Ask the Rabbi: Finishing to Eat but Continuing to Drink | Rabbi Daniel Mann | Beit Midrash

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Question: During the course of my work day, I drink many times. I was taught to make one Shehakol for all the drinking. How is this system impacted by lunch or snacks I may have?

Answer: The key to your fine system is that when one plans to eat intermittently, a beracha can continue even for a whole day (Rambam, Berachot 4:7), if he does not leave his place (Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayim 178:1). If one takes breaks of more than several minutes, this system faces some challenges: A. After no more than 72 minutes, but for drinking, more like a half hour (see Living the Halachic Process, II, B-4), the ability to fulfill the obligation of a beracha acharona (=br ach) lapses, when the food is considered "digested." B. After the above amount of time, there is a machloket whether the efficacy of the beracha rishona (=br rsh) also ceases (Magen Avraham 184:9) or whether it remains as long as one plans to continue eating/drinking (Even Ha’ozer ad loc.).

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Due to a lack of consensus of poskim (see Mishna Berura 184:17), we recommend that if one drinks a revi’it (approx. 90 ml. or 3 fl. oz.) at one time (slower is a machloket – see below) and is likely to break for at least half an hour, that he recite Borei Nefashot on the previous drinking. This solves problem A (missing the br ach). This situation brings us to another machloket – does a br ach end the first eating period in regards to needing a new br rsh before the next eating in a case that at the time of the br ach he was planning to continue relatively soon (see Be’ur Halacha to 190:2). We posit that one should make a new br rsh (see Minchat Yitzchak V:102), but that before starting the original drinking, should intend that the br rsh’s efficacy end with the br ach (see V’zot Haberacha p. 52, ftnt. 6).

Whether you sip frequently or follow different halachic guidance (both are fine), since you do not make a new br rsh on the new drinks, you raise a good question. You cannot avoid a br ach on the food you eat (see Har Tzvi, OC I:96, that continuing drinking does not allow for an indefinite stay of the ber ach at the end of the snack). The situation depends on the br ach you recite. If it is Birkat Hamazon, you can assume the entire eating/drinking experience is completed, and you require a new br rsh when eating/drinking again (see Magen Avraham 190:1; V’zot Haberacha, Birur Halacha 37). If you eat something whose br ach is Me’ein Shalosh (e.g., Al Hamichya), that br ach will not impact the unrelated berachot on drinks.

The question is if the br ach you need to make is Borei Nefashot. Do we say that the Borei Nefashot will apply to the drinks as well as the Borei Nefashot foods? If it does apply to the drinks, the situation will be as above, for one who needs to make a br ach before too long goes by. The Har Tzvi (ibid.) recommends that when making the br ach, he should intend that it should not relate to the drinks, and then he will not need a new br rsh. However, some argue that it is not possible to exclude foods that could be included in the br ach (Pri Megadim, intro. to Hilchot Berachot). While one can exclude some foods from a br rsh, this is because before eating them, there is no existing obligation to make a beracha, so the beracha can be focused on what one wants. In contrast, when one has eaten and has an existing Borei Nefashot obligation, some say that it will apply to everything that it can.

An alternative suggestion is to make the br ach on both the food and drink. This has an added advantage in cases in which that which is drunk may not be covered by any ber ach, which is regrettable especially because according to some (see Mishna Berura 210:1), moderately paced drinking of a revi’it requires a br ach. To make the new beracha on drinking more clearly justified, there are a few ideas: 1. Limit the scope of the intention during the first beracha (see above). 2. Step outside before resuming drinking (see above). 3. Wait a half hour before resumption (V’zot Haberacha, p. 53). We recommend the second approach for people who will remember when to do what.

Bemare Habazak - Rabbis Questions