By Rabbi Moshe Elefant

If you said the bracha of Hamotzi on bread at the beginning of a meal, do you need to make a new bracha on DESSERT?

Why would you need to make a new bracha?

When you say the bracha Hamotzi for bread, italso covers the rest of the foods you eat as part of your meal.

Some poskim consider dessert separate from the meal. Therefore, according to this opinion, dessert requires a new bracha rishonah.

Which desserts require a new bracha?

· Fruits require Ha’eitz or Ha’adamah, depending on the type of fruit. · Chocolate and candy require Shehakol.

· Rice desserts require Mezonos.

You do not make a bracha acharonah on these desserts. Birkas Hamazon covers them.

What about cake?

Some poskim consider cake to be a type of bread, so it is covered by the Hamotzi you made at the beginning of the meal.

Others consider cookies and similar baked foods to be pas haba b’kisnin, baked grain foods usually eaten as a snack. In this case, you make a new Mezonos.

What about ice cream?

Some poskim consider ice cream a frozen form of milk. Since drinks are covered by Hamotzi during a meal, you would not need to make a new bracha on ice cream. Other poskim say to make a Shehakol on candy or another dessert, which also covers the ice cream. Since there are different minhagim, it’s best to ask your Rav which minhag you should follow.

What can I do with the leftover bread that I have from a meat meal?

Can I serve it at a dairy meal?

If a person has bread at the meal, but they’re careful, they remove it before the meat comes to the table, or they watch it to make sure that nobody handles it during the meal, and it never got any residue of meat on it, so then that bread is still pareve, and it could be served at a dairy meal. If a person slices the bread, and he handled them during the meal, those slices of bread are considered meat, and they should not be served at a dairy meal.

If you have the bread that’s still on the table, but it’s still on the cutting board, or it’s in the basket, it could be served at a dairy meal. But there’s a custom not to use that as well. If you serve it at the beginning of the dairy meal, but not together with actual cheese, that’s okay. You can eat it and then have the cheese afterwards. But you shouldn’t make a sandwich or melt cheese on it.