Introduction This mishnah contains the teaching of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, a student of Rabbi Akiva’s. It is brought here due to its topical connection to the previous mishnah. Note how important small gatherings are to the rabbis of this and the previous mishnah. These were one of the ways that Torah was studied in the time of the Mishnah. People would gather around in small circles, perhaps around a table, and learn Torah together.
Rabbi Shimon said: if three have eaten at one table and have not spoken there words of Torah, [it is] as if they had eaten sacrifices [offered] to the dead, as it is said, “for all tables are full of filthy vomit, when the All-Present is absent” (Isaiah 28:8). Rabbi Shimon’s first statement is based on a pun on the verse in Isaiah. The literal translation of the verse according to JPS is, “Yea, all the tables are covered with vomit and filth so that no space is lift.” The words “so that no space is lift” can also be interpreted to mean, “when the All-Present is absent” for the word for “All-Present” and “space” are one and the same. Sacrifices to the dead are how Rabbi Shimon interprets the word “filthy vomit”. The reason that he assumes that this is three is that a communal meal must have three. This is also the minimum number that must be gathered in order to do a communal grace after meals “birkat hamazon”.
But, if three have eaten at one table, and have spoken there words of Torah, [it is] as if they had eaten at the table of the All-Present, blessed be He, as it is said, “And He said unto me, ‘this is the table before the Lord’” (Ezekiel 41:22) The verse in Ezekiel is discussing the altar, yet it refers to it as a “table”. This fact is “midrashically” interpreted by Rabbi Shimon to mean that sometimes a normal table can become an altar. This is so when the meal has been accompanied by the study of Torah.