Berakhot

MISHNAH. IF SALTED FOOD IS SET BEFORE HIM AND BREAD WITH IT, HE SAYS A BLESSING OVER THE SALTED FOOD AND THIS SERVES FOR THE BREAD, SINCE THE BREAD IS ONLY SUBSIDIARY TO IT. THIS IS THE GENERAL PRINCIPLE: WHENEVER WITH ONE KIND OF FOOD ANOTHER IS TAKEN AS SUBSIDIARY, A BENEDICTION IS SAID OVER THE PRINCIPAL KIND AND THIS SERVES FOR THE SUBSIDIARY. GEMARA. But is it ever possible for salted food to be the principal item and bread subsidiary to it? — R. Aha the son of R. 'Awira replied, citing R. Ashi: This rule applies to [one who eats] the fruit of Genessareth.  Rabbah b. Bar Hannah said: When we went after R. Johanan to eat the fruit of Genessareth, when there were a hundred of us we used each to take him ten, and when we were ten we used each to take him a hundred, and a hundred could not be got into a basket holding three se'ahs, and he used to eat them all and swear that he had not tasted food. Not tasted food, do you say? — Say rather: that he had not had a meal. R. Abbahu used to eat of them [so freely] that a fly slipped off his forehead.  R. Ammi and R. Assi used to eat of them till their hair fell out. R. Simeon b. Lakish ate until his mind began to wander, and R. Johanan told the household of the Nasi, and R. Judah the Prince send a band of men  for him and they brought him to his house. When R. Dimi came [from Palestine], he stated that King Jannaeus  had a city in the King's Mountain  where they used to take out sixty myriads of dishes of salted fish for the men cutting down fig-trees from one week-end to the next.  When Rabin came, he stated that King Jannaeus used to have a tree on the King's Mountain from which they used to take down forty se'ahs of young pigeons from three broods every month. When R. Isaac came, he said: There was a town in the Land of Israel named Gofnith  in which there were eighty pairs of brothers, all priests, who were married to eighty pairs of sisters, also all of priestly family. The Rabbis searched from Sura to Nehardea and could not find [a similar case] save the daughters of R. Hisda who were married to Rami b. Hama and to Mar 'Ukba b. Hama; and while they were priestesses, their husbands were not priests. Rab said: A meal without salt is no meal. R. Hiyya b. Abba said in the name of R. Johanan: A meal without gravy  is no meal. MISHNAH. IF ONE HAS EATEN GRAPES, FIGS OR POMEGRANATES HE SAYS A GRACE OF THREE BLESSINGS AFTER THEM. SO R. GAMALIEL. THE SAGES, HOWEVER, SAY: ONE BLESSING WHICH INCLUDES THREE. R. AKIBA SAYS: IF ONE ATE ONLY BOILED VEGETABLES, AND THAT IS HIS MEAL, HE SAYS AFTER IT THE GRACE OF THREE BLESSINGS. IF ONE DRINKS WATER TO QUENCH HIS THIRST, HE SAYS THE BENEDICTION 'BY WHOSE WORD ALL THINGS EXIST. R. TARFON SAYS: 'WHO CREATEST MANY LIVING THINGS AND THEIR REQUIREMENTS. GEMARA. What is the reason of R. Gamaliel? — Because it is written, A land of wheat and barley. etc.,  and it is also written, A land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness,  and it is written, And thou shalt eat and be satisfied and bless the Lord thy God.  The Rabbis, however, hold that the word 'land'  makes a break in the context. R. Gamaliel also must admit that 'land' makes a break in the context? — He requires that for excluding one who chews wheat [from the necessity of saying grace]. R. Jacob b. Idi said in the name of R. Hanina: Over anything belonging to the five species [of cereals],  before partaking the blessing 'who createst all kinds of food' is said, and after partaking one blessing which includes three. Rabbah b. Mari said in the name of R. Joshua b. Levi: Over anything belonging to the seven kinds,  before partaking the blessing 'who createst the fruit of the tree' is said, and after it the grace of one blessing which includes three. Abaye asked R. Dimi: What is the one blessing which includes three? — He replied: Over fruit of the tree he says: 'For the tree and for the fruit of the tree and for the produce of the field and for a desirable, goodly, and extensive land which Thou didst give our ancestors to inherit to eat of its fruit and to be satisfied with its goodness. Have mercy, O Lord our God, on Israel Thy people and on Jerusalem Thy city and on Thy Sanctuary and on Thy altar, and build Jerusalem Thy holy city speedily in our days and bring us up into the midst thereof and rejoice us therein,  for Thou art good and doest good to all'.  Over the five species [of cereals] one says: 'For the provision and the sustenance and the produce of the field etc.', and he concludes, 'For the land and for the sustenance'. How does one conclude [in the case of fruits]? When R. Dimi came, he said in the name of Rab: On New Moon one concludes, Blessed is He who sanctifies Israel and New Moons. What do we say in this case [over fruit]? — R. Hisda said: 'For the land and for its fruits'; R. Johanan said: 'For the land and for the fruits'. R. Amram said: They are not at variance: the one blessing  is for us [in Babylon], and the other for them [in Palestine].  R. Nahman b. Isaac demurred to this: Shall they eat and we bless?  You must therefore reverse the names, thus: R. Hisda said: For the land and for the fruits; R. Johanan said, For the land and for its fruits.