Prayer and Blessings
Bathrooms as an Interruption for Blessings
Question
Honored Rabbi, if I poured myself water into a cup and entered the bathroom, and I intended to continue drinking afterward, do I need to recite a blessing again on the drinking? Or on food (bread, mezonot, or anything else)? Please answer according to Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, of blessed memory.
Answer
Greetings,
One does not recite the blessing again over the food or drink, and there is no difference between the various kinds of food and drink.
Sources: It is true that Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, of blessed memory, wrote in Halichot Olam, part 2 (page 44), that one who is eating food or drinking a beverage whose final blessing is Borei Nefashot Rabbot, and enters in the middle of eating or drinking to attend to his needs, since the place he entered is not fit for eating, must recite the blessing over benefit again even when he returns to his original place. See there. However, his son, Rabbi Yitzchak Yosef, shlita, brought in Ein Yitzchak, part 2 (page 606), that his father, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, of blessed memory, retracted this ruling, and his final view was that one does not recite the blessing again.
With blessings, Hillel Meirs
