Shulchan Aruch: Chapter 177 - Laws Governing [Foods] Served During a Meal & After Meal and Their Appropriate Rules

SECTION 177 The Laws Governing [Foods] Served During a Meal and After the Meal and Their Appropriate Rules. (1–7)

1 [The following rules apply regarding foods] served during a meal:1 If they are foods that are served because of the meal, a blessing is not required before partaking of them.2 [This includes] foods that are commonly used as the basis for a meal, whether to accompany bread, e.g., meat, fish, vegetables, cheese, eggs, and salted foods, or whether they are served for sustenance and satiation, e.g., cabbage, spinach, porridge, and all cooked foods that are not served to accompany bread, but to serve as cooked food, for sustenance. [This ruling applies] even when they are eaten without bread, for the blessing HaMotzi covers them. Nor [is a blessing required] after [partaking of them], for the Grace after Meals covers them. (Since it is not customary to eat these foods throughout the day, as one does with fruit, but only during the meal, they are considered as secondary to the bread, which is the primary element of the meal. Therefore they are covered by the blessing recited over the bread, even when they are eaten without bread.)3

(When does the above apply? When a person bases his meal on bread. In such an instance, all the foods that are served to accompany bread and are not sustaining foods [in their own right])4 are served because of the bread. Hence, they are considered as secondary to it. There is a question, however, if [this ruling applies when] a person does not desire to eat bread and eats only a small amount of it, reciting the blessing HaMotzi with the intent of thereby covering the [blessings on the other] foods. [One might presume that] they are not covered by this blessing since they are not served because of the bread.5 [One might argue, however, that] since it is common practice for these foods to serve as the basis of a meal, they are covered by [the blessing recited over] the bread. Hence, one should recite the [appropriate] blessing over them and not over the bread,6 except on Shabbos and on festivals.)7

2 When foods that are not served because of the meal8 — i.e., it is not common practice to base a meal on them, neither as accompaniment to bread, nor for satiation, e.g., all types of fruit and the like, whether fresh or cooked, even if they were cooked with meat — are eaten without bread, they require a blessing to be recited before partaking of them. This [law] applies even when they are eaten at the end of the meal to assist in the digestion of the food (or for dessert, to relieve the heaviness of the food).9 They are not covered by the blessing HaMotzi, because they are not the fundamental element of the meal and they are never served [just] because of a meal.10 Instead, the common practice is to partake of them throughout the day, even outside the context of a meal.

They, however, do not require a blessing after partaking of them (even if they are eaten in the midst of a meal, not to help digest one’s food, nor as dessert, but solely for the sake of pleasure). Since they were served in the course of the meal, before the participants ceased partaking of bread, the Grace after Meals covers them,11 because everything eaten during the meal [leads to and hence,] is considered as part of the satiation about which it is said:12 “…you will be satiated and you will bless.”

3 If, however, [fruits] are eaten together with bread,13 they are considered as secondary to the bread and are covered by the blessing Ha­Motzi. Even if other foods served as the primary accompaniment to the bread and the fruit was served as a sweet course and for pleasure, if one ate a small amount [of fruit] together with the bread, [it is covered by the blessing HaMotzi].

If the fruit was served to accompany the bread and one ate a small amount of it together with the bread, even if afterwards, he eats some without bread, he is not required to recite a blessing before partaking of it [again], as long as he intends to eat some more together with the bread. Since he ate the fruit together with the bread at the outset and will do so at the end, the fruit — even the fruit one eats without bread in the interim — is grouped together with the other [foods served during] the meal and is covered by the blessing HaMotzi.² Since [the fruit] was originally served to accompany the bread, it served that purpose at the outset, and the person intended to use it for that purpose at the end [of the meal, all of the fruit is covered by the blessing HaMotzi].

[Moreover,] even if the person changed his mind afterwards and decided not to eat the fruit as an accompaniment to the bread, it is of no consequence. [The rationale:] At the time he partook of it and relied on the blessing HaMotzi, he still intended to eat it as an accompaniment [to the bread] afterwards.14

[A different ruling applies] if, at the outset, [the fruit] was not served as accompaniment to the bread, but as a sweet course. Even if one partook of it at the beginning and the end of the meal as an accompaniment to bread — but in the interim, he desires to partake of it without bread — a blessing is required before [partaking of it without bread]. Since [the fruit] is being served primarily as a sweet course and not as accompaniment to the bread, it is not considered as part of the remainder of the meal to the extent that [the blessing Ha­Motzi] covers what one eats without bread.

All of the above applies when one began by partaking of the fruit together with bread. If, however, he began by partaking of the fruit without bread, even if it was served as accompaniment [to bread] — and he partakes of it for that purpose — since he wishes to eat a small amount without bread at the outset, he is required to recite a blessing.

It is preferable for a person to always conduct himself in the followingmanner when he is served fruit in the middle of his meal as accompaniment to bread: Initially, he should partake of a small amount of it without bread and recite a blessing. Afterwards, he may partake of it, whether with bread or without bread. [This course of action is suggested] because there are authorities who raise doubts whether fruit that is eaten without bread is covered by the blessing HaMotzi when initially and ultimately it was eaten together with bread.

4 All of the above applies when one served another food as the primary accompaniment [to the bread and] as the basis of this meal and fruit was served in the middle of the meal. If, however, fruit is served as the primary accompaniment [to bread and as] the basis of this meal, the fruit is considered as food served for the sake of the meal and is covered by the blessing Ha­Motzi, even if it is initially eaten without bread. Thus, it is not necessary to eat the fruit together with bread at the outset.

