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I have seen someone choose to learn standing up rather than sitting because he was tired. He felt he could stay awake better in a standing position.

When it comes to Grace after Meals, the SO O.Ch. 183 (9) rules that it should be done sitting “in order to have more concentration”. The Rema says that one will have fulfilled the mitzva even if he was not sitting.

My question is therefore if someone thinks that he can have more concentration in Grace after Meals if he recites it standing should he rather stand than sit?

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  • Good question, I think, but initial thoughts: it says צריך לישב. The two cases are also not comparable in anything beyond they both should be done with concentration
    – Rabbi Kaii
    Commented Nov 12, 2023 at 18:05
  • Standing to learn is always the ideal posture (Megillah 21a). The special leniency is to learn seated if it improves your concentration.
    – Double AA ♦
    Commented Nov 13, 2023 at 0:50
  • I once heard that Rav Shach (iirc) would stand on top of a table with a shtender to avoid falling asleep. The added fear of falling down further improved his concentration
    – Rabbi Kaii
    Commented Aug 11 at 17:03

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The Rema says there

מיהו אם לא עשו כן אפי' בירך מהלך בדיעבד יצא

However if he did not do so (i.e. sit) even if he walks around, he has 'bdiavad' done his duty.

I asked my Rav. He said that the word 'bdiavad' includes both the case of someone who happened to say Grace after Meals standing and the case of someone who deliberately stood for a specific reason like mine.

So it is worth standing if it may result in more concentration.

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    Doing something deliberately bedieved may still count, but the very meaning of the word "bedieved" is "not the ideal way" so I don't think that your conclusion is justified by the logic
    – Rabbi Kaii
    Commented Nov 15, 2023 at 14:58
  • @RabbiKaii isn't bediavad = in that he did it = ex post facto = after the fact, no more and no less?
    – Nissim Nanach
    Commented Dec 15, 2023 at 15:42
  • @NissimNanach dinonline.org/2012/03/29/meaning-of-bedieved
    – Rabbi Kaii
    Commented Dec 17, 2023 at 12:43
  • @rabbikaii Not the ideal way is not the ideal way to translate bediavad, even bediavad. It's ex post facto period and I'll post the Jastrow..
    – Nissim Nanach
    Commented Dec 17, 2023 at 14:41
  • ‎דיעבד‎ ‎m. ‎(=דאיעבד, ‎Dithpe. ‎of ‎עבד) ‎having ‎been ‎done, ‎diaibad, ‎a ‎dialectical ‎term ‎to ‎indicate ‎that ‎the ‎case ‎before ‎you ‎is ‎dealt ‎with ‎as ‎a ‎fact, ‎and ‎not ‎with ‎reference ‎to ‎its ‎direct ‎permissibility ‎in ‎the ‎premises, ‎לכתחילה; ‎as ‎a fact, ‎decision ‎ex ‎post ‎facto. ‎Hull. ‎2a ‎לכתחילה ‎שוחטין ‎הכל ‎ד׳ ‎כשרה ‎ושחיטתן ‎the ‎words ‎of ‎the ‎Mishnah ‎(I, ‎1), ‎...
    – Nissim Nanach
    Commented Dec 17, 2023 at 14:43

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