Q&A: One Hundred Blessings
One Hundred Blessings
Question
Hello Rabbi,
It is written in the Shulchan Arukh, Orach Chayim 46:3, that one is obligated to recite 100 blessings every day, and the Mishnah Berurah explains there that King David instituted this because every day 100 young men of Israel were dying in a plague. (a) In the Rabbi’s view, is there also an obligation nowadays to recite 100 blessings every day? And if so, why are people not careful about this, since it is like any other rabbinic enactment? (b) What is the authority of the Mishnah Berurah? If there is a halakhic decisor who disagrees with it, or if there is a custom not in accordance with it, does one still have to follow the Mishnah Berurah’s approach because it has been accepted as the final decisor?
Answer
What does this have to do with the Mishnah Berurah? This is from the law of the Talmud and is agreed upon by all the halakhic decisors. There is indeed an obligation nowadays, like any other rabbinic law. As for whether it was King David or not, there are discussions in the tradition whose roots go back to the Geonim; it does not appear in the Talmud.
Usually there is no problem reaching that number on a regular day. See the breakdown on Wikipedia: https://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%9E%D7%90%D7%94_%D7%91%D7%A8%D7%9B%D7%95%D7%AA
Discussion on Answer
Ask King David—if he really is the source—and if so, what exactly he had in mind.
How does that fit with the fact that in David’s time there were not yet blessings? At any rate, prayer certainly did not yet exist, and without that there is no way to reach one hundred blessings.