The Yanuka Rav Shlomo Yehuda-בשמים, מזון וניגון – הכוח הרוחני שחבוי בחושים שלנו שיחת חיזוק מיוחדת לעובדי שדה התעופה

2:50 And the last blessing is 'kinds of fragrances' — it is more general, like 'by Whose word all things came to be'. The blessing 'kinds of fragrances' is said over perfume. Many people put on perfume — they buy perfume in all kinds of perfume shops, at the supermarket or anywhere, they put perfume on themselves here, they enjoy the scent, and they do not say a blessing over it. And one must be careful, when putting on the 'kinds of fragrances': first put a little on your hand, and then bless — 'Blessed is Hashem… Who creates kinds of fragrances' — bless, and then smell; and that way it will count for the person. Bless, and then you can put it on yourself wherever you want. With any [unclear] of fragrance, always put a little on the right arm, because there is also a segulah in this, by way of chesed, kindness,

3:29 and it can sweeten judgments. Fragrance on the right arm can be good for the soul and heal the soul. So be careful, when you put on perfume — a little on the right arm, and say 'kinds of fragrances', and that is all. In Tractate Niddah, on page 52, Rashi explains that scent is a slight pleasure. That is the reason scent has no after-blessing. We do not say an after-blessing over scent, because it is a very, very slight pleasure. It is a light pleasure, so there is no after-blessing. So how does this help us?

3:54 We have a problem here, because if now, for example, I drink — 'by Whose word all things came to be' — and my attention was broken, or the time of digestion passed, I need to bless again. With fragrances there is no break in attention. So with the blessing over fragrances, as long as I am in the place, I do not need to bless again. So — I sit here for two hours; I said the blessing over fragrances here two hours ago; as long as I have not left the place, I said one blessing and that is enough. There is no need to know more than that — it is enough, finished. So from this I take the difference, the distinction, between the blessings.

4:20 There is another novel teaching, from the Minchas Elazar of Munkacs, in the name of his ancestor, Rabbi Tzvi Elimelech of Dinov, in Agra DePirka, who writes that for a pleasure such as, for example, music and melody, which is something that gives people pleasure, one ought to say 'by Whose word all things came to be' before hearing music. So he says — he says, as a matter of halachah, we do not say 'by Whose word all things came to be' over music, even though music gives great pleasure. What does he say? Take the blessing 'by Whose word all things came to be' — be careful to bless, drink water, and have in mind to cover the music you are hearing, the melody — because this melody is sweet to you, you enjoy it, and how can you enjoy this world without a blessing? In Tractate Berachos, page 35a, the Sages taught:

4:57 'It is forbidden for a person to enjoy this world without a blessing, and whoever enjoys this world without a blessing has committed me'ilah. What is his remedy? Let him go to a sage, who will teach him the blessings.' But he has already committed a transgression — he has already done something forbidden; what good will it do him? Rather — so that he should not come to me'ilah. As it is explained, me'ilah is like one who benefits from what is consecrated — a person benefiting from what is sacred to Heaven, things that belong to the Holy One, blessed be He. So always be careful to bless the Holy One, blessed be He, for everything, at the beginning and at the end, and you will draw it down, so that we have both this world and the World to Come; and many blessings depend on this.

5:25 And one more small point: one must be careful in mentioning the great Name of the Holy One, blessed be He. Many times people are not careful in mentioning the Name of Hashem, and the Tosafos say, in Nedarim on page 7 and in Shevuos on page 35: 'Wherever you find the Name of Heaven mentioned in vain, there you find death, poverty and things that are not good.' So one must be careful. The author of Yesod VeShoresh HaAvodah writes that when a person says the Name of Hashem and does not have intent, not only will they not give him reward for the hundred blessings, but they will judge him for having mentioned the Name of Hashem without intent.

