Reb Eliezer

It should be above the Magen Avraham says that.

ברכות מז,א

I think one is uncomfortable with dirty hands or being on a road so he wants to get out of there ASAP and not being concerned who should go first. Getting to a place where there can be a mezuzah, our normal behavior should resurface by giving respect to the more learned. Maybe, through the mezuzah, we realize that there is a higher authority who rules over the world and the talmidei chachomim whose strength emanates from Him must also be respected as we find by fear.
In SA O’CH 167,15 explains our gemora indicates that the others should not taste the chalah until the one making the brocho does but if they have their own lechem mishna, it does not apply. The MB s’k 81 that as long as they have their own bread, even if they are yotzei with his brocho, it does not apply.
The idea that we have to follow the way the rebbi taught us is very common. We find in Ediyos (1,3) where Hillel repeated the incorrect expression from his rebbies who were gerim Shmayoh and Avtalyon.
In SA O’CH 167,16 MB s’k 84 If the one making the brocho is making for others, they have to wait until Amen was said by the majority as it is also part of the brocho. They don’t have to wait for individuals who extend their Amen.
When it comes to Amen, we must be very careful how we say it. In SA O’CH 124,8 explains it in great detail. Not to say the aleph as chatof, fast. The Chatof represents a shvo naah on letters it cannot be pronounced, so it is shorter than the regular vowels. Pronounce the nun. Don’t say an Amen after the brocho is gone. Say the Amen by pronouncing every letter correctly but don’tr pull it.

When it comes to mayim achronim, if there are five or less people bentching then the one bentching mezumen should wash first. SA O’CH 181,6 as our gemora. It says washing should be close to bentching. The above from MB when there are more than five people.

Another reason why the guest would bentch mezumen because it was a custom that the others would listen and not bentch themself, so the guest could not bless the host by himself.

To include a third person iinto mezuman, he should preferably have some fruit or some cake SA O’CH 197,3
If there is a guest, it is better for him to bentch mezuman in order the one who bentches Hashem should also bentch the host. Sifsei Chachomim here. SA O’CH 201,1.

ברכות מו,א

The Rabbenu Bechaye in Parshes Teruma Shmos (25,24) on וציפת אתו זהב טהור you should cover the table with pure gold the word זהב is זן, הארץ and בונה ירושלים. It could be that the three brochos of bentching is biblical but Moshe Rabbenu, Yehoshua and David Hamelech instituted the nusach of each. The Ramban explains the meaning of whoever lives in chutz laaretz is like worshiping a’z. There are seventy rulers above on each nation and Hashem kaveyochol rules over Eretz Yisroel, so these are intermidiaries but our provision comes thtough Eretz Yisroel. Maybe that is why the second brocho is the rememberance of the land and the third the redemption the rebuilding of malchus and the Beis Bamikdash.
My Rebbe the Mattersdorfer Rav, Rav Shmuel ztz’l said that we should always have ‘pure gold’ earned honestly.

Currently the workers can say the whole bentdhing as the boss expects them to do that. See SA O’CH 191,2.

אמן – א-ל מלך נאמן, אני מוסר נפשי My father told me a mashal on the value of Amen which I repeated at his eulogy forty years ago. There was a merchant who traveled overseas on a ship taking along merchandise to sell. There was a big storm wind which destroyed the ship and his merchandise and threw him out on a desert island. In his depression, he was playing around with the pebbles on the ground. Eventually, another ship arrived which took him home. When seeing his wife, he started to cry, telling her how he lost everything. Wanting to wipe his eyes, he took out his handkerchief and they noticed that something fell out of it. When they looked at it carefully, they realized that it was a diamond. So the wife asks him, do you have any more of this? He says, It must have fallen into my pocket on the desert island when I was waiting for another ship as I was playing around with the pebbles but I cannot go back there to collect more because I don’t know where the island is. When we come to the next world to account for our deeds, we start crying that we didn’t accomplish anything. We take out our handkerchief to wipe our eyes and an Amen falls out of it. So, they tell us. this is a diamond over here. Do you have any more of this? He says, if I would have known the value of this over here, how much more I could have collected but I cannot go back to collect more.

ברכות מד,ב

In Eretz Yisroel they made a brocho when they removed the tefilin but we don’t do. There is an argument between Rebbi Yosei Haglili and Rebbi Akiva Mesaches Eruvin 96,1 if at night ,habbos and yom tov is forbidden to put on tefilin. Rebbi Yosei Haglili saya it is forbidden and Rebbi Akiva holds it is not. See Shagas Aryeh 41 in great detail. We pasken like Rebbi Akiva, so shabbos and yom tov is only assur because of a sign and and night because of releasing gas. So they made the brocho according to Rebbe Yosei Haglili but according to Rebbi Akiva we don’t make it.

Maybe Chanukah and Purim is not mentioned in Al Hamichya because there is no requirement on these days to eat foods that the brocho is said on. Purim when we drink is not for the sake of the wine but to be drunk. The praise on Chanukah does not have to be said on wine.

The Rav Abarbanel explains the meaning of לא תשא את שם ה’ אלקיך לשוא do not elevate Hashem your G-d’s name falsely. Don’t say Hashem is so great that he wants nothing to do with us and doesn’t care for us. A baa gaiva, who holds his head up high, pushes Hashem out of this world. He believes that Hashem belongs in the heavens and does not belong on earth because of His greatness.

ברכות מג,א

When it comes to reclining to be motzei others in kiddush or hamotzi, currently we don’t recline, so our sitting is like there reclining as indicated in SA O’CH 213,1. At the seder we do recline for wine SA O’CH 473,2 and for matzah 475,1 as we are commemoratiing our history when they reclined.

In says in SA O’CH 214,1 that every brocho requires the mention of malchus, the King of the Universe, otherwise it is considered no brocho as we learned above 40,2. The question is why the shmonei esrei does not include this?
Why tthe mentioning of malchus is so important? I explained above that we are organizing the praise of Hashem to show that He is the only One who can fulfill our wishes, so the Beis Yosef says in rhe name of the Rokeach that since we mentiioned it before shmonei esrei we don’t have to mention malchus again in the shmonei esrei.