halachosofikarandtafeil.docVIP

Halacha Talk The Importance of Eating – The Halachos of Ikar and Tafeil By Rabbi Yirmiyohu Kaganoff Question #1: You made a bracha on a cup of tea and sipped it, and then decided it needed more sugar. Do you need to make a bracha on the extra sugar? Question #2: You cooked a delicious vegetable-barley soup. What bracha do you recite before eating it? Does it make any difference whether you want to eat the barley? Question #3: I eat my potato latkes with apple sauce. How many brachos and which ones do I recite before eating them? Does it make a difference if I finish the latkes but am still eating the apple sauce? We apply the rules governing ikar and tafeil, literally the “primary” item and the “secondary” one, numerous times throughout the day. Whether we are eating cereal with fruit and milk for breakfast, macaroni and cheese for lunch, chicken with rice for supper, or ice cream in a cone for a snack, these halachos apply. It definitely behooves us to be sure we are applying the halachos correctly. First an introduction: The Mishnah (Berachos 44a) which discuss brachos recited before eating states, “This is the rule: Whatever is primary and is accompanied by something secondary, one recites the bracha on the primary and absolves the secondary item.” Thus, the secondary item does not receive its own bracha, but is included in the bracha of the primary item. WHAT CONSTITUTES AN IKAR-TAFEIL SITUATION? There are two general categories of situations included in the halachos of ikar and tafeil; (1) enhancers and (2) mixtures. (1) Enhancers: This category includes food items where the tafeil food is being eaten to make the ikar food taste better. Some common examples include: Cereal with fruit and milk, where the fruit and milk enhance the taste of the cereal; eating latkes with apple sauce; stirring your herbal tea with a cinnamon stick; breading fish or meat (schnitzel). In all of these cases, the bracha is recited over the ikar, that is, the cereal, latkes, tea, or m