Should I say the bracha when I immerse the vessel in the Mikve if I don't know what it is made of?

Question

For example: we immerse without bracha on utensils made of porcelain, but utensils made of glass we do immerse with bracha. If I don't know if it's actually made of glass or porcelain, what should I do?

Answer 1

There is a general principle that when there is a doubt over which blessing to say, we take the lenient view; that is ספק ברכות להקל.

This derives from the fact that blessings are Rabbinic in origin and we take a lenient view when there are doubts in a Rabbinic "situation"; that is called ספיקא דרבנן לקולא.

If the blessing were made and it would have been inappropriate we would have transgressed the principle of אסור לברך ברכה לבטלה - it is forbidden to make a blessing for no purpose.

This is all explained in "Pninei Halocho" of Rabbi Eliezer Melamed.

So if in doubt (and you do not have a vessel to immerse that requires a blessing to immerse first), immerse the vessel without a blessing.