Mishna Berura 193:1d Searching After Ten, Splintering Off in Loud Banquet Halls

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Earlier in this seif, we said that if two people eat together, there is a mitzvah to find another person to join in, even if only to partake in a small portion, for the purpose of forming a zimmun.

The Hagaos Maymoni extends this halacha to (seven* or more- Mishna Berura, Shaar Tzion from Achronim) people who are eating, that there is a mitzvah for them to invite additional individuals to participate, aiming to constitute a zimmun with a total of 10 people in order to recite the "Elokeinu" nusach of zimmun. He bases it on the Gemara in Berachos:

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This entire seif was dedicated to emphasizing the significance of maintaining a zimmun, and at times, even actively creating one. Additionally, we gained insights into the prohibition of dividing a zimmun of ten individuals into smaller groups because buy doing so, the group loses the "Elokeinu" nusach.

The Shulchan Aruch now concludes this seif with a curveball halacha, that sometimes breaking a ten person zimmun is the right thing to do.

There are two examples discussed in where splintering off is an option:

1. If there is excessive noise in the room and due to the loudness in the room, those participating can't hear the leader (even for when he is saying just the zimmun section- ברכת זימון see Mishna Berura*, and below in more detail about this detail of how much the participants need to be able to hear before deciding to splinter off into smaller groups or not), splintering into smaller groups of zimmun is the preferred course of action.

2. If the group of (ten or more) diners needed to go fulfill a mitzvah and by doing a zimmun the mitzvah would pass, there is a discussion in the meforshim if this is grounds to dissolve the zimmun.

The Chayei Adam disagrees, and holds the only time the group can disband to perform a mitzvah is if there will still be an "Elokeinu" said without them at the meal's end.

Mishna Berura says, as his own sevara, that if the pressing mitzvah is a De'Oraysa, then the group can disband into threes (presumably even according to the Chayei Adam, and 10 won't remain to make the Elokienu)

The Shulchan Aruch concludes with an interesting perspective bolstering the halacha stated earlier about forming smaller groups if the participants won't be able to hear the leader in the larger zimmun.

We see that even when the decision needs to be made to abandon the Elokeinu zimmun on the account of the overwhelming noise, it isn't an all-or-nothing decision. It is better to splinter off into 3 and at least get the smaller zimmun than to bench alone do away with the zimmun altogether.

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שלא יצאו ידי חובת ברכת זימון

We mentioned revisiting a specific detail regarding the consideration of how much of the zimmun the participants will be able to hear before making the decision to form smaller groups in the case of the bustling banquet hall.

The Mishna Berura goes into different opinions in the Poskim as to the minimum amount of the zimmun/benching that they will be able hear. If this minimum is met, it will obligate them to stay and participate the "official" Elokeinu zimmun.

Those Poskim, who we will enumerate below, hold that the participants need to be able to hear the leader for each beracha of the benching. However, if they will only be able to hear until the end of the first beracha ("Hazan es Hakol") that is sufficient for them to stay for the Elokeinu zimmun than to split up into smaller groups of three.

Beis Yosef uses this psak of the Shibolei HaLeket (which is also how he paskins in Shulchan Aruch) that since the participants anyways need to say the entire benching nowadays, there is no need for them to need to hear the entire benching from the leader in order for the zimmun to be achieved, rather they should only need to hear until the end of the zimmun proper.

Darchei Moshe rejects the implication that Beis Yosef sees in the psak of the SHibolei HaLeket's psak. Just because nowadays people bench on their own, that doesn't mean to say that the participants don't need to pay any heed to the leader's berachos - to the contrary, although they still need to bench on their own, they still have the responsibility to listen to where the leader is and answer Amen to his berachos!

Mishna Berura (and in more elaboration in the Shaar Tzion) paskins like the middle shitta that if the participants can hear at least until Hazan, they should remain with the official Elokeinu zimmun.