6179– Who Blesses the Best Guest?

A. Any person who is eating his host’s food and is not paying for his portion is considered a guest. Members of the household are also considered guests and should recite the Birkas Oraiach.

It should follow that a client in a restaurant should not say the Birkas Oraiach for the owner of the restaurant, since he is paying for his meal.

However, when Rav Yosef Sholom Elyashiv was asked about this, he replied that the blessing should, in fact, be said. He explained that if the owner had not put in the effort of operating the restaurant, the customer would be hungry, and his money would not be able to satiate him.

Some say that the Birkas Oraiach should only be said if the host is present.

Although an argument can be made that bachurim are guests in their yeshivah, the Poskim rule that they should not say the Birkas Oraiach.

Rabbi A. Bartfeld as revised by, Horav Shlomo Miller, Horav Yaakov Hirschman, Horav Dovid Pam, Horav Aharon Miller, Horav Chanoch Ehrentreu and Horav Kalman Ochs Shlit’a, and Horav Dovid Bartfeld consulting, Horav Hagaon Rav Yitzchak Berkowitz Shlit’a