Siman 219

Our sages, of blessed memory, said (54b): "Four must give thanks: those who descend to the sea, those who walk in the deserts, one who was ill and was healed, and one who was confined in a prison and went out." And all of them are explicitly stated in Psalms (107): "Give thanks to Hashem... let the redeemed of Hashem say, whom He redeemed... they wandered in the desert... and they cried out to Hashem... and He led them... to an inhabited city; let them give thanks to Hashem for His kindness... those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death... and they cried out to Hashem... He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death... let them give thanks to Hashem for His kindness... and they reached the gates of death and they cried out to Hashem... let them give thanks to Hashem for His kindness... those who descend to the sea in ships... and they cried out to Hashem... let them give thanks to Hashem for His kindness... and let them exalt Him in the assembly of the people, and in the seat of the elders let them praise Him."

The explanation of the matters is as I wrote at the beginning of the previous siman, that our entire life and existence are by way of miracles and not by nature, as we say: "for Your miracles that are with us every day, etc." One who contemplates the life of our people, the Children of Israel, throughout the length of our exile and the greatness of our dispersion, will surely see with open eyes that Hashem dwells in our midst always, as He promised us in His holy Torah: "And yet for all that, etc." This is their statement, of blessed memory: "They were exiled to Babylonia, the Shekhinah was with them, etc." That is to say, everyone sees that the existence of the Children of Israel is not by nature at all. And even in the generations that perform deeds that are not good, nevertheless His Shekhinah has not departed from us, as it is written: "Who dwells with them in the midst of their impurity." Rather, He chastises us, and regarding this it is said: "The Lord has surely chastised me, but He has not given me over to death." This is our general situation, collectively and individually.

However, miracles are divided into two extremes with a middle path. That is, one extreme is when the miracles are revealed and depart from the boundaries of nature entirely, such as the miracles of Egypt and the like; for such as these, one must recite the blessing: "Who performed miracles for our ancestors" or "Who performed a miracle for me," and these are the laws explained in the previous siman. The second extreme is miracles that are entirely entwined within nature, such as our entire livelihood and our entire existence. Regarding this, a specific blessing is not applicable, and one fulfills the obligation through the constant prayers in which we mention thanksgiving: "We give thanks to You... and for Your miracles, etc."

And there is yet a third type, which is intermediate between the miraculous and the natural, and that is when the matter proceeds according to nature but deviates slightly from the boundaries of nature toward the nature of miracles. For example: one who crosses the paths of the seas, and this is natural; however, when winds and storms arise, it is difficult according to nature for the ship to be saved, and nevertheless, it does not depart from the boundaries of nature entirely, as is understood. And all the more so those who travel through deserts, who are in immense danger, and likewise one who sits in a prison house and the sick person whose illness has overcome him. Therefore, it is impossible to recite a blessing using the language of a miracle, and he only gives specific thanks to Hashem, may He be blessed, for this matter, and justifies the judgment upon himself through the blessing—that the suffering that reached him was due to his sins, and his rescue is a bestowal of good from Hashem, may He be blessed, even to the guilty.

And your mnemonic is: "And all the living shall thank You, Selah," and "living" [Chayyim] is an acronym for sick [Choleh], suffering [Yissurin], sea [Yam], desert [Midbar]. And he blesses: "Blessed are You, Hashem our God, King of the universe, Who bestows good things upon the guilty, Who has bestowed upon me every good." And the listeners answer 'Amen' and say: "May He Who bestowed upon you every good, bestow upon you every good, Selah," and this is like a consolation and a blessing for the soul that suffered afflictions. And he does not bless until he has completely emerged from the distress: those who go down to the sea until they ascend to the dry land, those who walk in the deserts until they reach within a settlement, and one who was sick and was healed until he goes out to the marketplace, and one who went out from a house of prisoners until he emerges completely clear from his judgment and not that he went out on bail. And there is no difference whether he was imprisoned on account of money or on account of capital matters.

Since it is written: "Let them exalt Him in the assembly of the people, and praise Him in the seat of the elders," therefore our Sages, of blessed memory, said that one must recite the blessing before ten, who are called an "assembly," and two of them should be rabbis and are called "elders" in the language of the verse, and the minimum of "elders" is two. The Rambam in chapter 10 wrote that one recites the blessing while standing, and it seems to me his reason is that since he recites the blessing before ten, and "wherever there are ten the Shekhinah dwells," it is not the way of proper conduct to sit. For this reason, it appears they practiced reciting this blessing after one goes up to the Torah, for then there are certainly some scholars among the ten and he is standing. All of this is not a requirement post facto, for if there are not two rabbis among them—he has fulfilled his obligation (Mordechai). The Tur wrote that even without ten he has fulfilled his obligation, and some say he has not fulfilled it, and it is good to recite the blessing another time before ten without the Name and Sovereignty. It is proper to be careful not to delay this blessing more than three days after he is able to recite it, and if the listeners did not answer "He who has bestowed upon you etc." it also does not invalidate (Magen Avraham subsection 2). A minor should not recite this blessing, and women have practiced not to recite it, and there is no reason for this other than because the custom is to recite it at the time of the Torah reading, therefore they imagine that women are not obligated in this blessing, and therefore it is proper that they should recite it. And perhaps because it is written: "in the assembly of the people," and women are not called an "assembly," and to recite the blessing before men is not the way of proper conduct, and therefore they refrained from this (and see Magen Avraham).

