Q. Dear Rav Bartfeld, shlita,
Someone in our kehillah was hiking alone up a mountain out west. As he was walking, he noticed a black bear about 90 meters away from him. Black bears can be deadly, even though they are not as dangerous as grizzlies. The wind was working in the man's favour, so the bear didn't pick up on the scent. He quickly descended the mountain without incident.
The man was petrified, and wanted to bench gomel upon his return to safety. On the one hand, the bear didn't attack him, and fortunately didn't notice him. On the other hand it could have been a dangerous or deadly encounter, chalilah if the wind would have been blowing in the opposite direction. It remains to be seen.
Would this man be obligated to bench gomel? More generally, is gomel something which is subjective: since he felt that he was in danger, he should bench? or is there an absolute line that must be crossed before chazal would mandate hagomel?
A. Horav Shlomo Miller's Shlit”a opinion is that Hagomel should not be recited unless someone was actually in danger and then saved. He further explained that being endangered could be defined as a statistically meaningful probability of being hurt. A situation defined in Halacha as “Miut Hamotzui” a small but significant enough probability to be taken into serious consideration, (some Poskim maintain it is a ten percent probability, but other numbers are also mentioned) The above means, that similar encounters at that distance, wind direction, and species of bears, have resulted in actual injury or trauma, which is clearly not your case.
Rabbi A. Bartfeld as advised by Horav Shlomo Miller Shlit”a
The Satmar Rov, HaRav Yoel Teitelbaum zt"l, remarked in an answer to just such a question, that if one had to bentch Gomel after such an occasion, he would have to bentch Gomel every week to thank Hashem for not being in his trousers when his Rebbetzin irons them.
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