Tuesday, July 21, 2009

Joke becomes reality

You all know the joke. It is so moldy that I don't even have to type it, I can just find it on the internet and paste it in:
The member of the Orthodox synagogue approaches his rabbi and tells him, "I have just bought a Bentley. Would you mind saying a brucha over it?"

He asks, "What's a Bentley?" and, when told, says, "Absolutely not."

So the man goes to the Conservative rabbi and makes the same request.

He asks, "What's a Bentley?" and refuses when he is told what it is.

So the man goes to the Reform rabbi and makes the same request.

He asks "What's a brucha?"
It never occurred to me, but the first two Rabbis in the joke were wrong. The berachah on a new Bentley would be "Shehecheyanu." (The purchaser would say it, however, not the Rabbi.) According to a recent Vos iz Neias article on the permissibility of buying cars during the Three Weeks:
Whenever we make a new and exciting purchase there are two possible brachos that may be recited. At times we recite a “Shehecheyanu” and at times we recite a “Baruch HaTov veHaMaitiv.” The Shulchan Aruch (OC 222:1; 175:4 and elsewhere) tells us that “Baruch HaTov VeHaMaitiv” is recited when someone else also benefits from the item. A “Shehecheyanu” is recited when only one person benefits from the item.

In our case of a Honda Odyssey and Toyota Sienna, since the entire family benefits from the vehicle a HaTov VeHaMaitiv” would be recited, while with the Chevy Camaro LT2 the profile of our buyer would indicate that a “Shehecheyanu” would be recited.
Same thing by a Bentley, no?

Crossposted on Soccer Dad

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