[Avodah] Mezonos Becomes HaMotzi

[Akiva Miller via Avodah]

R' Micha Berger asked:

> The whole concept of meal changed.
>
> Their meals were generally a bunch of foods you ate on/with some
> flatbread -- pita, laffa / taboon, Indian rota, dosa, etc...
> Those foods being "lefes". This is what we're talking about when
> we speak of someone being qoveia se'udah on bread, and the other
> foods (minus the usual) being covered by its berakhos.
>
> Picture a typical Israeli or Sepharadi appetizer course.
>
> I therefore wonder how we knew these rules still applied as those
> of us in the golah outside the Middle East evolved away from that
> kind of meal. And why they would. Maybe sandwiches are similar
> enough to think the same notion of qevi'as se'udah would apply.
> But in general?

I will agree that bread figures into our meals far less prominently than
theirs. But even then, the whole meal was covered by Hamotzi, even those
foods that were not eaten literally together with the bread.

Hamotzi covers the meal because the bread is the ikar and the meal is the
tafel. But there are two different sorts of ikar/tafel relationship: One
governs the decision of what bracha to say on a salad and other food
mixtures, and that's what you're thinking of when you mention sandwiches
and Israeli appetizers.

But there is another concept also, that bread is the ikar because it is the
king of all foods. My meal is covered by Hamotzi not only if I actually eat
the food with bread - it works even for the food not eaten with bread,
simply because of bread's high status.

For more information on this sort of ikar/tafel, I suggest looking into why
Hagafen covers all drinks. When I drink enough wine at kiddush, it covers
the Coke I drink afterward, and I don't need to dip the Coke into the wine
for this to work. It is simply because of wine's status as the king of
drinks. And so too for bread and other foods.

Akiva Miller
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