Taking Out Your Compass To Rearrange Your Dining Room Al Pi Kabbala
The Shabbos night meal is not as simple as sitting down and having a good dinner. There are many Sodos involved. Because eating is involved, the table commands a central role in this event as it represents the Shulchan in the Bais HaMikdash, which had the Lechem HaPanim on it, says the Minhag Yisroel Torah.
The Mogen Avrohom (262) brings that the Arizal was very makpid, based on the Zohar, to eat on a table with four legs, just like the Shulchan. This Zohar also says that the table should be in the northern part of the room relative to the Shabbos candles, which should be in the south, just like the Menora was in the south relative to the Shulchan that was in the north.
This implies that the candles should not be on the table that your meal takes place but rather in different location. The Kaf HaChaim says that since the SHulchan and Menora have two distinct roles they should not be mixed on the same table. However the minhag of many people is like the Rema, who implies that the candles are lit on the meal table itself. In order to reconcile these two minhagim some tzaddikim were noheg to put the length of the table from north to south with the Challah on the north side and the candles on the south side.
However some are noheg to put the length of their table from east to west. This is because the Shulchan which was in the north had its length running from east to west. If the candles are on the table in this situation, the side where the candles are should be angled slightly southward.
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