P'ri hagafen

Another guest at my girlfriend's seder asked about something that's puzzled me, too: Why is it that the brachah/blessing over wine or grape juice "borei p'ri hagefen,who creates the fruit of the vine," but the brachah over grapes themselves is "borei p'ri ha-eitz," who creates the fruit of the tree"? How could grapes and grape juice not come from the same plant?

"It isn't that kind of fruit," my old friend explained. "It's more like 'p'ru u-r'vu, be fruitful and multiply.' It's about the fruit of our labor."

Oh. That makes sense.

So nu, maybe those of us who are parents should say a brachah like that over our child(ren). I mean, if anything is the fruit of our labor . . . :)