Shulchan Aruch: Chapter 184 - Grace Should be Recited in Place Meal Eaten; Until When One May Recite Grace; One Who Forgot & Did Not Recite Grace

SECTION 184 Grace Should be Recited in the Place where the Meal was Eaten; Until When One May Recite Grace; One Who Forgot and Did Not Recite Grace. (1–3)

1 It was already explained in sec. 178[:4–6] that whenever a food requires that the blessing recited after partaking of it be recited in the place where it was eaten, it also requires, as an initial preference, that the blessing be recited prior to one’s departing from that place.1

If one forgot and departed from the place where he ate before reciting Grace, our Sages did not trouble him to return there to recite Grace. Instead, he may recite it in the place where he remembered.2 Nevertheless, one who returns [to his original place to recite it] is praiseworthy.3 If, however, one willfully left his original place, he must return there to recite Grace.³ If, however, he [did not return, but] recited Grace in the place he remembered, he fulfills his obligation.

Other authorities [are more stringent and] maintain that even one who forgets [to recite Grace in the place where he ate] must return to his original place and recite Grace.³ If he recited Grace in the place he remembered, he has fulfilled his obligation. If, however, he [willfully] departed [from that place, knowing that he had yet to recite Grace], even after the fact, he does not fulfill his obligation [if he recited Grace elsewhere]. Instead, he must return to his original place and recite Grace there.

The actual ruling [depends on the following principle]: When there is a question regarding blessings, we rule leniently.4 Thus, after the fact, when one already recited Grace in the place where he remembered, there is no need to return and recite Grace in his original place. [This applies] even if one willfully left his original place. As an initial preference, however, even if one departed unintentionally, he should return to his place and recite Grace if possible, [e.g.,] if he is not held back by the members of a group who are accompanying him on a journey, who do not want to wait for him. In the latter situation, if he acted unintentionally, he may rely on the first opinion and follow the lenient ruling [since] the matter involves Rabbinic Law.⁴ Even if he acted willfully, if he is [so] far [from his original place that] by the time he would return to his original place, he would already have begun to digest his food and, hence, he would not be able to recite Grace, as will be explained shortly,5 he should recite Grace in the place where he remembered.

All the above applies when the person does not possess any more bread. If, however, he still possesses bread, there is no need for him to return to his place in any event.6 Instead, he should eat a little bread in the place he remembered and recite Grace afterwards. For any food that requires that the blessing after partaking of it be recited in the place it was eaten, requires that the blessing be recited in the place where one concluded eating, not in the place where he began eating.

Even if he did not eat an amount of bread that requires the recitation of Grace7 in the place where he concluded eating, there are authorities who maintain that he should recite Grace in the place where he concluded eating. [The rationale:] The essential obligation to recite a blessing after one ate takes effect in the place where one concludes eating, since he is not obligated to recite a blessing before he concludes eating. Instead, as long as the food he ate has not yet digested between one time he eats and the next,⁶ he may eat again, indeed, many more times, and include all [of the food he ate] in the one blessing that he will recite after he concludes [eating entirely].8 For he is obligated in the recitation of Grace [for his last meal] regardless of the food he ate originally. Thus the obligation of [Grace for] the last meal does not become incumbent upon him until he finishes eating with the intent of not eating again as long as until the food he ate has yet to be digested. Moreover, [even in such a situation,] if he decides to eat again afterwards, he is released from the obligation to recite Grace until he concludes eating. Therefore, when a person eats in two places, he should recite Grace in the place he concludes eating, even though he did not intend to eat again in the second place at the time he finished eating in the first location.9

Nevertheless, as an initial preference, one is not permitted to leave the place [where he ate] without reciting Grace, even if he intends to eat again in a second place, complete his meal there, and recite Grace there. The [only] exception [to this principle] is when initially, at the time that he recited the blessing HaMotzi, he had the intent [to complete his meal in the second place], as explained in sec. 178[:4].

All the above applies when one moves from one location to another. If, however, one moves from one corner to another in the same room, even [if it is] a large hall, it is all considered as one place. Even as an initial preference, one may recite Grace in a different corner. [This ruling may apply even when one moves] from a house to a courtyard, as long as he can see his original place, [for the two are considered as one place], as explained there (ibid.:1). If one ate in one room with the intent to recite Grace in a second room in the same house, it is possible that one’s intent to recite Grace there is effective, just as one’s intent to finish his meal there is effective,10 as explained there. One may rely on this [leniency] when the place where one eats is not clean.

