[Avodah] Is it permissible to eat while walking outside through a marketplace?

[Micha Berger]

On Tue, Dec 08, 2020 at 06:45:21AM -0500, Akiva Miller via Avodah wrote:
> We have our work cut out for us. Each case has to be investigated
> carefully. For a long time, I had thought that the halachos of Shinui Makom
> (the requirement to repeat a bracha rishona because one left the place
> where he was eating) was related to society and formal dining, and
> therefore might change when eating habits changed...

This gives me an excuse to raise a broader question about societal change.

Chazal's meals were very much centered on bread. Kind of like the standard
appetizer course at many Israeli Shabbos tables. The bread served as a cross
between spoon and plate -- you shovel up some food on your bread and eat.

Lefes (which Jastrow renders "lefas") and liftan on pas are no longer the
backbone of akhilas qeva or se'udos. We simply don't eat like that. A
sandwich is one kind of meal; eating with bread no longer /defines/
a meal.

And while I would be loathe to change something as major as allowing the
opening hamotzi cover all the foods in a meal, I wonder if the assumptions
Chazal had when stating this rule apply to how we eat a meal today.

On the example of non-chassidim and gartl:
> If the reason for a belt or gartel is related to being "a respectful form
> of dress", then RMBluke is raising an excellent point, and it should be
> okay to pray in a full-length gown, even without a belt or underwear. But
> my understanding is that the requirement for a belt is *not* related to
> fashion, but is specifically to make a separation between one's head and
> private parts, and would apply in all times and places. The reason
> non-chasidim don't wear a gartel is because the regular belt is sufficient,
> and even without an actual belt a waistband can suffice. (More details at
> Orach Chayim 91:2)

The issue is libo ro'eh es ha'erva. (If it were the heat, a tie would
work.)

The AhS (se'if 4) gives a reason to put a gartl on even if you are
wearing a belt. The pasuq reads "Hakhon liqras E-lokhekha Yisrael".
The gemara (Shabbos 10a) gives examples of such hakhanos. The AhS brings
down this gemara earlier (se'if 1) and refers to it here.

Putting on a gartl has become a traditional way to prepare oneself to
meet the RBSO, and even if today's fashion makes it rarely necessary
for ein libo ro'eh es ha'erva, the AhS believes the practice should not
be stopped.

And that's from the Litvisher poseiq known for finding meqoros for
justifying minhag! I would guess that in Litta, gartelach were far more
common than among today's "Litvish".

Tir'u baTov!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger                 What you get by achieving your goals
http://www.aishdas.org/asp   is not as important as
Author: Widen Your Tent      what you become by achieving your goals.
- https://amzn.to/2JRxnDF            - Henry David Thoreau