Chapter 42 – Meals

42.1) Do not eat until your cattle or poultry are fed.

42.2) Do not eat voraciously, while standing, or at an unruly table regardless of the type of fare served.

42.3) Do not take a bite of a piece of food or a sip of a drink and put it back on the table for another to eat or drink.

42.4) Do not be irritable while eating.

42.5) Do not talk while eating, even about religious matters.

42.6) Always allow an elder to begin eating first.

42.7) If you are sharing a bowl with someone else and they stop eating to take a drink, do not commence eating until the person is eating again.

42.8) Do not use bread for any loathsome purpose.

42.9) Do not throw bread; this is a loathsome act.

42.10) You may use bread as a medicament even if the act is loathsome to others.

42.11) Do not throw crumbs about; instead gather them and feed them to the birds.

42.12) Do not drink water in the presence of others.

42.13) Do not stare at another while they are eating or drinking.

42.14) Do not serve savory food or drink in front of another that creates a craving for that food or drink if they are not to have any of it.

42.15) Do not serve food to another unless they wash their hands and say the appropriate benediction.

42.16) A women should not drink wine when her husband is not present, nor ever drink wine in the home of another even if her husband is present.

42.17) Do not give food served to you to your host’s children.

42.18) Do not ask for food when you enter a house.

42.19) Do not leave your seats at the table before saying Grace.

42.20) If someone leaves during a meal with the intention of returning, leave their place as it is for their return.

42.21) At the time of saying the Hamotzi (blessing over bread), if you go to another room to say Grace, eat a small piece of bread in the original room.

42.22) If you say prayers in the middle of a meal, you need not repeat the Hamotzi (blessing over bread) when you resume eating.

42.23) Do not resolve to recite Grace at the finish of a meal.