Siman - Berachos Daf 46
- Who breaks bread and who leads the bentching?
R’ Yochanan says in the name of R’ Shimon bar Yochai that the baal habayis breaks the bread and a guest leads Birkas Hamazon.
- The reason the baal habayis is the one to break the bread is because he will be generous and cut larger pieces, which a guest would not be comfortable doing.
- The reason a guest leads the zimun is to enable him to bless the host by saying the Yehi Ratzon paragraph toward the end of bentching.
The Yehi Ratzon includes the following requests:
a.That the host not be embarrassed in either this world or the next.
b.That he be successful with all his property.
c.That host and guests never have thoughts of sin.
- How far does the berachah of the zimun extend?
There is a machlokes regarding how far the berachah of the zimun extends:
- Rav Nachman says it extends up to and including the leader’s response of נברך.
- Rav Sheishess says it includes the first berachah of הזן. According to Rashi, Rav Sheishess holds that the first berachah of Birkas Hamazon proper is הארץ. (Tosafos and other Rishonim interpret Rav Sheishess differently).
- הטוב והמטיב is a דרבנן
The Gemara brings different proofs that the blessing הטוב ומטיב is not Biblical:
-Rav Yosef sees it from the halachah that laborers may delete it.
-Rav Yitzchak bar Shmuel in the name of Rav derives it from the fact that it is next to the blessing בונה ירושלים, yet it still begins with the word “ברוך.” Were it Biblical, it wouldn’t require “ברוך,” since it would be considered aברכה סמוכה לחברתה .
-Rav Nachman derives it from the halachah that it is not recited in the house of a mourner.
