Q & A from Ask the Rabbi
(names and emails withheld)
Question: May two people eat at the same table when one is eating meat and the other is eating dairy?
Answer: The concern that our Sages had when two people were eating at a table, one eating meat and the other eating dairy, is that they might come to share their food, and thereby eat milk and meat together.
This is only a problem if the two people know each other. I.e. if you were to go to a cafeteria that served meat, and you brought in a dairy lunch, and you were sitting across the table from another man whom you did not know, no separation is needed. There is no concern that you will share food, since you do not know each other.
If you two know each other, the law is different.
- If the table is so big that one cannot reach the other even by stretching one’s hand, then it is permissible to sit at the table together, far apart, one eating meat and the other eating dairy.
- If the table is small enough that one can reach the other by stretching, or less, then some demarcation is needed between the two people to remind them not to share food.
- Each one eating on a separate table cloth (placemats don’t count since that is normal and doesn’t constitute a reminder)
- Eating on one table cloth, however placing an unusual object (not normally found on the table) between them, i.e. a flower pot, etc. Even placing an entire loaf of bread between them can serve as a reminder, as long as it is not eaten from.