Prayer and Blessings
Regarding how many people need to eat bread in order to recite the Seven Blessings?
Question
Hello and blessings,
1. If seven people ate bread, and three ate mezonot, is it possible to recite the Seven Blessings?
2. And if so, can someone who did not eat bread also recite them?
Thank you very much
Answer
Hello,
1. They may recite the Seven Blessings (Responsa Yabia Omer, vol. 3, Even HaEzer, siman 11, sections 6, 7, 12).
2. The custom is that even someone who did not eat from the meal at all may recite the Seven Blessings. And one who is stringent that the one reciting should specifically be one of those who ate bread is worthy of blessing (Hagaon Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Dblitzki ztz"l in the book Shivah Simchot, chapter 4, section 23).
However, the view of Hagaon Rabbi Ovadia Yosef ztz"l is that only one who ate bread at the meal may recite the Seven Blessings (Responsa Yabia Omer there, section 7).
With blessings,
Hillel Meirs
