20 Aug KASHRUS QUESTIONS & ANSWERS WITH RABBI MOSHE ELEFANT

How does one
determine what
bracha to make
on a product?
If it’s not obvious,
you have to know the ingredients that
are used to make the product and you
have to understand the processes used
to make the product. Without both of
those pieces of knowledge, there’s really
no way to know what bracha to use.
We at the OU, even though we spoke
about not having the ability to have
brachos on labels, have a list of many of

the products that we certify the proper
Brocha. We have them listed on the web
and we have a hotline that anyone can
call at any time to find out the proper
bracha.
What should you do if you said the
wrong bracha on your food?
If you said “Borei Pri Ha’adamah” on a
fruit that grows on a tree, you still fulfill
your obligation and do not need to say
the correct bracha, “borei pri ha’eitz.” If
you said “Borei Pri Ha’eitz” on a fruit
that grows in the ground, you do not
fulfill your obligation and you need
to say the correct bracha, “borei pri
ha’adamah.” If you say “Mezonot” on
any food (except for water and salt) you
fulfill your obligation even if it is not the
correct bracha. If you say “Shehakol” on
any food, including bread and wine,
you fulfill your obligation even if it is
not the correct bracha.
What bracha does one make on
sushi? Poke Bowl?
That’s a serious issue and it’s a very

commonly asked question.
The question is really based on
what is the main ingredient.
Sometimes, the halacha makes
it easy for us because if you
have a food that has a mezonos,
that’s the bracha you’re going
to make. But even though rice
is mezonos, the halacha that a
mezonos always is the primary
bracha only applies to something
like a cookie or cake. Rice is a
mezonos that doesn’t have that
rule. Since rice doesn’t have that
rule, we’re back to our question,
what is the proper bracha on sushi? It
really depends on what the main part of
the food is to you. There are rabbonim
that suggest it may be different in Japan
than in the US. In Japan, rice may be
the most important part of the meal.
If it’s the most important part of your
meal, you would probably have to
make a mezonos. If it’s not that way,
then maybe the fish or the vegetables
are most important. Therefore, what I

personally recommend is that a person
should make separate brachos; make
a mezonos for the rice, make hadama
for the vegetables, and make shehakol
for the fish. One more point, let’s say
you have rice vegetables and fish and
you can identify that the vegetables are
insignificant, then you could make an
argument that you don’t have to make
a bracha on the vegetables. But again,
because it’s so complicated, you should
make separate brachas.