May 2016
Let me begin this ‘Pringle Discussion’ with a personal and demonstrative recent story.
Walking into one of the high school classes that I teach, a young student raised a bag of snacks she was eating and asked if I could tell her what beracha to make on them.
The bag was for a type of tortilla chip, where they start with ground corn, after which it is then shaped, baked and spiced.
It was a heimeshe brand, the student explained, and the beracha was noted on the back of the bag.
“Be careful Rabbi Taub!” the student warned, “I have the answer in front of me!”
It is a popular idiom among yeshiva bochurim, “On Pringle potato chips one does not make the beracha of ha’adama rather one makes a shehakol”. This, they will likely volunteer, is because these particular chips are not made from slices of whole potatoes, rather they are shaped and baked from ground, dehydrated potatoes.
Of course, if someone is repeating this because they heard it personally from their rav then indeed it would automatically be correct. Otherwise, however, such a ‘fact’ is highly questionable and indeed hotly debated.
In case the reader questions this last sentence, let me offer a challenge: does anyone make a shehakol on kugel? Why not, it too is made from ground, crushed potatoes, especially today when many use a food processor? And what about latekes? They too are processed!
In fact, Rav Wosner (Shu’t Shevet Halevi 10:46) rules that the beracha on these last two common dishes is in fact a shehakol!
Rav Elyashiv however rules like most of us that on these two items the beracha is a ha’adama.
Some years ago Rabbi Yisroel Pinchas Bodner of Lakewood, and the author of the highly popular ‘Halachos of Berachos’ for Feldheim visited with Rav Shlomo Zalman Aurbach and showed him Pringles and he in fact ruled that the beracha is as well a ha’adama! (ad loc.p. 407 note 39.2)
So, back to my story.
I asked another student to run upstairs and retrieve a Mishna Berrura chelek beis. Upon their return, I opened to siman 202, 203, 204 and 208.
(Yes, this question involves four different simanim!)
The basic issue is this: when one crushes, say, apples, at what point does the beracha shift from a haeitz to a shehakol?
To simplify the discussion, and as I explained to these teenagers: the Shulchan Aruch rules that when one crushes dates to a pulp they still retain their original beracha rishoneh and achroneh.
However the Rema disagrees, strongly urging one to make a shehahol on such an item.
The achronim debate the precise rules of this intricate debate. The upshot, as recorded in the Mishneh Berura, goes something like this (everyone is strongly encouraged to speak to their personal rav): When an item is crushed beyond all recognition –like manufactured apple sauce –then the beracha would be shehakol; however should a fruit or vegetable be crushed but not to a pulp, and their form is easily recognizable, then the beracha, even according to the Rema, would be retained (either a haeitz or ha’adamah depending on the item under discussion).
What comes out from all of this is that if one has a pureed jam made from raspberries, and one only knows that they are raspberries only because of the label, then the beracha would be shehakol. However, if it is not crushed beyond recognition, and one can decipher that these are indeed raspberries even without the label, then the beracha would be haeitz.
As I recounted all of this in front of the class –where everyone but me knew what beracha was written on the back of the bag –I gave my psak.
As opposed to Pringles that are brought back into the shape of a potato, and dehydrated potatoes that become reformed when water is added (where at least according to Rav Shlomo Zalman and the simple reading of the Rema the beracha is retained as ha’adama), these crushed corn that are shaped into an unnatural triangle should be a shehakol.
They all clapped, as the student turned around the bag for the big reveal…where it stated in lashon kodesh, “birchaso Shehakol” its blessing is shehakol).
The students were surprised at my look of disappointment.
I explained that the reason for my disappointed continence was due to the fact that the student who asked me this question was a sefardi! For this particular student the beracha should be ha’adama!
This is because everything we have been discussing until now –how crushed the item is, if it re-forms, or is noticeable –is only according to ashkanzaim and the Rema! However, for sefardim, who follow the Shulchan Aruch they would have to follow his basic rule mentioned above (202:7) that all crushed fruits retaining their beracha! (See Rav Ovadia Yosef, Yalkut Yosef 202:22).
The class could not understand how I could say such a thing, after all the bag said shehakol! How could I argue with a snack bag from Lakewood?!
So, to teach the class that not everything they see printed is necessarily a universal opinion (even things written in this column!) I took out my phone, put it on speaker and called the Lakewood company.
The secretary who answered the phone seemed a bit taken by my question and explained that their posek is in charge of such matters. I then asked if I can be given his number.
After a short time on hold, she was kind enough to come back on the line with his phone number.
Now taking the phone off of speaker –after all, this should be a phone call between two rabbanim – I explained to him my concerns.
The rav explained that based on the Rema his psak was correct. But I explained that many sefardim are also eating this snack. He understandably explained that they can’t list every permutation and psak on their bags.
Perhaps this is true, but the reader can learn from this a valuable lesson: just because it is printed does not mean all would agree.
I remember hearing a story as a child regarding how Rav Chaim Ozer –legendary for his unique genius-was once travelling, and in the course of this long journey was stopped by a yeshiva bachur. The young man wishedto speak in learning with the gadol hador. “What would you like to speak about?” asked Rav Chaim Ozer. “Well I have been studying hilchos berachos…” began the student. Before he could even finish the sentence Rav Chaim Ozer stopped him. “I have been traveling for days, and I do not wish to make an error, please choose a topic other than the intricate laws of berachos”
If even Rav Chaim Ozer in his brilliance appreciated the complexity of these laws, all the more so us.
In fact, the gemara (Berachos 35a) cautions us to avoid the high crime of a mistaken or unmade berachos and instructs each of is to learn these halachos from a proficient rebbe. The Maharsha (ad loc.) asserts that the chazal here are referring specifically to the complex laws of birchas hanehenin –the berachos we make on food before we consume them.
Let us take the time to review these important halachos, and never assume anything.
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