- Q. Dear Rabbi. I have friends form Panama that visit me often during the winter. Their kids are amazed, at the snowfall that for them is really unusual.
An eight year old was wondering if he opens his mouth while walking in the street and catches some snow flakes in his mouth, which he says he much enjoys, does he have to make a Bracha?
A. Shulchan Aruch (204:7) rules that only if one drinks water for one's thirst does one make a bracha. The source is found in Gemara Brochos 44a and Rambam (Brachot 8:1). Biur Halacha 204:7 s.v. HaShoteh, writes that drinking water in order to assist digestion is equivalent to drinking for thirst.
The Bracha Acharona on water also depends on whether one is thirsty or not as rules the Shulchan Aruch 204:7.
Horav Shlomo Miller’s Shlit’a opinion is that if he enjoys the snow flakes he should recite a bracha as he would when drinking water.
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Rabbi A. Bartfeld as revised by, Horav Yaakov Hirschman Horav, Dovid Pam, Horav Aharon Miller, Horav Chanoch Ehrentreu and Horav Kalman Ochs Shlit’a
Important Numbers
