Order of Blessings

If drinking water and having a cracker, which blessing comes first? Afterwards, which blessing comes first?

Shalom!

Thank you for your question.

Your question touches on the very important and interesting subject of priorities in blessings. For the benefit of readers, I will share some introductory information.

Whenever one sits down to eat, whether a meal or a snack, there is a preferred order of blessings to be recited on the food we are about to eat.

The accepted hierarchy of blessings is to recite:

1. Hamotzi: when eating a bread meal. Once one recites hamotzi all other foods during that meal are “included” the hamotzi blessing and no further blessings are recited during the meal. Whether a blessing should be recited on desserts, and which ones, is a topic beyond the scope of this answer.

2. Mezonot: when eating foods made from the “five grains” such as cake, cookies, and pasta

3. Hagafen: (when drinking wine or grape juice – even during the course of a bread meal, above)

4. Ha’eitz: when eating fruits of a tree

5. Ha’adama: when eating fruits of the ground

6. Shehakol: on drinks, meat, fish, eggs, and most everything else

When one eats several foods from the same category, only one blessing is recited. For example, when eating crackers, cake, and cookies, only one “mezonot” blessing is recited and all such foods may be eaten as long as they were in front of him when he recited the bracha or he had that specific food in mind when he recited the bracha or there is still leftover from the original food that he recited the bracha on.

In most cases, the blessing should be recited on the food one prefers most. So, if one likes the cookies more than the cake, the “mezonot” blessings should be recited on the cookies. However, there are other details to consider when making a blessing on one food which will also cover other foods, such as: Is the item whole or broken? Is it a fruit connected to the Land of Israel? What kind of flour are baked goods made from, and other issues, beyond the scope of this answer.

Therefore, to answer your question, when eating crackers and drinking water, the first blessing is recited on the crackers and then on the water. For the “After Blessing” one first recites the Al Hamichya and then the Borei Nefashot.

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