עברית
Prayer and Blessings
Do We Recite Shehecheyanu on a New House?
Question
Hello, honored rabbi,
I built a new house in a settlement where several of my children live. It will not be my permanent home; it will serve as a kind of second home, for rest, vacation, family events, and the like. I understood that one must recite Shehecheyanu on a new house. The question is: when does one recite it? And does one recite another blessing besides Shehecheyanu?
Thank you
Answer
Shalom to you,
One should recite Shehecheyanu on a new house (Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 223:3 and Mishnah Berurah, se"k 11). If it also serves your wife and children, you should recite HaTov VeHaMeitiv (Biur Halachah, s.v. bana), and it is best to recite it at the time of affixing the mezuzah, or when you enter to live there (Birkas HaBayis, Gate 24, section 33).
However, Sephardim do not customarily recite Shehecheyanu with Hashem's Name and kingship over a new house, and they customarily have the head of the household wear a new garment at the housewarming meal (or eat a new fruit) and recite Shehecheyanu over it, intending thereby to exempt the new house. He should likewise intend to exempt the new furnishings as well (Halachah Berurah there, section 12).
With blessings for good settling,
Hillel Meirs
