Question: I have been puzzled by the fact that we do not recite the Shehecheyanu blessing when we start the counting of the Omer (Sefirah). What is the reason?
M. Schwartz
Via E-mail
Answer: Indeed, this unusual practice – or non-practice – demands an explanation. And in order to understand it, it behooves us to expound on the concept of berachot in general.
Rambam (Hilchot Berachot, chap. 1), based on Tractate Berachot (20b and 35a, and Tosafot s.v. ha’teinach le’acharav) starts his Laws of Blessings with an explanation of the first blessing of Birkat Hamazon, the Grace after Meals. This is a Biblical commandment, as stated in Parshat Eikev (Deuteronomy 8:10), “Ve’achalta ve’savata u’verachta et Hashem Elokecha al ha’Aretz hatova asher natan lach” – You will eat and you will be satisfied, and you shall bless the L-rd your G-d for the good land He gave you. Rambam notes that this Biblical requirement is applicable only when one is fully sated, but the Sages instituted that a blessing is required on as little as a kezayit – an olive’s measure.
The Rambam further states (based on Berachot 35a): “The Sages also instituted that a person is required to recite a blessing before he has enjoyed the food.” This is derived from an a fortiori reasoning (kal va’chomer): If a person is required to recite a blessing once he has eaten and enjoyed the food, all the more so should he recite a blessing before he has eaten, when he is hungry.
The Rambam notes that the Sages ruled further (Berachot 43a) that one has to recite a blessing even when deriving pleasure from a fragrance one is about to inhale. And besides the blessings one is to recite before deriving pleasure – hana’ah – one has to make a blessing before the performance of mitzvot (based on Tractate Pesachim 7b). Moreover, the Sages also instituted blessings for praise, thanksgiving, and requests – hoda’ah u’bakasha – so that we always remember our Creator even when we are not engaged in deriving pleasure (from this world) or in performing a mitzvah.
He thus concludes that there are three types of blessings: birchot ha’nehenin – blessings before deriving pleasure; birchot hamitzvot – blessings for mitzvot to be performed; and birchot ha’hoda’ah – blessings of thanksgiving, which are a manner of praise and request. He states that Ezra and his Beit Din established the text of the various blessings and we may not change the texts of blessings by either adding to or deleting words from them.
The blessing of Shehecheyanu belongs to the third category – blessings of praise – and its text is, “… Shehecheyanu v’kiy’yemanu vehigi’anu la’zeman hazeh,” Who has kept us alive, has sustained us, and enabled us to reach this season. It is listed in the Mishna (Berachot 54a) among various blessings of thanksgiving and praise that are required on specific occasions: “One who has built a new house or purchased new vessels [kelim, which can also mean clothes] recites, ‘Blessed be He Who has kept us alive and sustained us, and enabled us to reach this season.’” (The Mishna, in describing the various blessings, omits, for brevity’s sake, the “Shem U’Malchut,” i.e., the Holy Name and reference to G-d’s Kingship, when citing the text of the blessings.)
Further on in that same tractate (ibid. 58b), we have the statement of R. Yehoshua b. Levi: “One who sees a friend after a lapse of 30 days says, ‘Baruch shehecheyanu veki’yemanu.’” Tosafot, ad loc. s.v. “Haro’eh et chavero,” quote the R”I (Rabbenu Isaac ben Samuel of Dampierre – 12th-century Tosafist) who maintains that the word chavero refers specifically to a cherished friend whom he is glad to see after an absence. This reinforces the notion that blessings of thanksgiving – birkot ha’hoda’ah – are intended for cases where one experiences pleasure.
In discussing the blessing one recites upon building a new house or acquiring new utensils, the Gemara (infra 59b) adds a caveat and notes that Shehecheyanu is not recited when there is joint ownership of an item [in which case the blessing of “Hatov ve’hameitiv” – Who is good and does good is substituted], since Shehecheyanu on any such occasion must be accompanied the individual’s joy of sole [unambiguous] ownership, the lack of which would engender the blessing of “Hatov ve’hameitiv” instead. R. Huna (infra 60a) points out another general rule as well regarding the reciting of Shehecheyanu – that the requirement applies only if he does not have in his possession items that are [of] similar [or greater value].
Rambam (Hilchot Berachot 11:9) enumerates other situations (in addition to those cited in Tractate Berachot) where he rules that the recitation of Shehecheyanu is required. These include: mitzvot that are incumbent from time to time [seasonal] such as listening to the shofar, sitting in the sukkah, waving the lulav, reading Megillat Esther, and kindling the Chanukah lights; mitzvot that are performed with one’s newly acquired objects, such as a new set of tzitzit, a new pair of tefillin, affixing a mezuzah, and erecting a ma’akeh (a guardrail on the roof of one’s house). Rambam also includes infrequent mitzvot like the circumcision of a son and the Redemption of the Firstborn. Hagahot Maimoniyot (Hilchot Milah 3:3) notes that Bnei Ashkenaz – North European Jews – do not recite Shehecheyanu at the circumcision, which he offers is due to the pain experienced by the infant. (Kesef Mishneh, Hilchot Berachot ad loc. cites the Talmudic sources upon which the Rambam based these additional requirements.)
In view of the detailed listing of the occasions that require the recitation of the blessing of Shehecheyanu, it is clear that Sefirat HaOmer, the counting of the Omer, is not included – and that is all the more puzzling since it is a timely Biblical mitzvah that commences from the 16th of Nissan every year.
(To be continued)
