Shulchan Aruch: Chapter 191 - Whether Workers Are Required to Recite Grace

SECTION 191 Whether Workers Are Required to Recite Grace. (1)

1 Day-laborers1 who perform work for an employer should cut short their recitation of Grace so as not to hold back the work of their employer.2 For one may not be occupied with his work at the time he recites Grace, as stated in sec. 183[:14].

How [should he conduct himself? A worker] should recite the first blessing as ordained.3 In the second blessing, he should begin with the blessing for Eretz [Yisrael], including in it [elements of the blessing] Boneh Yerushalayim, and conclude as he concludes the blessing for Eretz [Yisrael]. Since the blessing for Eretz [Yisrael]and the blessing Boneh Yerushalayim resemble each other, one can therefore incorporate them into one blessing, for the number of blessings recited in Grace is not of Scriptural origin. [Indeed,] according to Scriptural Law, one may fulfill his obligation with a single blessing that includes the three in encapsulated form, as stated in sec. 168[:8].4 It is only that Moshe, Yehoshua, David, and Shlomoh ordained the wording of the three blessings,5 and so [as not to idle them from working for] their employer, [the Sages] were lenient [and combined the blessings].

The fourth blessing, which is fundamentally of Rabbinic origin,6 is not recited by workers at all. [This applies] whether they recite Grace themselves or hear Grace being recited by a person who leads the zimun and recites [the entire] Grace after Meals as ordained. They may rise and return to their work when he completes the blessing Boneh Yerushalayim.

When does the above apply? When they receive a wage for their work aside from their meal. If, however, the only wage they receive is the meal that they eat, they should recite all four blessings as ordained. Similarly, if the employer eats with them, they should recite all four blessings, even though they receive a wage other than their meal.

At present, [day-laborers] always recite all four blessings, because it is not the practice of people to object to this. It can be assumed that, [in the present era,] one hires workers with the understanding that they will recite all four blessings.