Prayer and Blessings

Is a blessing over smell recited on tobacco?

AA

Question

Another question, please, regarding tobacco: is a blessing over smell recited on tobacco? 

Thank you.

Answer

Greetings,

The halacha is that one does not recite a blessing over a smell that has no source (Shulchan Aruch, siman 217, seif 3). Therefore, one does not recite a blessing over the smell of tobacco (Responsa Halachot Ketanot, part 1, siman 101, cited in Beit HaLevi, siman 216, seif katan 13), because its smell does not come from the powder itself; rather, it received its smell from something else, and now it is dry (Or L'Tzion, part 2, chapter 14, note 38. This is also the ruling in the book Chazon Ovadia, Berachot, page 331).

With blessings,

Hillel Meirs


Tags:blessingstobacco

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