Arukh HaShulchan, Orach Chaim 286:2-8

Sugya Map: The Havdalah of the Blind

• Issue: Does a person who is sumah (blind) recite Havdalah over a flame?
• Nafka Mina: Whether the berakhah of Me’orei ha-Eish is contingent on personal hana’ah (benefit/sight) or the objective takanah of the Chachamim.
• Primary Sources: Pesachim 54a; Tur/SA OC 298; Arukh HaShulchan 286:2-8.

Text Snapshot

• Arukh HaShulchan 286:2: "דאפילו סומא מברך על האש... דלאו אהנאה דידיה קפיד רחמנא, אלא אפרסומא ניסא."
• Leshon Nuance: Note the shift from hana'ah (subjective utility) to pirsumei nisa (objective demonstration). The Arukh HaShulchan (AHS) strips the berakhah of its sensory requirement, repositioning it as a ritualized acknowledgment of the melechet ha-eish (creation of fire) at the start of the week.

Readings

• Beit Yosef (OC 298): Notes the minhag that even a blind person makes the berakhah, citing the Agur. The chiddush is that the takanah is communal/temporal, not tied to individual visual perception.
• Mishnah Berurah (298:6): Affirms the p’sak but insists the blind person must be present with others who can see, or hear the berakhah from them, emphasizing that the berakhah is not a personal birkat ha-nehenin.

Friction

• Kushya: If the berakhah is Me’orei (plural, lights), how can a blind person testify to the existence of light?
• Terutz: The AHS argues the takanah is malkhut—a recognition of the order of Creation. The berakhah is not a report of sensory input, but an enactment of the melechet ha-eish restored at the week's onset.

Intertext

• Berakhot 58a: The berakhah on seeing a lightning bolt (oz ve-gevurah)—parallels the "objective" nature of witnessing divine power.
• SA OC 298:1: Explicitly codifies the sumah requirement, echoing the AHS’s conceptual framework.

Psak/Practice

The halacha follows the AHS: the blind person recites Me’orei ha-Eish because the berakhah is an act of pirsumei nisa regarding the transition of time and the re-ignition of the world’s creative potential, not a birkat ha-nehenin contingent on the optic nerve.

Takeaway

Halacha prioritizes the metaphysical structure of time over the sensory limitations of the individual. Ritual is an objective participation in the week’s renewal, not a subjective reaction to sensory data.