There are, however, authorities who differ with [the above]. Therefore, it is preferable for the person to initially eat a small amount [of fruit] together with bread. Thus, even if he partook of the fruit without bread [afterwards], he need not recite a blessing on it. [This ruling applies] even if he does not intend to eat any more fruit with bread, since fruit was served as the primary accompaniment [to bread and] the basis of this meal.

When a person eats dates or the like between the courses [of a meal] to stimulate his appetite, [that is considered] necessary for the meal. [Hence,] in all instances, they are covered by the blssing [HaMotzi] recited over bread, like breadcrumbs that are stuck together with broth or honey, as explained in sec. 176.15

5 Whenever fruit is not covered by the blessing [HaMotzi] recited over bread, a separate blessing must be recited over it even if the fruit was before him at the time he recited HaMotzi and his intent was to cover the fruit with that blessing.

Whenever the fruit is covered by [the blessing HaMotzi], the fruit is covered even if it was not before the person at the time he recited the blessing HaMotzi and he did not have the specific intent to partake of it. (Generally, [the rule is that when one recites a blessing over a food that is of primary importance with the intent that it cover foods that are secondary to it,] the blessing over the primary food does not cover the secondary food, if the secondary food is not before him at the time he recites the blessing or he does not have it in mind at that time.16 Nevertheless, at a meal, since the person sits down to eat,17 it can be assumed that his intent is to partake of everything that is served him, even though he did not intend) specifically [to partake of a particular food].

[The ruling changes,] however, if it is known that he did not intend to partake of a given food at all, e.g., after he recited the blessing HaMotzi over bread, he was sent a gift of food from another home upon which he was not dependent18 and he did not have this gift in mind at all. [Hence,] it is not covered by the blessing [HaMotzi] recited over the bread. [This applies] even when [the present] is a type of food that is served as accompaniment to the bread and [the recipient] partakes of it as accompaniment to the bread. At present, people are generally not meticulous in their observance [of this law] in our countries, because it is common practice among people to send gifts of food to friends during a meal, even from the homes of others.

(All the above refers to [questions of] whether foods are included in the blessing recited over bread. When, however, a food was covered by the blessing recited over the bread, if the person ceased partaking of it and made a conscious decision not to eat more of it at this meal and subsequently changed his mind and decided to partake [of more], he is not required to recite a blessing over it, as stated in sec. 179[:1].)

6 [The following laws apply to] foods that are served after the meal: (In the Talmudicera, the custom was that at the end of the meal, [the participants] would cease eating bread. [The bread] and the small tables [on which it had been served] that had been placed before each one of them would be removed. [The participants] would establish a sitting to partake of fruit and delicacies as dessert and to drink wine.) Anything served to them at that time, even foods that are commonly served to accompany bread, require a blessing to be recited before partaking of them and after partaking of them. (Needless to say, [this applies] to fruit, which — with the exception of dates — are covered by the Grace after Meals, as will be explained in sec. 208.)19 [The rationale:] The blessings HaMotzi and Grace after Meals only cover the food eaten during the main part of the meal, during the time when [the participants] have not yet ceased partaking of bread.

In the present era, it is not common to remove the table after the meal before the recitation of Grace. Hence, the participants are not considered to have ceased partaking of bread until they [begin to] recite Grace or they wash before Grace, or [the leader of Grace] takes the cup [of wine] on which Grace is recited in his hand or he says: “Bring the cup and let us recite Grace.”20 These are signs that [the participants] have withdrawn their attention from eating entirely. (Needless to say, [this is true] if a person explicitly said that he is ceasing to eat anymore, even though he did not say: “Bring [the cup] and let us recite Grace.” This is also true if a person mentally resolved so.)

True, [even in the above instances,] when a person changes his mind and decides to eat bread, there are authorities who permit him to resume eating without reciting a blessing, as will be stated in sec. 179[:1. Moreover, according to these authorities in such a situation,] one may eat all the foods that are covered by the blessing [over bread]. Nevertheless, as long as one did not change his mind and he has withdrawn his attention from [partaking of bread], the other foods are not covered by its blessing even though he has not diverted his attention from [partaking of] them.21

7 At large feasts, when it is customary for the participants to cease partaking of bread, to prepare a table with fruits, and to sit down¹⁷ to drink, it would be appropriate to recite a blessing before partaking of beverages even though they are served because of the meal. Similarly, it would be appropriate to recite a blessing after partaking of fruits before reciting Grace. However, this is not the common practice.

There are authorities who offer justification for this course of action, explaining that a blessing was required in the Talmudicera, only because [by] eating and drinking after the table was removed, [the participants made it] appear [that they were taking part in] another meal. Therefore [that food] is not covered by the blessings recited over bread, neither the blessing before partaking of it, nor the blessing one recited afterwards. [Since, at present, the table is not removed,] everything that is eaten or drunk at the [same] table at which the bread of the meal was eaten is considered as part of the same meal. Hence, [these foods] are covered by the blessings recited over [the bread]22 even though [the participants] diverted their attention from it entirely. [This ruling] applies even if [the participants] said: “Bring [the cup] and let us recite Grace,” unless they actually washed for Grace, or they took the cup over which Grace is recited, as will be explained in sec. 179[2-5].