306. A Group of Ten

45:12 If ten eat together, God's Name is part of the text for the zimmun. The leader says, “let us bless our God, of Whose bounty we have eaten” and the other diners respond with, “Blessed is our God, of Whose bounty we have eaten…” The proper text is “bless our God,” not “bless to our God.” Since a minyan of ten is obliged to bentch using God’s Name, they may not break into smaller groups unless there are 20 diners or more. This way, each group can still bentch with a minyan and say God’s Name. (There may be room to be lenient if someone needs to leave in order to attend to a mitzvah whose opportunity will otherwise be lost – see Mishnah Brurah 193:16.) 45:13 If, when bentching with a minyan, the leader and the other diners made a mistake and neglected to mention God’s Name in the zimmun, they may not go back and correct it. This is because they already fulfilled their obligation to have a zimmun even if they did not fulfill the obligation to include God’s Name. However, if the leader realized before the others responded that he neglected to include God’s Name, they have not yet fulfilled their obligation of zimmun and he can then go back.