Article: Yom Kippur: How Often Can I Make a Berachah on Besamim?

Whereas we are required to afflict our bodies on Yom Kippur, it does not apply to our sense of smell. Therefore, we may smell all types of scents, pleasant or not; in fact, it’s recommended that we make a brachah on besamim throughout Yom Kippursince we have difficulty reaching the requisite one hundred brachos we are required to recite daily, as we do not eat and drink.

We may make the brachah on besamimas many times as we wish on Yom Kippur—or on any other day—provided that we were maisiach daas (we took our minds off the smelling of the besamim). After a sheinas k’va (regular, prolonged sleep), we may recite the brachah on besamim again, since sleeping is obviously hesech hadaas.

We may recite numerous brachos if we have access to a variety of besamim that require different brachos, such as atzei besamim, isvei besamim, and so on.

From Halacha2Go Archives
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