Question: Is it permissible to take home food/drink from a reception (a Simcha) without asking the host? An example I’m thinking about is at a large Jewish wedding where there are many bottles of soda lying around. Can one take a bottle home without
asking?

Answer: Thank you for your question. Any food and drink put out at a reception is for the people in attendance only, and it would be theft to take home a bottle of soda, without the permission of the hosts. If it is something that people commonly take home, such as a piece of cake or a few cookies, and you have no reason to assume that the host would object, we say that there is implicit permission to do so even without their knowledge. This is the concept of “Umdana“- we assume permission has been granted for this. Similarly, a child may offer friends some snacks from her home, even without her parent’s knowledge, because we can assume permission has been granted for this unless we know otherwise.

Take care,
Rabbi Aaron Tendler