rabbi, this one is very practical because it comes up at every shabbat meal. someone asks how was your week, and two minutes later you are talking deals without even noticing.
1. the source. yeshaya says mimtso cheftzecha vedaber davar (58:13), and the rambam (hilchos shabbos 24) says our speech on shabbos should not be like our weekday speech. what exactly is forbidden, the topic of money itself, or the planning and deciding? if i mention that i closed a deal on tuesday, no plans, no decisions, is that already vedaber davar?
2. where is the line. shulchan aruch simanim 306 and 307 deal with cheftzecha and reading business papers. is casual conversation stricter or more lenient than reading documents? is the issur about the words, or about where your head is while you speak?
3. the people side. not every guest or family member wants to talk Torah all day, and for some people normal talk, which naturally includes work, is the only way to connect. is connecting with the person itself a shabbos value (oneg, shalom, kiruv) that changes the din, or do we just say sorry we dont talk business and let the conversation die?
4. devarim shel mitzvah. the poskim allow speech for mitzvah needs, like arranging a shidduch or community matters. how wide is that door? does conversation whose whole point is keeping a relationship warm (a guest, a baal teshuva, a relative) count?
5. practically. what is the Rabbi’s own guidance at the table: a hard rule of no business, or a matter of kavana and of how much of the afternoon it eats?
basically, is the goal that money words never pass our lips, or that shabbos speech should feel different, and how do we do that without becoming cold to the people at our table?
Don’t get overly obsessed with this. Talking about business is not automatically forbidden just because money or work is mentioned. If you tell somebody about a deal you closed two weeks ago, that is history. It happened and it is over. If you are discussing what you think the stock market may do on Monday, that is also not the same thing as conducting business now. The problem is when there is a live, actionable business matter and you are using Shabbat to advance it: looking for a buyer, negotiating a price, trying to close a deal, recruiting a customer, making commitments, or deciding what will actually be done. That is the kind of ממצוא חפצך ודבר דבר Chazal were concerned about, because weekday business activity naturally leads into actual transactions and ultimately into writing.
So if someone asks about your work at the Shabbat table, enjoy the conversation. Tell stories, talk about what happened during the week, discuss ideas, markets, people, and whatever helps everyone connect. But if the conversation suddenly turns into, “I’ll sell it to you for $300,000,” “No, I’ll give you $250,000,” “Call me Sunday and we’ll close it,” then just stop and say, “We can talk about that after Shabbat.” The exception for dvar mitzvah shows the same point: Chazal even allowed kinds of practical money discussion for a mitzvah need, such as arranging or pledging charitable support, that would normally look much more like actual business. The goal is not that the word “money” never crosses your lips. The goal is that Shabbat should not become another business day.