2 According to Scriptural Law, one is not required to recite the Grace after Meals unless he is satiated from the food he ate,11 as [can be inferred from] the verse:12 “When you have eaten and are satiated, you shall bless….” According to Rabbinic Law, one is obligated to recite Grace even if he partakes of only an olive-sized portion,⁷ for this is the measure that is termed “eating.”13 An amount less than an olive-sized portion is not considered as eating at all.14

The laws that apply to combining [portions of bread eaten with an interval between them] to reach a measure equivalent to an olive-sized portion are explained in sec. 210.15

[The following laws apply] if a person had a lapse of memory and does not know whether he recited Grace or not. If he ate to the point of satiation, he must recite Grace because of his uncertainty, because the question involves a point of Scriptural Law. If he did not [eat that much], he should not recite Grace.16

Whenever a person is required to recite Grace [due to uncertainty], he must also recite the fourth blessing, [even though] it was ordained by the Sages,17 so that one will not come to treat it disparagingly.18 Moreover, [when they ordained the recitation of that blessing,] our Sages ordained that whenever Grace was to be recited, [all] four blessings should be recited.19

3 Until when may one recite the Grace after Meals?20 Until the food in one’s digestive system [begins to] be digested.21 How long is that? As long as one is not hungry as a result of that meal.22 From the time one begins to feel hungry, even though his food has not been fully digested, since the digestive process has already begun, he may no longer recite Grace. Similarly, with regard to drinking or eating fruit, if one does not know how to measure [whether the drink or fruit has begun to] be digested, he may recite the blessing [required after partaking of them] if he is not thirsty or hungry, nor desiring to eat those fruits.

All the above applies when a person ate all that he desired from the bread or fruit. [Different rules apply] if, however, he ate only a little and wanted to eat more, but did not have more to eat. [Should he later obtain more and desire to resume eating,] it is impossible to measure [the interval when digestion begins] by whether he is not hungry and desiring to eat, because he desired [more] food immediately [after eating]. Indeed, eating [a small amount] increases his desire [for food] even more than before [he ate] and even more than his desire will be after this small amount will be digested. If so, his desire for more does not indicate that what he has eaten has already begun to be digested. Instead, the measure is the time it takes to walk four mil,23 which is an hour and a fifth,24 according to [the calculations] explained in sec. 459[:10].25

There are authorities who differ with regard to this measure and require a person to recite a blessing immediately after partaking of a small amount of food26 which even after he has eaten will leave him feeling hungry.27 If it happens that a person waited after eating, he should eat a small amount before [reciting] Grace to remove [any shadow of] doubt, since we are not proficient in measuring whether [or not] one is as hungry as he was at the outset, before he ate. For were [he certain that] he is as hungry as he was before eating, surely, the food in his digestive system has already [begun] to be digested.

[To explain:] Someone who is not hungry and eats fruits or sweets for the sake of pleasure could possibly desire them even more after partaking of them than before [partaking of them] even though they have not begun to be digested, because tasting them stimulates his desire for them. Similarly, when a person who is not hungry eats bread, when he eats a little, what he ate can arouse his desire to eat, because it stimulates his digestive organs and causes them to expand, [prompting] him to consume food with desire. If, however, a person partakes of bread because he is hungry, even eating a small amount will put his mind at ease somewhat and he will not be as hungry as he was beforehand. Even an olive-sized portion [of bread] which is not sufficient to put his mind at ease,28 will, nevertheless, not leave the person quite as hungry as he was before.

Similarly, when one eats other foods because of hunger, and similarly, when one who is not hungry eats, eating only arouses a desire for food immediately, directly after stimulating his digestive organs. If he waits after eating, the stomach contracts and he does not desire to eat as much, not even as much as he did before he ate. [Thus] if afterwards, he feels a small desire [to eat] like he did before he ate, that is certainly a sign that the food he ate originally has begun to be digested and he may no longer recite the blessing after it. We are not proficient in determining such matters. Therefore, one should not wait at all after eating only a small amount before reciting Grace. Weight should be given to the words [of these authorities] and one should rule leniently when there is a doubt regarding blessings. Thus one is not able to recite Grace when he delays until the time it takes to walk four mil, as required by the first opinion.

If it happens that a person waited after eating and then ate again to remove a doubt [concerning his obligation to recite Grace], he is not required to recite the blessing HaMotzi as long as he did not divert his attention [from eating]. Some authorities maintain [that this ruling applies] even if he did divert his attention from eating, as stated in sec. 179[:1, 4].

When, however, the food over which the person recited the blessing has definitely begun to digest, the relevance of the first blessing has already ceased. Similarly, if one desires to cover two meals with one blessing, he must recite the blessing [before eating again] if the interval [between these meals] was long enough for digestion to begin.