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July 19, 2013 12:51 am at 12:51 am #610118gefenParticipant
Did anyone ever hear that you’re not supposed to say that when someone sneezes?
It’s kind of a habit for me to say it. I guess I heard it a lot growing up. Then the other day, someone said that they heard we’re really not supposed to say it. She didn’t know the reason.
So if anyone here has any info on this, please do share. Thanks.
July 19, 2013 1:23 am at 1:23 am #966896yeshivaguy45ParticipantThe Mishna Berura says in simun Reish Lamed Seif Katan Zayin “If someone sneezes and his friend tells him Asusa, and he should answer back Baruch Tihyeh Leshuascha Kivisi Hashem.” Asusa is aramaic for Good Health, which is Gezundheit or Labriyut. The Mishna Berura goes on to say that In the original times nobody got sick before they died, they just sneezed and died. So when they sneezed people said Asusa until Yaakov Avinu came and davened to Hashem to take it away. It sounds like from this Mishna Berura that you could say it.
July 19, 2013 3:09 am at 3:09 am #966897gefenParticipantyeshivaguy45- That’s what I learned. So I wonder where this other idea comes from.
July 19, 2013 4:14 am at 4:14 am #966898Sam2ParticipantThis is a custom of good manners that seems prevalent in almost every tradition and society on earth. I have no idea why someone would say that you shouldn’t say it. It’s even in the Gemara.
The Halachah is that you can’t say it in a Beis Medrash though. Maybe that’s what they were thinking of?
July 19, 2013 7:24 am at 7:24 am #966899Shopping613 ðŸŒParticipantWhy not???? What does it mean??? So should i say bless you instead?
July 19, 2013 12:46 pm at 12:46 pm #966900TheGoqParticipantNo shopping you should say you are so good looking instead.
July 19, 2013 1:24 pm at 1:24 pm #966901gefenParticipant613- This person was referring to any comment after a sneeze not just “gezuntheit”. This would include “bless you” “asusa” “tzugezunt” etc.
July 19, 2013 7:17 pm at 7:17 pm #966902Oh Shreck!ParticipantSay “Gezuntheit if you want”
July 20, 2013 5:39 pm at 5:39 pm #966903Shopping613 ðŸŒParticipantI thought we say these things so we dont sneeze and c”s die like they did in the olden days???? I dont want to die!!!! So, ummm….what wrong with it???? Isnt it a good thing to say bless you or wtvr
July 21, 2013 3:58 am at 3:58 am #966904oomisParticipantNo, I did not. And how can it EVER be wrong to wish good health on someone? Do we not say Tehillim for someone who is MAMESH ill? The whole “bless you” came from the belief that a person sneezed before death, so if someone sneezed, he was immediately wished gesundheit, or bless you, lest that be his sneeze of death.
July 21, 2013 7:16 am at 7:16 am #966905Shopping613 ðŸŒParticipantI learned that it wasnt a beleif, in like somewhere from the 1500’s -1899 there was some sort of bug going around, brought by all the new immigrants in america, in short one guy brought it and it spread, the bug was where if you sneezed you died, something like that. It only went on forca short while then stopped and they never discorvered the reason.
You know the song ‘ring around the rosies’ that was made during the time of the bug. Its about kids playing in the flowers, and it makes them sneeze and they a die, thats why jews like to sing ‘Ring around the Torah/Mitzvos’
July 21, 2013 3:05 pm at 3:05 pm #966906yeshivaguy45ParticipantShopping613, FYI it was called the bubonic plague/black death. Ring around the rosies-the victim’s face would turn red. A pocket full of posies-The victims would smell bad, so they put flowers in their pockets to smell bad. Ashes ashes we all fall down-the victims died.
July 21, 2013 3:36 pm at 3:36 pm #966907Sam2ParticipantShopping: The custom of saying “bless you” etc. after a sneeze is at least 1500 years older than that. Also, that was about the black death, which had nothing to do with sneezing. The first major (and biggest) outbreak of the bubonic plague was in the 1300s. Somewhere between 25-50% of the European population died.
Yeshivaguy: It was more than just that they smelled bad. The theory at the time was that the disease spread through smell (they weren’t so wrong, it was airborne). So they all carried fragrant perfumes (sometimes they even wore masks with duck-billed noses full of perfume) to avoid catching the disease from the smell.
July 21, 2013 4:03 pm at 4:03 pm #966908yeshivaguy45Participantsam2 thanks.
July 21, 2013 4:34 pm at 4:34 pm #966909Shopping613 ðŸŒParticipantBut it all boills down to the original question: So it should be good to say bless you or wtvr, so why do the other posters say you shouldnt….
July 21, 2013 5:41 pm at 5:41 pm #966910gefenParticipantMy husband asked his Rav yesterday. He said you just shouldn’t say it while learning or davening. Otherwise, it’s fine.
July 21, 2013 5:45 pm at 5:45 pm #966911rationalfrummieMemberthe ignorance of basic world history on this thread is astounding.
July 21, 2013 6:44 pm at 6:44 pm #966912Jersey JewParticipantI guess the makers of “the chumra song” missed one!
July 21, 2013 7:18 pm at 7:18 pm #966913Shopping613 ðŸŒParticipantWhy not?
July 21, 2013 8:15 pm at 8:15 pm #966914yeshivaguy45Participantgefen that’s a machlokes achronim whether you’re allowed to say it in a beis Medrash. I think it’s between the Shach and the Taz.
July 21, 2013 8:25 pm at 8:25 pm #966915rebdonielMemberDoes saying “G-d bless you” pose any halakhic problems?
July 22, 2013 4:53 am at 4:53 am #966916oomisParticipantSam2, I thought people in that time carried around perfume because they never bathed!
July 23, 2013 3:36 pm at 3:36 pm #966917Shopping613 ðŸŒParticipantBut why arent you allowed to say it?????
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