Question: Is it appropriate to clear the table before Birkas Hamazon?
Discussion: One should not remove the tablecloth, bread,1 or salt2 from the table before Birkas Hamazon.3 There are two reasons for this halacha.
Leaving remnants of the meal on the table makes it clear that we are thanking Hashem for the sustenance He provides.4
Blessings only rest upon something that already exists. Therefore, at least some food must be left on the table to experience the blessing that Birkas Hamazon brings to a person’s sustenance.5 If people are sitting at different tables during bentching, bread should be left on each table.6
Empty containers should be removed from the table before bentching.7
During the week,8 the knives should be covered before bentching.9 There are two reasons mentioned in the Rishonim for this practice.
The table at which a person eats is compared to the Mizbei’ach.10 Just as the Mizbei’ach cannot be built with iron tools, knives with iron blades should similarly not be visible on a person’s table during bentching.11 Therefore, all knives that contain iron12 must be covered even if they are not within arm’s reach.13 However, knives made from other metals do not need to be covered.14
Once, a person felt tremendous anguish over the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash while he was saying the berachah of Bonei Yerushalayim. Due to his distress, he took a knife from the table and stabbed himself.15 To prevent such an incident from recurring, any knife16 within arm’s reach and capable of inflicting harm must be removed from the table.17 According to this reasoning, simply covering the knife will not suffice.18
Some Poskim19 say that one may rely on the leniencies of both reasons. Therefore:
Only a knife that contains iron needs to be covered, but not if it is made from other metals.
The knife does not have to be removed from the table; covering it is sufficient.
Knives that are not within arm’s reach do not have to be covered.
Some20 maintain that knives made from iron must be removed even if they are only meant for smearing. However, others21 are only concerned with knives that are capable of cutting.
NOTES
1 Shulchan Aruch 180:1-2.
2 Kitzur Shelah cited in Kaf Hachaim 180:3. The reason salt should be left on the table is so that the table should be similar to the Mizbei’ach, which also had salt. Additionally, salt protects from misfortunes.
3 According to the teachings of Kabbalah, one should also leave the bones and peels from his food on the table until after bentching (Kaf Hachaim ibid.). However, out of respect for the berachos, they should be gathered to one side of the table to ensure that the rest of the table is clean. Alternatively, they should be placed in a utensil that will remain on the table (ibid. 11).
4 Mishnah Berurah 180:1.
5 Ibid.
6 Kaf Hachaim 180:2.
7 Tiferes Shmuel, Berachos 7:30 cited in Sha’arei Teshuvah 183:1. See also Kav Hayashar (64).
8 On Shabbos and Yom Tov, the knives do not need to be covered. See Taz 180:3 and Magen Avraham 180:4 for why this is so.
9 Shulchan Aruch 180:5.
10 Chagigah 27a.
11 Rokeiach 332 cited in Beis Yosef 180:5
12 This includes steel, which is made primarily from iron.
13 Chut Shani, Shabbos, volume 3, p. 226.
14 Magen Avraham 180:4. However, see Eishel Avraham 4, who is unsure about this distinction.
15 Shibbolei Haleket 155 in the name of Rabbeinu Simchah, cited in Beis Yosef ibid.
16 Even knives not made from iron (Eishel Avraham 180:4).
17 According to this reason, the knife must be removed from the table; covering it will not prevent the danger (Chut Shani ibid.; cf., Eishel Avraham, (Buczacz)).
18 Chut Shani ibid.
19 Chut Shani ibid.
20 Chut Shani ibid; Az Nidberu 7:2.
21 R’ Moshe Feinstein cited in Rivevos Ephraim 2, 80:35.