5:55 It must be with awe and fear. One says 'Blessed are You, Hashem' — and then, say, for example, divide the word into three parts, with 'Blessed are You, Hashem' — and so on with all the kinds — 'Who creates the fruit', 'Who creates kinds of sustenance', and so on. This is a very, very, very important thing to be careful about. And the last thing that one must always remember, especially with these halachos and this carefulness, when people are being careful, is of course to be careful with the Name of Hashem, that it be said with intent — 'Master of all, Who was, is and will be', and so on. Because sometimes a person mentions the Name of Hashem — 'Blessed are You, Hashem' — so if you see that you made a mistake in the blessing, say: 'teach me Your statutes'.

6:30 What happens if a person said 'our G-d'? 'Blessed are You, Hashem, our G-d' — he is stuck. What does he do? What does he say? In a case like that — do you know? There is a trick. One can say: 'our G-d, You answered them; You were a forgiving G-d to them, yet You took vengeance for their misdeeds.' That is, if you got stuck — you said 'our G-d' — that is: 'our G-d, You answered them; You were a forgiving G-d to them, yet You took vengeance for their misdeeds.' But if we said 'our G-d, King' — here we already have a problem.

6:55 Here one can use a trick of Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach; he gives a nice trick: look for something you have not blessed over. Say I have just now blessed — the Name — 'by Whose word'… no — just as I am saying 'by Whose word', and a few minutes ago I blessed 'by Whose word' — what do I do? Look — maybe you will find some fragrance, maybe you will find some cookie — and then have it in mind; go quickly to a grain food or to something else, grab it, and then transfer the blessing to the other food. Even though it was not in my mind at the beginning of the blessing, still, since I want to save myself from a blessing in vain, so that there should not be, Heaven forbid, an unnecessary blessing,

7:25 I go now to look for some food, any food, and I run to it, grab it, and bless. So one can do this with fragrances, one can do it with grain foods, one can do it with anything else. If a person began and made a mistake in the blessing — it happens — so that it should not be by rote. This is something very important to be careful about and to take upon ourselves, because these are very small things. The blessing is very, very great. 'And He will bless your bread' — that is, wealth — [unclear] — do not read it 'and He will bless', rather 'and bless' — what you bless over, that is what you eat and drink.

7:52 All the blessings are there for him. The Sefer HaChinuch writes, in mitzvah 430: 'So I have received from my teachers, may G-d protect them: whoever is careful with Birkas HaMazon, his sustenance will be there for him with dignity all his days.' And saying Birkas HaMazon is a segulah for wealth. And besides Birkas HaMazon with intent — netilas yadayim, washing the hands: 'ani', a poor man, is the initials of 'al netilas yadayim'. In Tractate Eruvin [page unclear], the Gemara says that King Shlomo and his beis din instituted the washing of the hands. A person who makes light of washing the hands — it is as if he came to a woman, Heaven forbid, and in the end he is uprooted from the world and comes to poverty, may the Merciful One save us. So be careful to wash your hands when you eat bread — one, two, three; one, two, three. Washing the hands — simply, one says the blessing

8:29 if one eats the amount of an egg, a kebeitzah. If one eats the amount of an olive, a kezayis — when we eat [unclear] grams — one washes without a blessing. To be meticulous, following the Ramban — one who eats washes at 90 grams. But that is already a stringency, right. If there is [unclear], that is something. I bless you, with Hashem's help. - Amen. Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! Amen! - I wanted to get to know you and to pray with you for something very great [unclear]. - Amen! Amen! - Rabbi Elazar said in the name of Rabbi Chanina: Torah scholars increase peace in the world, as it says: 'And all your children shall be taught of Hashem'… 'May there be peace within your walls'… 'For the sake of my brothers and friends, I shall speak of peace within you.'

9:12 'For the sake of the House of Hashem our G-d, I shall seek your good.' - Thank you very much, thank you very much.

9:45 - [unclear] and health, [unclear]! - Amen! Amen! - Rav! - Bring them, bring them the [unclear].