If one recited the blessing of 'ha-gomel' for himself and intended to fulfill the obligation for his fellow as well, who is also obligated in this blessing, and his fellow heard the blessing from him and intended to fulfill his obligation through it—he has fulfilled his obligation even without answering 'amen', since the one reciting the blessing is also obligated in this blessing, as I wrote in siman 213, see there. And we have already written not to delay this blessing more than three days; however, post facto, if he delayed, he has restitution for as long as he desires. And it appears to me that if a long time passed until the matter was forgotten, he should no longer recite the blessing and has lost the blessing (some say up to five days).

Our teachers, the authors of the Shulchan Aruch, wrote in section 4: "If another person recited the blessing and said: 'Blessed are You, Hashem our God, King of the universe, Who has bestowed all good upon you,' and he answered 'Amen' – he has fulfilled his obligation; and similarly if he said: 'Blessed is the Merciful One, Master, King of the universe, Who has given you to us,' and he answered 'Amen' – he has fulfilled his obligation. And this is not a blessing in vain on the part of the one reciting the blessing, even though he was not obligated in this blessing, since he only blesses by way of praise and thanksgiving for the benefit of his fellow in which he rejoices." Thus far their words. This means that a blessing of thanksgiving is like a blessing of enjoyment, where one does not bless on behalf of his fellow when he himself is not obligated in it, and according to this, one might say that it is a blessing in vain and does not fulfill the obligation of the one who is obligated in it. To this he says that it is not so, and if this man rejoices greatly over the rescue of this person, he may recite the blessing of thanksgiving over the benefit of his fellow and it is not a blessing in vain, and therefore when he answered 'Amen' he fulfilled his obligation, but without answering 'Amen' he has not fulfilled his obligation. And it is not similar to the previous law where he fulfilled his obligation even without 'Amen' because the one reciting the blessing was obligated in it, which is not the case here where he blesses on his behalf, it is necessary that he answer 'Amen'.

And from this they learned that a woman who is obligated in the blessing of "HaGomel," the husband is able to bless on her behalf. Therefore, when she has given birth and was saved from danger, the husband can bless: "Who has bestowed upon you all good," and she shall answer "Amen," for you have no love or one affected by her welfare more than him, as his wife is like his own body (Bach and Magen Avraham, subsection 4), not like the one who wavers on this (see Beit Yosef and Taz, subsection 3). Nevertheless, the custom is not so. And it is a simple matter that another who is not a relative and does not love him like his own body—such as a father for a son, or a son for a father, and his brother and the like—but rather blesses over him in order that he should appear as his friend, it is a blessing in vain and he does not fulfill his obligation through it (Taz, ibid.).

Our teacher, the Beit Yosef, wrote in section 7: "In Ashkenaz and France they do not recite the blessing when going from city to city, for they only obligated those who travel through deserts where wild animals and bandits are common. But in Spain they are accustomed to recite the blessing, because all roads are presumed to be dangerous. However, for less than a parsa one does not recite the blessing, and if it is a place established as being extremely dangerous, even for less than a parsa." Thus far his words. And in our time, the blessing of 'HaGomel' is not applicable at all even for long journeys, if not by way of the sea or deserts. But on land and in inhabited areas, the blessing of 'HaGomel' is not applicable in our time, and in our days we have not heard of anyone who recites the blessing of 'HaGomel' upon arriving from a common road, and only Tefillat HaDerekh in siman 110 is there an obligation to say it in every place, as I have written there.

He further wrote in section 8: "For every illness one must recite the blessing, even if it is not a life-threatening illness nor an internal wound, but rather anyone who ascended to his bed and descended, because it is comparable to one who was brought to the scaffold to be judged. And there is no difference whether he has a fixed ailment that comes from time to time or whether it is not fixed." Thus far his words. That is to say, even though with a fixed ailment he has been healed from this many times, nevertheless, since he ascended to his bed and descended—he must recite the blessing, for a miracle does not occur at every hour (Magen Avraham subsection 7). Our teacher, the Rema, wrote regarding this: "And there are those who say that one only recites the blessing over a life-threatening illness, such as an internal wound, and such is the custom in Ashkenaz." Thus far his words. And similarly, a sick person who is cast in bed for more than three days must recite the blessing (Turei Zahav subsection 8). There are those who wrote that the primary ruling is like the words of our teacher, the Beit Yosef (Bach and Eliyah Rabbah subsection 13, and see Magen Avraham subsection 8), but the custom is like the words of our teacher, the Rema.

He further wrote in section 9: "These four are not specific, for the same law applies to one for whom a miracle occurred, such as a wall falling upon him or being saved from being trampled or gored by an ox, or if a lion confronted him in the city to prey upon him, or if thieves or night-marauders came upon him and he was saved from them and anything similar to this; all of these must recite the blessing 'HaGomel'. And there are those who say that one does not recite 'HaGomel' except for these four specifically, and it is good to bless without mentioning the Name and Sovereignty." Thus far his words. And in truth, without mentioning the Name and Sovereignty it is not a blessing at all, and the Acharonim wrote that one should bless for any matter of danger when he is saved from it, and such is the simple custom and one should not deviate (Levush and Taz subsection 7 and Magen Avraham subsection 10), and even now the custom is so.

Regarding the matter of the blessing over miracles in the previous siman: whether one must also recite the blessing of "HaGomel," there are various opinions, as is explained in the great book of our teacher, the Beit Yosef, and there he cited in the name of the Rivash that one must also recite the blessing of "HaGomel," and it implies that his opinion inclines toward this, see there (and so it appears is the opinion of the Magen Avraham in siman 218, subsection 12, see there).