Salt and Bread

Are we required to dip our bread into salt at every meal?

Shalom!

Thank you for your question.

The Talmud encourages dipping one’s bread in salt. Indeed, the Talmud teaches that one who is about to eat bread must ensure that salt or another condiment is already on the table. Although some have the custom to sprinkle salt onto the bread rather than dip the bread into salt, a number of authorities discourage this practice for kabbalistic considerations.

Nevertheless, some authorities argue that since salt is almost always one of the ingredients in bread nowadays, there is no longer a true requirement to dip bread into salt before eating it. Nevertheless, according to Kabbala, one should do so anyway. If salt is unavailable, one may dip one’s bread into any salty food item in order to give the bread the taste of salt, however according to kabbalah this is not a good option rather one should “dip” one’s bread into another piece of bread, recalling that the letters of bread ( lamed , chet , mem ) and salt ( mem , lamed , chet ) are the same.

Even if one has no intention of dipping one’s bread into salt, it is still commendable to have salt on the table at every meal. Doing so is said to save one from “harmful judgments.” The salt should remain on the table until after Birkat Hamazon. According to Kabbala, salt should be on the table at all times, even when one is not eating. There are those who have the custom that It is considered the responsibility of the woman of the house to ensure that there is always salt on the table. This is said to remedy the conduct of Lot’s wife, who, in an effort to make her guests feel unwelcome, would never offer them salt with their bread.

Berachot 40a; Rambam, Hilchot Issurei Mizbei’ach 5:11; Be’er Heitev , OC 167:8; Kaf Hachaim (Palagi) 23:8; OC 167:5; Magen Avraham 167:15; Torah Lishma 500; Divrei Chaim , YD 25; Teshuvot Halachot Ketanot 1:218; Minchat  Chinuch 119; Shulchan Aruch Harav , OC 167:8; Kaf Hachaim OC 167:37, 180:3; Mishna Berura 167:26.