The Obligation of One Hundred Brochos
[1] (halacha 30)
In the time of King David there was a plague and one hundred souls died every day, and through ruach hakodesh it was revealed to David that the way to stop the plague is by saying one hundred brochos every day.
Some say that this was an ancient enactment of Moshe Rabbeinu that had been forgotten, and King David restored it. This enactment is alluded to in the pasuk 'נאום הגבר הוקם על' ("the saying of the man who was raised up") - 'על' is gematria 100, meaning that David raised up the 'על' - one hundred brochos.
This enactment has a support in the pasuk 'ועתה ישראל מה ה' אלוקיך שואל מעמך כי עם ליראה ..' ("And now, Israel, what does Hashem your G-d ask of you, but to fear...") and the Sages expounded: do not read 'מָה' (mah) but rather 'מֵאָה' (me'ah - one hundred), for through saying the one hundred brochos, we remember Hashem throughout the entire day and reach love of Hashem and fear of Him.
In order to fulfill this enactment, the Sages instituted the recitation of the morning brochos regarding the order of the world and its conduct; in these brochos we thank Hashem every morning for the first time that we benefit from worldly matters.
For the calculation of the brochos, the entire day is combined, beginning from the evening.
Notes:
1 שו"ע אדמו"ר הזקן סי' מו סעיף א. ↩
[2] (halacha 31)
Who are those obligated in one hundred brochos?
Every man from the age of bar mitzvah is obligated to say one hundred brochos every day.
However, the poskim discussed what the law is regarding women - are they also included in the obligation?
There are poskim who wrote that women are also obligated, for the language of the enactment is that every person must recite brochos, and women are thereby included. (In the name of Rav Elyashiv in the sefer Yashiv Moshe p. 19. And in the sefer Yalkut Yosef in the name of his father, the Gaon Rav Ovadia Yosef.) And there are poskim who wrote that women are exempt, for in the list of brochos that the Sages counted for the one hundred brochos there are things that do not apply to women, such as the bracha of tzitzis and tefillin, and likewise the Shemoneh Esrei of the evening, and from this they proved that from the outset this was not instituted for women (Shu"t Shevet HaLevi vol. 5 siman 23. And the sefer Halichos Beisah siman 13 in the name of the Gaon Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach).
However, in practice, at the farbrengen of Shabbos Parshas Chayei Sarah 5751 the Rebbe said 'that the matter of one hundred brochos every day is something that applies and is easily accessible to each and every one of Israel, both men and women and also children'.
Therefore in practice (without entering into the actual dispute whether women are obligated) women too should recite one hundred brochos every day, and certainly they too reach, in this merit, love of Hashem and fear of Hashem and to remember Him always.
And likewise children, even very young ones, should be trained to increase the necessary brochos, and for this purpose one gives them types of sweets and thus they gain many brochos.
[3] (halacha 32)
Question: How does one practically reach one hundred brochos?
Answer:
On a weekday: Chazal instituted the morning brochos and the tefillos in such a way that anyone who says all the daily brochos and tefillos and in addition eats one seudah will reach one hundred brochos. And this is also on a fast day, since there is a seudah on the night before the fast.
On Shabbos: On Shabbos, since there are no tefillin, and in each Shemoneh Esrei tefillah there are seven brochos instead of nineteen brochos, even though there is also the Mussaf tefillah, there are still 13 brochos missing. Therefore one must increase fruits and types of delicacies and thus complete the brochos.
However, one who has no types of delicacies should listen to the brochos of those who go up to the Torah and the maftir [he must listen to the entire bracha from its beginning to its end] and answer amen, and the brochos will be counted for him.
Important clarification: One who has fruits and types of delicacies does not fulfill his obligation with the brochos of the reading of the Torah and the haftarah.
Tisha B'Av: Since we do not eat already from the evening, but there are full Shemoneh Esrei tefillos, one reaches one hundred brochos by listening to the brochos of the reading of the Torah and the haftarah.
On Yom Kippur: Since we do not eat already from the night and there are fewer brochos in the Amidah tefillah, 32 brochos are missing, and therefore l'chatchilah one should endeavor to increase the bracha on besamim [in a permitted manner - that is, that there was a diversion of attention between the brochos and the like]. And likewise he should listen and have in mind the brochos of the reading of the Torah and the haftarah as on Shabbos, and in addition he should have in mind to fulfill his obligation with the brochos of the chazzan, during the chazzan's repetition.
שו"ע אדמו"ר הזקן או"ח סי' מו סעיף א.
[4] (halacha 33)
Question: On Shabbos, when one must increase fruits and types of delicacies in order to reach one hundred brochos, is there a way to gain additional brochos?
Answer:
A. One of the severe prohibitions is causing an unnecessary bracha, such as when there are before us two foods that can be covered with a single bracha, for example water and an egg whose bracha is 'shehakol nih'yeh bidvaro', it is forbidden to cause a separation such that we would need to recite a bracha on each one separately.
However, there is a situation in which we eat things, each of which has a different bracha, and nevertheless we recite only one bracha, for example a person who drinks a sharp beverage whose bracha is shehakol and afterwards tastes a fruit in order to remove the sharpness; in such a situation the sharp beverage is the ikar (primary) and the fruit is only tafel (secondary), and from the strict law one recites a bracha only on the ikar, shehakol, and exempts the tafel - one does not recite a bracha on the fruit.
But it is a measure of piety that even before he drinks the sharp beverage he should eat from the fruit and recite a bracha on it, and only afterwards recite a bracha and drink the yayin saraf, and this is not called an unnecessary bracha.
However, the poskim disagreed in a case where the thing that is the ikar is truly more beloved to the person than the thing that is the tafel, whether even in such a situation he should conduct himself with the measure of piety and precede with reciting a bracha and tasting from the tafel; and Admur HaZaken wrote that on Shabbos and Yom Tov, when one must complete one hundred brochos, he may rely on those who permit, and precede with reciting a bracha and eating from the tafel, before the ikar, and thus gain an additional bracha.
A practical example: When fruits were brought toward the end of the seudah before bircas hamazon, the law is that one does not recite a final bracha on them since they are covered by bircas hamazon. But on Shabbos he is permitted to wait and not eat the fruit until after bircas hamazon in order to gain an additional bracha - the final bracha on the fruit.
Notes:
1 שו"ע אדה"ז סי' רטו סעיפים ד - ה. סדר ברכת הנהנין פ"ג סעיפים יד - טו. ↩
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