DailyHalacha.com for Mobile Devices Now Available

Click Here to Sponsor Daily Halacha
"Delivered to Over 6000 Registered Recipients Each Day"

      
(File size: 686 KB)
If One Wants to Continue Eating after Washing Mayim Aharonim or Preparing for Birkat Hamazon

The Shulhan Aruch (OC 179) rules that if one already washed Mayim Aharonim and then decides he wants to eat more, he may not do so, even if he makes a new Beracha. Rather, he must continue to recite Birkat Hamazon. However, in a case where he did not yet wash Mayim Acharonim, but merely announced "Hav Lan Nivrach"-Let us recite Birkat Hamazon, he may continue eating provided that he makes a Beracha on the new food. That formal announcement constitutes a "Hesech Hada’at"-an interruption of the meal and severs the connection to the original Hamosi.

It is important to note that only the Ba’al Habayit-the head of the house can terminate the meal by his statements. A guest cannot control when the meal ends. Therefore, even if a guest made a declaration to end the meal, he is still dependent on the Ba’al Habayit and may continue to eat without a Beracha.

Nevertheless, nowadays when the head of the house tell his family to bring the Birkonim or the Mayim Acharonim, it is not an official end to the meal. He is merely giving his family a "heads up" that the meal is concluding. Therefore, he may continue eating again without a new Beracha. Rav Elyashiv (1910-2012, Jerusalem) is quoted as explaining this Halacha that nowadays, it is more common for people to change their minds about ending a meal, and a statement of this sort is not necessarily a person’s last word. Only the act of washing Mayim Acharonim or the actual Zimun terminates the meal.

The best practice is to avoid such a situation in the first place, since the Ben Ish Hai (Rav Yosef Haim of Baghdad, 1833-1909), in Parashat Korach, does say that requesting to bring the Mayim Acharonim constitutes a termination of the meal.

SUMMARY:

Once a person washed Mayim Acharonim, he may not continue eating, even if he were to make new Berachot.

Nowadays, a statement by the Ba’al Habayit that he intends to end the meal does not terminate the meal and all present may continue to eat, without making new Berachot.

 


Recent Daily Halachot...
Using an Electric Menorah for the Hanukah Candle Lighting
The Custom That Women Refrain From Certain Activities While the Hanukah Candles are Lit
Chanukah- Some Issues Concerning Hallel on Chanukah
Hanukah- May a Mourner Attend a Hanukah Party?
The Qualifications of the Hanukah Menorah
Chanukah- Should the Hanukah Candles be Lit Indoors or Outdoors?
Is There an Obligation to Eat Festive Meals on Hanukah?
What are the Preferred Materials From a Menorah Should be Made?
Hanukah – The Custom to Eat Jelly Donuts and Potato Pancakes
If a Congregation Neglected to Read the Hanukah Torah Reading
Hallel on Hanukah – One Who Mistakenly Recited Half-Hallel; Women’s Recitation of Hallel; Interruptions During Hallel
If One Did Not Recite Shehehiyanu on the First Night of Hanukah
The Hanukah Candle Lighting in the Synagogue When the First Night of Hanukah is Friday Night
Hanukah – Insights Into the Word “Hanukah”; the “Ma’oz Sur” Hymn; Praying for One’s Children at the Time of Candle Lighting
Hanukah Candles – The “Shamosh” Candle, and the Extra Candle Lit by Syrian Jews
Page of 239
3585 Halachot found