Ask the Rabbi: Beracha on Mediterranean and Atlantic | Rabbi Daniel Mann | Beit Midrash

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Question: When I fly between Israel and the US, should I make a beracha on seeing the Mediterranean and Atlantic. (I grew up near the ocean, and, being scientifically oriented, I do not view the ocean as a wonder.) If so, what beracha/ot should I make?

Answer: The beracha on large bodies of water is not about miracles within nature. Rather, it acknowledges Hashem’s creation of impressive, formidable, and/or impactful natural phenomena, for which the vastness of major bodies of water qualify (see also Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayim 219:1). Whether one is personally impressed does not determine whether he makes the beracha (see Sha’ar Ha’ayin p. 420,429). What is required is that one’s encounter with the body of water is new, i.e., he has not seen it in thirty days (Berachot 59b). There is a machloket whether for one who lives near the sea but has not seen it in 30 days, a sighting is considered new, which was relevant when you were a child. Most poskim assume that one makes the beracha even when seeing it from a few miles above the water, through glass, as long as it is clearly visible (B’tzel Hachochma II:16). Therefore, while many wonderful Jews do not make the beracha, we encourage doing so when applicable.

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640 - Ask the Rabbi: Beracha on Mediterranean and Atlantic

The text of the beracha is unclear. The mishna (Berachot 54a) lists seas among things that, upon seeing, one should recite "Baruch … oseh ma’aseh bereishit" (=OMB) R. Yehuda (ibid.) continues that on "The Great Sea" he recites "Baruch she’asa et hayam hagadol" (=HYHG). The Rambam (Berachot 10:15) codifies R. Yehuda’s statement, which surprises some since he seems to be a minority opinion. The Kesef Mishneh (ad loc. 14) provides an indication that the gemara prefers R. Yehuda and also raises the possibility that R. Yehuda came to add, not argue, as all agree on a different beracha for the "Great Sea" (see Shut HaRosh 4:4).

What is the Yam Hagadol? The Shulchan Aruch (OC 228:1) assumes that it is the Mediterranean, as the Torah calls it when giving it as a border of Eretz Yisrael (Bamidbar 34:6). However, there are different texts and readings of the Rosh (ibid.) on this very question, and the Divrei Chamudot on the Rosh (Berachot 9:37) argues that THE great sea is the ocean that "surrounds the whole world" (Atlantic and/or Pacific), whereas the Mediterranean gets the standard beracha of OMB. Some say that the Mediterranean qualifies because it is connected to the Atlantic and is "fed" by it, and the Knesset Hagedola (Beit Yosef 228:2) says that both deserve HYHG.

There is no consensus on which opinion to accept, but the Mishna Berura (228:2) leans toward OMB for the Mediterranean and HYHG for the Atlantic. He also points out that OMB is a more general beracha (like Shehakol for foods) and works b’di’eved even if HYHG was the correct beracha (Be’ur Halacha to OC 228:1). Fascinatingly, B’tzel Hachochma (II:12) argues that since OMB is called for only for those things that existed at the creation of the world and since there are Talmudic accounts that the Mediterranean basin was not originally filled with water, one cannot be yotzei with OMB but only with HYHG. However, the more accepted opinion is OMB on the Mediterranean and HYHG on the Atlantic (see Piskei Teshuvot 228:2; Halichot Shlomo 23:29). (We will not discuss special steps to fulfill more opinions.)

Contemporary poskim wonder about what to do on a trip where one passes both bodies of water (see Divrei Yatziv, OC I:95). There is logic to recite on both, at least if one makes different berachot on them and given the significant break between them. However, because there is reason to say that these connected waterways are one regarding this beracha (B’tzel Hachochma II:16) and since you will be within 30 days of seeing a vast body of water, it is advisable not to make a second beracha (with Hashem’s Name). On the way back within 30 days, one definitely does not make another beracha, assuming he saw the water clearly on the first leg.

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