Parshas Vayakhel (Parah) 5785
- Torah Tavlin
- Mar 20
- 3 min read
סנהדרין צב.
"משייר פת בשולחנו"
Rav Elazar says, whoever doesn’t leave over any bread on his table, will not see any סימן ברכה. The Gemara asks: ר' אלעזר elsewhere says that whoever leaves over small pieces (פתיתים) at his table, is כאילו עובד ע"ז, as the pasuk states, "העורכים לגד שלחן". This seems like a contradiction in statements. The Gemara answers that when R’ Elazar says it’s אסור, he means not to add a לחם שלימה to the table if there are already פתיתים there, as that resembles ע"ז. However, after a meal, one should be careful to at least leave over small pieces (פתיתים) on the table, to be available to עניים. If there are no small pieces at all leftover on the table, then one may bring a פת שלימה.
The [או"ח ק"פ,א] שו"ע says: "אין להסיר המפה והלחם עד אחר ברהמ"ז". The משנ"ב quotes the לבוש - to show that we are thanking ה' during ברהמ"ז for his חסד in preparing food לכל בריותיו. The מ"א adds, that a ברכה is not שורה on an empty item, so we don’t want the table to be bare. The מחצית השקל explains that אלישע asked אשת עובדיה to bring him a vessel that had a bit of oil in it and from that he made it keep overflowing with oil. Only by ששת ימי הבראשית did הקב"ה create יש מאין. After that, הקב"ה prefers only to create יש מיש. The [שם סי' ב'] שו"ע paskens like ר' אלעזר in our Gemara that one who doesn’t leave over פת - "אינו רואה סימן ברכה". The משנ"ב quotes רש"י by us that the point is that these pieces should be there and readily available to any עניים that might show up. Therefore, in שער הציון, the ח"ח adds that לכתחילה one should see to it that these pieces are not too small. The מחבר also says one should not bring a פת שלם to the table at the end of the סעודה. The [ס"ק ד'] משנ"ב explains that he means if there are already פתיתין on the table. If there aren’t any פתיתין left on the table, then even a פת שלימה may be brought. The מ"א adds that if there happens to be a פת שלם left over together with other small pieces, it need not be removed from the table.
The שו"ע [יו"ד קע"ח,ג'] says: If one ate and left over פתיתין on his table, he may not bring a פת שלימה to the table. The רמ"א adds "יש מקומות שנהגו" - to set the table with food the night before a ברית מילה. This is אסור as it resembles the ע"ז mentioned in our Gemara - העורכים לגד שולחן. The ש"ך adds that setting up the table without actually having a סעודה is אסור. For those that make a סעודה the night before a ברית (וואכט נעכט), it would be מותר. The ט"ז quotes the לבוש: because of this concern that it resembles ע"ז,"יש לאסור" to those that have the מנהג that Friday night after the סעודה is over, they set the table with the לחם for the next day and leave it all night. The ט"ז says "ולא נהירא". In the case of the רמ"א the table is set the night before a ברית purely for מזל, so that resembles ע"ז, so it’s אסור. In our case, the table is being set with the intention of כבוד שבת not for מזל. Similarly, on erev Shabbos when the חלות come out of the oven, it is customary to put them straight on the table לכבוד שבת!