Wenn jemand über die Früchte des Ilan gesegnet ist "Wer schafft die Früchte der Erde", hat er seine Verpflichtung erfüllt. [Ein Ilan ist jedes Wachstum, bei dem, wenn eine Frucht daraus entnommen wird, ein Spross übrig bleibt und dieser Spross selbst im folgenden Jahr Früchte produziert. Der Segen für alle seine Früchte ist "Wer schafft die Früchte des Baumes?". Aber wo, wenn eine Frucht genommen wird, kein solcher Spross übrig bleibt, ist der Segen für die Früchte "Wer schafft die Frucht der Erde?"] Und wenn man über die Früchte der Erde segnet "Wer schafft die Frucht des Baumes" er hat seine Verpflichtung nicht erfüllt. Wenn man bei allen Lebensmitteln sagt "Wer hat alles verursacht" ("shehakol"), hat er seine Verpflichtung erfüllt [auch für Brot und Wein. Aber von Anfang an sollte man nichts essen, wenn man den entsprechenden Segen nicht kennt.]
Bartenura on Mishnah Berakhot
ברך על פירות האילן וכו' – Whenever one takes hold of fruit that comes from a branch and that branch itself produces fruit in the following year (i.e., “perennial”), it is called a “tee” and we make the blessing on its fruits, “בורא פרי העץ/who creates the fruit of the tree;” but, where one takes hold of it [the fruit] and the branch does not remain to produce in the following year, we do not recite the [same] blessing on them, but rather, “בורא פרי האדמה/who creates the fruit of the ground.”
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English Explanation of Mishnah Berakhot
Introduction
This mishnah deals with blessings that are valid in a default sense that is to say they are not the preferable blessing to be recited over various food items, but nevertheless if one recites them one has fulfilled his obligation to recite a blessing.
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Bartenura on Mishnah Berakhot
על כולן אם אמר שהכל יצא – And even on bread and even on the wine (i.e., fruit of the vine). However, ab initio, one should not eat any fruit if he does not know at first the appropriate blessing to be recited on it.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Berakhot
If one blessed over fruit of the tree the blessing, “Who creates the fruit of the ground,” he has fulfilled his obligation. But if he said over produce from the ground, “Who creates the fruit of the tree,” he has not fulfilled his obligation. Trees grow from the ground (didn’t need me to tell you that, did you). Therefore, if one recites “Bore pri ha’adamah” over a fruit that grows from the tree, the obligation to recite the blessing has been fulfilled. This does not work in the opposite way. Things can grow from the ground without being from trees (I suppose you knew that as well). Therefore, if one recites “Bore pri haetz” over something that grows from the ground but not from a tree, say a cucumber, one has not fulfilled one’s obligation and he must go back and recite the correct blessing.
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English Explanation of Mishnah Berakhot
If over anything he says “By Whose word all things exist”, he has fulfilled his obligation. There is a default blessing that works for all foods “shehakol niheye bedvaro.” In this generalized blessing, we acknowledge God as the source of everything in the world through the words God used at the moment of creation. As we shall see in the following mishnah, this is also the blessing which we recite over foods that don’t grow from the ground.
