<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">The following is documented:<div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial" size="3"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><br></span></font></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; ">532. If one steps on bread crumbs (even small (aggregate) amounts of less than a kezayis), <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span> it can lead to poverty. Therefore, one should be careful to dispose of the crumbs by either <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span> wrapping them and then discarding them in the garbage, or throwing them into water. <br><em>Shulchan Aruch w/Mishnah Brurah 180:4</em><br> <br>533. Before beginning Birchas Hamozon one should remove, or cover the knives because; <br>a) Metal (i.e. a knife), which shortens life, should not be left on a table which is compared to <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span> a Mizbeach (alter), which lengthens life (through the offerings brought), and b) It once happened <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span> that someone was so overcome about the destruction of the Bais Hamikdash upon reaching <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>"Boneh Yerushalayim" that he grabbed a knife and stabbed himself. Therefore Chazal decreed <span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span> that knives should be removed or covered before bentching.<br><em>Shulchan Aruch w/Mishnah Brurah 180:5</em></span></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"><i><br></i></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial">My questions are: Is it credible that stepping on bread crumbs can lead to poverty. Symbolically,</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial">you might say that if someone is careless to throw food around and lacks respect for it, perhaps</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial">it would indicate that he is the type of person who would not prosper. But even THAT is a stretch.</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial">Second halacha above: I always liked the idea of removing or covering knives before Birchas since</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial">it is compared to weapons. However, to give, as an example, a mentally disturbed person who </font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial">attempted (or committed) suicide with a knife, seems an unnatural example. In mental and penal institutions</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial">they don't give knives to the people, but there's an appropriate reason for it. </font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial">To follow the above logic about this guy who stabbed himself, if there was anxiety and concern over it,</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial">they should have banned knives altogether. What's there to prevent an emotionally disturbed individual</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial">(as in prison or a mental institution) from stabbing himself (or someone else) before the birchas?</font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial"><br></font></div><div><font class="Apple-style-span" face="Arial">ri</font></div></body></html>