Dining times are delineated by the Talmud (Pesachim 12b) according to class and personality; it advises each group as to when they should first sit down to eat every day. Find your category. They are as follows: If you're a cannibal (!), you should eat within the first hour of every morning. If you're a thief, better you should eat during the second hour. If you're rich, you get to dine in the third hour of the day. If you are an ordinary Jew, you are to eat during the fourth hour. If you work with your hands (what Jew does?) you are to eat in the fifth hour. Finally, if you are an aspiring Torah scholar, you should eat your meal in the sixth hour of the day (hmmm, when does your boss take lunch?). Regardless of when you eat, it should be at a set time every day (Yoma 75b).
Meals are intended to be held with family and other loved ones rather than alone, as the Talmud says: "Better is a meager meal of vegetables with love than a rich luxurious meal without love (Proverbs 15:17)." Eating in public, however, is considered to be in poor taste (Kiddushin 40b some authorities extend this to restaurants!). We mustn't eat until the point we are stuffed, just enough so that we are no longer hungry (Pesachim 114a). Indeed, overeating is a grave sin (Eruvin 83b). One is obligated to say "Divrei Torah" (Torah thoughts) at least once during the course of a meal (Avot 3). Be advised that drinking hot liquids and eating warm bread Saturday nights has secret healing powers (Shabbat 119b).
An early breakfast is strongly recommended (Pesachim 112a) and eating well protects one from the weather (Pesachim 112a). We should wait some time after eating before beginning any exercise (Shabbat 129b). Our eating should exceed the amount we drink (Megillah 12a). We should not drastically change our diet as it can lead to severe intestinal disorders (Nedarim 37b). It goes without saying that wasting food is a serious sin (Deut. 20:19).
Eating should never be a rushed event - take your sweet time (Berachot 54b). The Talmud recommends that we not slice bagels or meat on our hands, as blood is known to ruin the taste of food (Berachot 8b). Additionally, a guest should never serve food to the children of the host, lest there be a lack of food for other guests (Chullin 94a). It is prohibited to invite someone for a meal if it is known in advance they will not be able to attend (Kitzur).
It is a wellknown teaching that our tables are compared to the altar of the Temple, so the next time you sit down to a meal, just think of all the mitzvot you are able to do!
The writer, an Orthodox rabbi, lives with his family in Ramat Beit Shemesh, Israel. He was Winnipeg Hillel/Jewish Students' Association director and scholar-in-residence at the Rady Jewish Community Centre in 2003/04.
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