As a guest in Shul, I heard a Rav\u00a0ask an interesting question. He inquired why Noach\u00a0at the conclusion of the Mabul\u00a0brought a Korban\u00a0Olah\u00a0and not a Todah, which would more appropriately parallel the Birkas\u00a0HaGomel required of one who completed a sea journey?<\/p>\n
He similarly asked a related query, when Yisro\u00a0visited the Jewish People in the desert he responded to Moshe Rabbeinu\u2019s description of the events by blessing Hashem. Chazal\u00a0inform us that when the Bnei\u00a0Yisroel\u00a0answered Amein\u00a0to his Bracha, they exempted themselves from Benching\u00a0Gomel. The question arises, why hadn\u2019t they said HaGomel weeks earlier on their own initiative?<\/p>\n
He answered with an original idea. He suggested that there is a basic requirement for Birkas\u00a0HaGomel\u00a0that someone who was not involved in the Nes must hear the Bracha, and it is an intrinsic requirement to relate Hashem\u2019s wonders to someone who did not experience them directly. According to this proposal, Noach\u00a0could not Bench Gomel or bring a Todah, as there wasn\u2019t a single person alive in the world who had not survived on the Teiva. Since they had all experienced the salvation personally, there was no obligation for them to recite HaGomel\u00a0or bring a Todah. Similarly, since all of the Jewish Nation had exited Egypt and crossed the Red Sea together, they were incapable of reciting Birkas\u00a0HaGomel until Yisro\u2019s arrival.<\/p>\n
However, I respectfully and privately pointed out to him that according to this Vort, there would be a very relevant practical application. If a group of people fly together and make a Minyan on arrival, if the Minyan consists exclusively of passengers from a single plane, they should not be allowed to recite Birkas\u00a0HaGomel.<\/p>\n
While I have no proof that this is untrue, the absence of any mention of such a Halacha is surprising. While air travel is a relatively recent phenomenon, there should be some mention of this condition regarding a caravan that travelled the desert together or passengers on a ship that transversed the ocean. Since there appears to be no precedent for this distinction, I must suspect it not the accepted Halacha.<\/p>\n
The Rav\u00a0concurred that it is inconceivable that passengers on a plane or ship could not Bench Gomel together, but he suggested differentiating between these cases and those of Noach and the Jewish People in the desert.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As a guest in Shul, I heard a Rav\u00a0ask an interesting question. He inquired why Noach\u00a0at the conclusion of the Mabul\u00a0brought a Korban\u00a0Olah\u00a0and not a Todah, which would more appropriately parallel the Birkas\u00a0HaGomel required of one who completed a sea … Continue reading