one finds water in watermelon, if he drinks it by itself, he blesses sheha'Kol. If he has it with the watermelon, the Berachah on the watermelon exempts it.

vii.

Mishnah Berurah (53): I.e. when we taste the fruit in the water, we do not say that it is a weak taste and a mere Zei'ah, like we said above about fruit juice. More taste enters through cooking than through squeezing the raw fruit. L'Halachah, the Acharonim say that l'Chatchilah one blesses sheha'Kol, but b'Di'eved if he blessed Borei Peri ha'Etz he was Yotzei.

viii.

Kaf ha'Chayim (73): Due to Safek, one blesses sheha'Kol. However, regarding the Berachah Acharonah (if one cooked fruits of the seven species), the only solution is to drink the water in a meal, or to eat also fruits of the seven species and drink water, so in any case he must bless afterwards me'Ein Sheva and Borei Nefashos.

2.

Shulchan Aruch (205:3): If one squoze vegetables, he blesses only sheha'Kol on the juice.

i.

Taz (6) The Tur wrote 'my brother R. Yechiel says that one blesses the same Berachah as on the vegetables. I disagree. Surely, they changed for the worse. A proof is from liquid that come from fruits. One blesses sheha'Kol, but if he cooked them one blesses Borei Peri ha'Etz on the soup.' I wrote above that clearly, more comes out through squeezing and all the more so the crushing than what comes out by itself. It seems that squeezing or crushing is like cooking. This is no proof for the Tur. There, what comes out by itself is mere Zei'ah. It seems that R. Yechiel is correct, but one should not be lenient against the Tur. One should bless sheha'Kol. It seems that the Tur would agree that through crushing, what comes out is like the fruit itself. Surely it is like cooking.

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