Click here to view the full article with footnotes
5786/2026
The Obligation
Rav Sobolofsky in New Rochelle
During the 2025/5785 annual Teaneck Eruv review, Rav Zvi Sobolofsky told me that he had recently attended a wedding at a New Rochelle venue, where the Chuppah faced the Long Island Sound, and he recited a Berachah. Let us understand why he did this.
Talmudic Background
Berachot 54a presents the following Mishnah:
עַל הֶהָרִים, וְעַל הַגְּבָעוֹת, וְעַל הַיַּמִּים, וְעַל הַנְּהָרוֹת, וְעַל הַמִּדְבָּרוֹת אוֹמֵר: ״בָּרוּךְ … עוֹשֵׂה בְּרֵאשִׁית״. רַבִּי יְהוּדָה, אוֹמֵר: הָרוֹאֶה אֶת הַיָּם הַגָּדוֹל, אוֹמֵר: ״בָּרוּךְ שֶׁעָשָׂה אֶת הַיָּם הַגָּדוֹל״ — בִּזְמַן שֶׁרוֹאֵהוּ לִפְרָקִים.
For mountains, hills, seas, rivers, and deserts, one recites: Blessed…Author of creation. Rabbi Yehuda says: One who sees the great sea recites: Blessed…Who made the great sea. [One only recites it] when he sees it intermittently.
The Gemara (Berachot 59b) clarifies:
רַבִּי יְהוּדָה אוֹמֵר הָרוֹאֶה הַיָּם וְכוּ׳ לִפְרָקִים. עַד כַּמָּה? אָמַר רָמֵי בַּר אַבָּא אָמַר רַב יִצְחָק: עַד שְׁלֹשִׁים יוֹם.
[We learned in the mishna that] Rabbi Yehuda said: One who sees the great sea...intermittently. [The Gemara asks:] How much is intermittently? Rami bar Abba said that Rav Yitzcḥak said: Thirty days.
Rambam and Shulchan Aruch
The Rambam (Hilchot Berachot 10:15; though see the Rambam in his commentary to the Mishna where he says the Halacha does not follow Rabi Yehuda) codifies Rav Yehuda’s opinion despite it being the minority view. The Kesef Mishneh and Vilna Gaon (Bi’ur HaGra Orach Chaim 228:1 d”h V’al) explain that the Rambam may have understood Rabi Yehuda as adding to the Chachamim’s view, not rejecting it. The Shulchan Aruch (O.C. 228:1), in turn, codifies the Rambam’s ruling.
What is the Yam HaGadol?
While it is agreed that one recites a special Berachah upon seeing the Yam HaGadol, it is unclear as to what body of water the Yam Gadol refers to. The Shulchan Aruch rules that it relates to the Mediterranean Sea. However, the Mishna Berurah (228:2) notes that “many Acharonim” (citing the Teshuvot HaRosh 4:4) disagree and rule that the Yam HaGadol refers to the world’s oceans. They believe that one recites “Oseh Ma’aseh BeReishit” on the Mediterranean, as one would for any other stunning body of water.
The Bi’ur Halacha clarifies that Oseh Ma’aseh BeReishit is a more general Berachah (like Shehakol for foods) and works B’di’eved even if Baruch She’Asah HaYam HaGadol was the correct Berachah. Rav Ovadia Yosef (Chazon Ovadia Berachot p. 470) agrees. The Aruch Hashulchan (Orach Chaim 228:3) rules that one should say Oseh Ma’aseh Breshit on both the Atlantic and Mediterranean, as it is the safer option. The Kaf HaChaim (228:5) and Rav Moshe Levi (Birkat Hashem 3:2and 5) agree.
Rav Michael Taubes told me that he recites Oseh Ma’aseh BeReishit on both bodies of water. Rav Sobolofsky says he says both Oseh Ma’aseh BeReishit and She’Asah HaYam HaGadol without saying Hashem’s name (i.e., without Shem U’Malchut). In theory, it would be ideal to recite this Berachah at the meeting place of the Atlantic and Mediterranean. However, it is very difficult for airplane passengers to know when their fast-moving plane flies over that precise location.
The Long Island Sound
The Long Island Sound is an extension of the Atlantic Ocean. Does the Halacha view it as the equivalent of the Atlantic? The answer hinges on a dispute between Rav Moshe Feinstein and Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv. The debate arose regarding identifying cities for Gittin (where we identify a location by the bodies of water upon which it is situated; Shulchan Aruch Even HaEzer 128). We identify a town on the ocean or the Mediterranean as resting on the Sea (Mata D’Yatva Al Keif Yama). Examples include Haifa and Miami Beach. Rav Moshe and Rav Eliashiv debate whether cities resting on a bay or a sound are described as Mata D’Yatva Al Keif Yama. Rav Moshe rules that it does, and Rav Elyashiv (as Rav Nota Greenblatt told me) rules that it does not.
