Chazal say regarding the entry of the Kohein Gadol to the Kodesh Hakodashim on Yom Kippur (Zohar Chadash Bereishis 24:2): “When the Kohein enters lifnai velifnim...if he merits – he goes inside in peace and emerges in peace, if he is not zocheh – then a flame emerges from between the two keruvim and he is burned up and dies inside.”
The Rishon Letzion, Rav Eleizer Nachum, author of Chazon Nachum on Mishnayos and the rebbi of the Chida, asked if after the Kohein Gadol merited to emerge safely from the Kodesh Hakodashim he had to bentch Hagomel, in keeping with the halachah of someone who was in a dangerous place and was saved. He sent his question to Rav Yitzchak Zerachyah Azulai, the father of the Chida, who replied that the Kohein Gadol did not make Hagomel when emerging. He explained his answer as follows: Although the brachah of Hagomel was established for one who was in a place of danger and was saved, the Kodesh Hakodashim cannot be called a place of danger, because the emergence of the Kohein from there in peace depends solely on his deeds.
But the Chazon Nachum did not accept the answer. In his view, even if emerging from the Kodesh Hakodashim depended on his merits, the danger of actually going in there obligated him to recite Hagomel when he emerged safely.
Machazik Brachah [Chida] Orach Chaim 219 1-2
