Eating meat: when do the 6 hours start?

Question

When you eat meat, when do the 6 hours that you have to wait begin? When you start eating or when you end?

Sources are always appreciated.

Answer 1

The Dagul M'Rvava (Yoreh Deah, Siman 89) holds that one must wait 6 hours from when he finishes eating meaty until he starts the meal with the milky. Aruch HaShulchan says one must wait from the end of the meaty meal until the beginning of the milky meal. Rav Elyashiv says that the prevailing minhag is to wait from when one finishes eating meaty until he starts eating milky.

Answer 2

The Minhag according to Horav Yisroel Belsky Shlita,Dugel Mirvuva 1, Tamei Haminhagim page 489 (footnote, quoting the Zechor L'Avraham), Darchei Teshuva 4, and the Kaf Ha’chaim 9, is that the counting begins when you are finished eating meat and not from when the meal ends. For example, if on Shabbos your done eating meat at 1:30, and the meal (after talking and eating dessert) finished an hour later at 2:30, one begins counting the six hours from 1:30.

Answer 3

The basis for 6 hours is a statement in Chullin 105a.

אמר מר עוקבא אנא להא מלתא חלא בר חמרא לגבי אבא דאילו אבא כי הוה אכיל בשרא האידנא לא הוה אכל גבינה עד למחר עד השתא ואילו אנא בהא סעודתא הוא דלא אכילנא לסעודתא אחריתא אכילנא

And he says 'from one meal to the next'. This statement of Mar Ukva immediately follows the statement that בשר שבין השינים מהו קרי עליה (במדבר יא, לג) הבשר עודנו בין שיניהם

And as such, the concern can be interpreted to be one about the meat in between the teeth. The Rambam (Hilkhot Ma'akhalot Asurot 9:28), on the basis of this, is concerned about meat between the teeth, and so says to wait about six hours. This would seem to be from the end of the meal, for that would be the last meat between the teeth.

Rashi's reason is that it is moshech taam befeh. If so, it would also presumably do this from the end of the meal.

We Ashkenazim pasken like Tosafot that this is a lo plug rabanan that as soon as the next meal starts, we may eat. Yet as a standardized minhag, we wait various hours. If your minhag is six hours, then that minhag would have developed based on the Rambam or Rashi.

(The Rif understands 'from one meal to the next' as the accepted convention of one meal to the next. If six hours were that division, perhaps that could be from start to start. I'd have to see it inside.)

Answer 4

i agree with josh with the addition of pointing out the first part of mar ukvahs statement that mentions a time = time and meals are not the same thing different meals is a halchic requirement by a overwhelming majority of opinions and 6 hrs is a minhag (some hold of w8ing 30 mins between milk and meat and i heard that some even wait 3 hrs from meat to milk - unconfirmed )

so i dont see the logic in w8ing 6 hrs from end of meal although w8ing 6hrs in order to start may be a extra precaution (that said 6 hrs from end may be precaution because its easier to remember when you finished a meal then when you finished eating meat, source = ever been to a shabbos meal? )