Birkat haGomel

Hi,

There is considerable debate regarding the application of Birkat haGomel for different types of trips. Rather than enter this significant controversy, I'll simply cite the words of the Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chaim 219:7, which emphasize that this berachah is intended for situations involving danger, and not for generic trips -

"In Germany and France they do not recite the berachah when traveling from one city to another, for the sages obligated only travelers in the wilderness, where dangerous animals and bandits are found. In Spain they customarily do recite the berachah, for their roads are all under the presumption of danger. They do not recite it for less than a parsah, though, unless it is a place established to be especially dangerous."

May we soon see the rebuilding of the Beit haMikdash,
Mordechai