Come and hear: Another reason: the blessing for the wine is constant, whereas the blessing for the day is not constant, and of that which is constant and that which is not constant, that which is constant comes first!<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Although the non-constant actually preceded the other, since the sanctity of the day automatically commenced at nightfall. This is analogous to slaughtering the non-constant first; and as here the blessing for the wine must be recited first, by analogy the blood of the constant must be sprinkled first.');"><sup>20</sup></span> - Here too, since it [the wine] has arrived,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' We have the wine actually before us.');"><sup>21</sup></span>
Tosefta Berakhot
Everyone is obligated in [saying] Birkat Hamazon (Grace After Meals), Kohanim (Priests), Leviim (Levites), and Yisraelim (Israelites, regular Jews), converts [to Judaism], freed [non-Jewish] slaves, Chalalim (Kohanim who have lost their priestly status), Natinim, Mamzerim (bastards), [a person] castrated by [a deliberate act of another] person, [a person who was] born castrated, [a person] with [one or both] testicles crushed, and [a person] with a cutoff member. All of them are obligated [in saying Birkat Hamazon] and they can absolve others (i.e. say it for others) of their obligation [of saying Birkat Hamazon]. A Tumtum (a person of unknown sex), and a hermaphrodite are obligated [in saying Birkat Hamazon], but they cannot absolve others (i.e. say it for others) of their obligation [of saying Birkat Hamazon].
Ask RabbiBookmarkShareCopy
Tosefta Pesachim
They mix him the first cup. Beit Shammai says, he blesses on the day and then he blesses on the wine, because the holiday is the direct reason for drinking the wine, and the holiday had already started when the wine was brought to the table. Beit Hillel says, he blesses on the wine and then he blesses on the day, because if we didn't have the wine we wouldn't be saying Kiddush on the holiday at all. Another explanation: the blessing on wine is regularly said and the blessing on the holiday is not. And the halacha is according to Beit Hillel.