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4 of the 5 senses explicitly have berachos:

Taste- Shehakol food, blessings on fruits & vegetables etc (see: OC 202-207)

Smell- Pleasant fragrances (OC 216)

Hearing- Thunder (MB 227:5)

Seeing- Comet/ Shooting star (OC 227:1), Rainbow (OC 229:1)

Touch - ??

The closest I could think of would be "taking of the lulav etc" (OC 651:1)-- but that's taking, one wouldn't fulfill their obligation if they just touched a lulav.

Are there any berachos for touching something?

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  • As in, a “pleasure” Beracha? Or from your example of lulav, would you count any Beracha? As in, would you count על נטילת ידים?
    – DonielF
    Commented May 6, 2019 at 19:02
  • judaism.stackexchange.com/q/33360/759
    – Double AA
    Commented May 6, 2019 at 19:07
  • 1
    Is a bracha in the mikvah on the touching of water? (or, for that matter, netillat yadayim in general)
    – rosends
    Commented May 6, 2019 at 19:56
  • 1
    Tefillin have to touch your skin.
    – Heshy
    Commented May 6, 2019 at 22:22
  • 1
    Smichas hakorban
    – sam
    Commented May 7, 2019 at 17:36

2 Answers 2

26

R. Bachya (1255–1340) in Kad Ha-Kemach (Kitvei R. Bachya, Chavel ed., p. 166) writes:

חוש המישוש לא תיקנו עליו ברכה לפי שאין לחוש הזה חלק בשכל כי כולו גופני היפך השכל

The sense of touch has no brachot instituted for it, because this sense has no part in the intellect but is entirely physical, the opposite of the intellect.

The Sefer Habatim (Sefer Mitzvah, p. 97) writes as well that berachot were instituted only for four senses, but not for the sense of touch because it is not "שכלי".

See also Chiddushei HaRamban (Berachot 51b) who writes:

נ"ל דברכת האור אינה ברכת הנהנין, דא"כ כל שעתא ושעתא מחייב בה, שלא תקנו ברכה בהנאות שאינן נכנסות לגוף, כגון רחיצת מים קרים וחמין, וכגון נשבה הרוח ונהנה, וכ"ש באור שאינו נוגע בגוף כלל, לא אמרו אלא בדברים הנכנסין לגוף והגוף נהנה מהן כגון אכילה ושתיה, וריח נמי דבר הנכנס לגוף וסועד הוא וכאכילה ושתיה דמי, אבל ברכת האור כברכת של יוצר המאורות ושתיהן ברכת השבח הן.

According to the Ramban as well, berachot were only instituted for those things which enter our body, which includes food, drink, and smell, but not things which we only see or feel (the example he gives of the latter is the pleasure of washing or feeling the breeze).

On the other hand, R. Immanuel Chai Ricchi (1688-1743) writes (Hon Ashir, beginning of Brachot) that the 7 blessings recited under the chuppah to permit a bride to her husband are brachot on the sense of touch.

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  • Honestly, I can't really follow how tasting or smelling are intellectual Commented May 21, 2019 at 17:43
  • 1
    Could be that anything part of the head is considered intellect ,hands are a separate entity
    – sam
    Commented May 21, 2019 at 17:49
  • @Kazibácsi see Moreh Nevuchim 2:36: כללו של דבר כל חוש המישוש אשר ביאר אריסטו בספר המידות ואמר כי החוש הזה חרפה הוא לנו, וכמה יפה מה שאמר וכמה נכון שהוא חרפה, לפי שהוא לנו מחמת היותנו בעלי חיים לא יותר, כשאר הבהמות, ואין בו מאומה מענין האנושיות. אבל שאר התענוגות החושיים כגון הריח והשמע והראות, הרי אף על פי שהם גופניים אפשר למצוא בהם אי פעם הנאה לאדם מצד היותו אדם כפי שביאר את זה אריסטו. daat.ac.il/daat/mahshevt/more/b13-2.htm#1
    – wfb
    Commented May 21, 2019 at 18:03
  • @wfb You may add the relevant part of the translation: en.wikisource.org/wiki/… Commented May 21, 2019 at 18:25
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It is already noted in the other answer that Rabbeinu Bachya answers this question in his Kad Ha'Kemach. However, he also address this question in his Shulchan Shel Arbah where he writes that the reason why a bracha over touch isn't recited is because the sense of touch is already included in the sense of taste.

see Nedarim 49b for a proof to this idea that touching is included in tasting.(Otzar Pelaos HaTorah)

Text:

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  • Hopefully that’s not applicable to Yom Kippur 😅
    – alicht
    Commented Jun 18, 2019 at 3:40
  • 1
    Hearing is also connected to smelling ,see Rashi Shabbas 58
    – sam
    Commented May 7, 2020 at 1:26
  • Aristotle also classifies taste as kind of touch
    – Josh
    Commented Nov 22, 2020 at 8:43

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