Berakhot 126

Mitch Bruntel writes:

We know that bread is the "food of life", and say Ha-motzi when having bread, as in a meal. But what happens if you have a slice of toast, by itself, for example? I was always (taught, under the impression) that this is why we don't have bread at shabbos morning breakfast (before services), as therefore it doesn't count as a meal, and require us benching before services. So even if it's a midnight snack of a bagel (for those NY'ers & ex NY'ers)
we'd say Ha-motzi, and then be obligated to bensch. (In other words, there are no "exceptions" to saying "Yes" to a bagel without committing to it as a full "meal")

I respond:

A slice of bread (or toast or matzah – it's all the same) is more than the minimum that requires a berakhah, "an olive's bulk" – now estimated as being somewhat less than 30 grams. Thus, strictly speaking, even a slice of toast requires Ha-motzi before and Birkat ha-Mazon after. I am afraid that Mitch's impression concerning Shabbat morning breakfast is erroneous. We do not eat before worship (on any morning) so as not to create the impression that we set our physical needs before our spiritual ones. However, if going without that morning cup of coffee will prevent you from concentrating properly on your spiritual exercises that self denial would be self-defeating, and it would be better to have your coffee and concentrate properly on the service. But we should limit ourselves to the minimum self-indulgence that will do the trick! The cup of coffee does not have to be accompanied by anything else (why do I sound like a dietician?) People who for any valid reason (concentration, doctor's advice etc) have to have bread in any form for Shabbat breakfast should recite Ha-motzi and Birkat ha-Mazon. [See, for example, Ganzfried's Kitzur Shulĥan Arukh 8:2.]

Suzan Herskowitz writes:

One specific thing confused me in the discussion about which blessing to say if you are eating more than one type of food. You say that if a person eats a banana followed by an apple, the first blessing over the banana is "Creator of the fruit of the ground." As someone that lives in an area in which bananas grow and knows that bananas grow on trees, how does one determine which blessing is appropriate? If I didn't know that "ground" was proper, I would have assumed the proper blessing would have been "Creator of the fruit of the tree."

By way of response let me first introduce another message from Mitch Bruntel:

Technically, bananas grow on bushes. It only looks like a banana tree. They are cut down every year (and usually burned after they are harvested too). In the question of simplicity, I'm having my kids learn ha-etz, since it IS closer to where they expect them to come from.

So the correct berakhah for bananas really is Adamah ["ground"] because they are not a true tree. We recall the definition of the Gemara which states that Etz ["tree"] requires annual or regular refructification. [Berakhot 121l: If plucking the fruit still leaves a stem or branch from which new fruit might grow in the future, the correct berakhah is "…Creator of the fruit of the tree"; if plucking the fruit will make it impossible for new fruit to grow there in the future, the correct berakhah is "… Creator of the fruit of the ground".] As a teacher I would ask Mitch to reconsider his instructions to his children. He has managed to explain the horticultural facts to us so clearly that I cannot imagine that he would not be just as successful with them – and so fascinate them with the information that they would never forget thereafter to recite the correct berakhah for a banana! (I wish my Dad z"l had known as much about these things as Mitch obviously does!)

Ron Kaminsky asks whether berakhot must be recited out loud.

I respond:

Ideally, yes. If, for any reason, this is not done the berakhah must at the very least be framed with the lips and whispered. It is not considered sufficient to "think" a berakhah. [See Shulĥan Arukh, Oraĥ Ĥayyim 206:3.]