Shabbat 047

2:
Every child has probably heard – even if only at the Seder table on Passover – that in Tannaïtic times it was customary for formal meals to be eaten Roman fashion, reclining on couches round a central, low table. Thus it is the act of reclining which gives the repast its formal character. (Among the Romans informal meals were eaten sitting at a table as we do; and even on a formal occasion the womenfolk and the servants would dine seated at their own table while the menfolk reclined. The women would join the men for desert and would sit on chairs.)

3:
Paragraph 11 of Section 167 seeks to establish quite simply that if the meal is a formal one, one of the diners recites ha-motzi on behalf of all of them; but if the meal is informal each diner must recite his or her own benediction. In Tannaïtic times the status of the meal could be established quite simply: if the menfolk reclined it was a formal meal, but if everyone sat on chairs it was an informal meal. (Jewish tradition did not exclude the womenfolk and servants from the table, so it was necessary to point out that "the head of the family dining with all the members of the household is considered formal" – even if they sit on chairs.)

4:
When it became the universal custom for all the diners to eat while seated at the table (with none reclining on couches) it became necessary to re-define what is a formal meal and what is informal. The basic definition is that if people dine together by pre-arrangement the meal is considered formal, but if they just happened to be together at the same table with no pre-arrangement the meal is considered informal.

5:
When a group of people sit down together to share the Sabbath repast the meal thus becomes a formal meal and one person recites ha-motzi on behalf of them all.

6:
Despite its rather circuitous phrasing paragraph 13 of Section 167 is simple to understand. When a meal answers to the definition of informality each diner should recite his or her own benediction. However, one of their number may recite the benediction on behalf of others (as in the case of a formal respast) under certain conditions: the person reciting the benediction must, at that time, have the distinct intention of being an enabler and each of the other diners who wihes to be included in the benediction must have the distinct intention of fulfilling the duty through the agency of the enabler. (We have encountered this possibility of enabling others to fulfill their religious: Kiddush, was an instance. See Shabbat 033 for an example.)

Elro'i Sadeh writes:

I learned from my late Rabbi Mori Yosef Qapach zt"l that the celebrant is not eating from the bread until all other diners have been served. He learns this from the Rambam in Hilkhot Berakhot Ch.7, Halakha 5 and Rabbi Qapach elaborates on this issue in his commentary on his edition of the Mishne Torah. This custom is also what I have seen being practised within traditional Yemenite families. Though it might not be the common custom, however I thought it may be refresing to know what is seen as 'wrong' to some opinions is 'right' to others.

I respond:

First of all I really must permit myself to congratulate Elro'i. Rabbi Yosef Kapaĥ was one of the truly great scholars of our age. (He died about 6 years ago.) His work, particularly on Rambam and Sa'adya Ga'on is exemplary. If we had received only his translation of The Guide for the Perplexed into Hebrew "it would have been enough" to establish his unique contribution; but, of course, he did much more. To have been a student of Rabbi Yosef Kapaĥ must have been a great privilege indeed!

Elro'i is right: apparently there is here a distinct difference between accepted Ashkenazi custom and the custom of those who follow Rambam. (And by and large, of course, there is no section of Jewry that aggrandizes Rambam more than the Yemenites.) If I could I would mention all the various customs of the Jewish tribes all over the world. But, of course, I can't. For better or for worse, the Conservative Movement adopted the Ashkenazi tradition, and – as our banner says – the Virtual Bet Midrash is for the "Study of halakhah in the religious climate of Masorti (Conservative) Judaism".

I do permit myself one note. Despite what Elro'i writes of the teaching of Rabbi Kapaĥ, this is not mentioned as a Yemenite custom in Kapaĥ's book Halikhot Teman. (I checked!)