Al Hamichya

Hello Everyone,

The French are famous for their cooking which they take very seriously. One example of this seriousness is that the French have two separate words for “bakery.” They have “boulangeries” and “patisseries.” Actually, the French even have a third word,”viennoiserie” which confuses me.

At a “boulangerie” you can buy bread. At a “patisserie” you buy cake.

The French attitude towards baked goods is seen, l’havdil, in the Halacha. The Halacha makes a sharp distinction between bread and cake. The blessing that we say before eating bread is different from the blessing we say before eating cake. The blessing that we say after eating bread is different from the blessing that we say after eating cake.

In the coming two sessions we will talk about the blessing said after eating cake- “Al Hamichya.”

The blessing of “Al Hamichya”  has a rather complicated set of Halachot. I was not sufficiently precise when I said that Al Hamichya is the blessing  to be said after eating cake. That was misleading. The blessing Al Hamichya is the blessing that we say after eating baked goods that are not bread . Some baked goods are clearly “not bread.” Seven-layer cake and chocolate cookies are baked goods that are clearly not bread. But if we ask about pizza, pizza is not “cake.” But is pizza “bread”? Is it bread covered with tomato sauce and cheese? Or is it  a third category of baked good? The pizza question is the cause of much confusion which I hope we will clarify in the coming two weeks.

Hello Everyone,

Today is  our second and final discussion on the subject of the על המחיה blessing. Last week we spoke what sort of baked goods require the blessings “Hamotzi” and afterwards “Birkhat Hamazon” as opposed to “Borei Minei Mezonot and afterwards “Al Hamichya.”

Today we will talk about another question. If I eat cookies then I will say “Al Hamichya” when I am done eating. But lest’s say I eat an ice cream sandwich. The ice cream sandwich has a cookie ( whose blessings are Borei Minei Mezonot and afterwards “Al Hamichya”). But  there is also ice cream in the ice cream sandwich. Do I need to say the blessings of ice cream (“Shehakol” and “Borei Nefashot”) in addition ( or even instead of) the blessings that I said over the cookies?

These questions are related to a principle known in Hebrew as “Ikar v’tafel” which can be translated into English as “principle and secondary.”  The Gemara in masechet Berachot  (44a) states a rule:

כל שהוא עיקר ועמו טפלה מברך על העיקר ופוטר את הטפלה

“When there is a principle and a secondary one says the blesing over the principle and this exempts the secondary.”

This simple rule requires clarification. In an ice cream sandwich which is the primary and which is the secondary? This is what we will discuss today.