Levi Cooper

“WHENEVER WE GATHER together to eat a formal meal, there is always the question of who should recite the blessing over the bread. Should the host honour one of the guests with leading all present, or is it the host’s obligation to recite the benediction? The Talmud recounts a tale that focuses on this very question (B. Berakhot 46a). Rabbi Zeira was once in poor health. His colleague Rabbi Abahu paid him a visit. Rabbi Abahu made a vow, saying: “If the small man with the singed thighs” – a nickname for the diminutive Rabbi Zeira, who had once been scorched in an oven (B. Bava Metzia 85a) – “recovers, I will make a party for the rabbis.” Rabbi Zeira indeed recovered and Rabbi Abahu organised a feast for all the rabbis. When all were seated and the meal was about to start, Rabbi Abahu turned to Rabbi Zeira and invited him to recite the appropriate blessing, break the bread, and begin the meal. Rabbi Zeira declined, asking: “Don’t you follow the ruling that the host should recite the blessing and break the bread?”
― Levi Cooper, Relics for the Present II