This debate is reflected in the divergent practices of cities along various bays and the Sound. Newark is customarily identified as resting by the sea, despite lying on Newark Bay; however, in Elizabeth, this phrase is included. Along the Sound, in New Haven and New Rochelle, we write Mata D’Yatva Al Keif Yama, but in Stamford, we do not.
Conclusion
Rav Sobolofsky reciting Oseh Ma’aseh BeReishit and She’Asah HaYam HaGadol without saying Hashem’s name upon seeing the Long Island Sound in New Rochelle (if he did not see the Atlantic within the past thirty days) plays it safe regarding all the relevant disputes. I followed Rav Sobolofsky’s lead and led the audience attending Brianna Ginzburg and Ben Besthoff’s wedding in New Rochelle in July 2025, in reciting "Oseh Ma’aseh BeReishit" and "She'Asah HaYam HaGadol" without "Shem U’Malchut." All felt it added a joyous note to an already wonderful occasion!
Postscript One – The Yosef Family Approaches to the Berachah on the Mediterranean and the Atlantic
Rav Yitzhak Yosef (Yalkut Yosef, Orach Chaim 228) writes that Sepharadim do not recite She’Asah Et HaYam HaGadol with Shem U’Malchut upon seeing the Mediterranean or oceans due to the debate as to the Yam HaGadol’s identity. Although Sephardim typically hew to the Shulchan Aruch, many Sephardic Poskim accommodate dissenting views when a Berachah L’Vatala is at stake (Chida, Teshuvot Chayim Sha’al 2:15). Yalkut Yosef states that the same applies to the world’s oceans.
However, in his Chazon Ovadia (Berachot, pp. 467-470), Rav Ovadia Yosef cites the Midrash Kohelet (Parashah 11) that states that Chazal indeed refer to the Mediterranean as the “Yam HaGadol.” This source led Rav Ovadia to conclude that there is no doubt that Chazal intended the Mediterranean to be included in this Berachah. Moreover, three pillars of Sephardic Halacha, the Kenesset HaGedolah (228, Haghot Beit Yosef), Get Pashut (128:46), and Chida (Teshuvot Chaim Sha’al 38:100) support the Shulchan Aruch’s ruling. Hence, Rav Ovadia changed his mind (as his son Rav Yitzchak explained in his Motzei Shabbat Shiur) and said to follow the Shulchan Aruch and recite She’Asah Et HaYam HaGadol with Shem U’Malchut on the Mediterranean.
Rav David Yosef (Halacha Brura 228:2) rules that Sepharadim should also recite Baruch She’Asah Et HaYam HaGadol when seeing the Atlantic, Indian, or Pacific Oceans. Following the Get Pashut, Levush, and Nachalat Tzvi, Rav David believes that the Shulchan Aruch’s ruling applies to the world’s great oceans as well as the Mediterranean. They argue that if we refer to the Mediterranean as the Yam HaGadol, then certainly we should describe the world’s great oceans as the Yam HaGadol. Moreover, these great bodies of water are all interconnected and form one unified body of water, with their names changing based on location. Rav Yaakov Kaminetzky (Emet L’Yaakov, Orach Chaim 228:1) and Rav Yitzchak Weisz (Teshuvot Minchat Yitzchak 1:11) agree with this interpretation of the Shulchan Aruch. Rav Yonatan Nacson and Rav Shmuel Khoshkermann rule that Sephardim should follow Rav David Yosef.
While Rav David follows his father and rules that Oseh Ma’aseh BeReishit covers the Mediterranean and the great oceans, he still does not recommend following this safer option. Rather, he prefers we add the words Oseh Ma’aseh BeReishit within Toch K’dei Dibbur (two to three seconds) of saying She’Asah Et HaYam HaGadol (following Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach, Halichot Shlomo Hilchot Tefilla 23:29). Interestingly, the Kaf HaChaim and Rav Moshe Levi did not offer this suggestion and instead recommend Oseh Ma’aseh BeReishit alone. It appears that the Kaf HaChaim and Rav Moshe Levi’s approach is the more straightforward and safer option for both Sephardim and Ashkenazim when seeing the vast oceans. Saying both Berachot without Shem U’Malchut seems the safer solution when seeing extensions of the oceans, such as the Long Island Sound in New Rochelle. Sepharadim may follow the explicit ruling of the Shulchan Aruch and the final decision of Rav Ovadia Yosef to recite She’Asah Et HaYam HaGadol on the Mediterranean. Ashkenazim, when seeing the Mediterranean, may follow either Rav Sobolofsky's or Rav Taubes’ approach.
Postscript Two – Pacific and Atlantic Oceans within Thirty Days
What if one did not see the Atlantic Ocean within thirty days but saw the Pacific Ocean within that time? On the one hand, they are different oceans, as the Torah (BeReishit 1:10 with Rashi) describes the various oceans in the plural, Yamim. On the other hand, a slew of Poskim maintain that all the oceans are fundamentally one body of water. Rav Sobolofsky told me that omitting Shem U’Malchut is a safe solution. Rav Khoshkermann feels that no blessing should berecited.