Shabbos Seuda: We Don’t See It on the Menu

An Overview of a Shiur given by Rav Ari Stauber on Parshas Emor

וביום השביעי שבת שבתון מקרא קודש כל מלאכה לא תעשו ויקרא כג:ג

Gemara (Shabbos 148b-149a) — One may not read a guest list or food menu on Shabbos for two reasons:

• May erase something
• May come  to read shtarei hedyotos

Heterim for reading a food menu on Shabbos or Yom Tov:

• Avoiding the concern of erasing:
  • From Rav Eliashiv – We don’t prepare the exact amount of food, so no concern of nervousness that one might erase.
  • Bach– Someone else can read it, as the concern of erasing is only for the wife.
  • Rashba – Can appoint a shomer to ensure she does not erase.
  • Rav Heinemann and Rav Furst – Can use a page-saver or laminate it, which serve as a heker. 

• Avoiding shtarei hedyotos
• Magen Avraham/Rav Shmuel Kamanetsky – It is a seudas mitzvah, and the gezeira doesn’t apply.
• Magen Avraham – Gezeira doesn’t apply to very short documents.
• Write the names of foods on separate index cards.

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