Is There an Obligation to Place a White Tablecloth on the Shabbat Table?

Shalom uvrakhah, 

It is proper and fitting to spread a white tablecloth on the Shabbat table, but there is no obligation to do so. Sources: The Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayim (siman 271, seif 9), writes that there should be a tablecloth on the table under the bread, and another tablecloth spread over it. It is not mentioned that the tablecloth must be white. However, we do find such an idea in the words of Rabbi Yehoshua ibn Shuib, a student of the Rashba, in his derashot on the Torah (Parashat Behaalotcha), where he writes as follows: The dew would descend first, and afterward the mann, and dew was upon it, and it was as though placed in a box, as it is written (Bamidbar 11:9), And when the dew fell upon the camp, and it is written (Shemot 16:14), and when the layer of dew rose, and therefore it is customary on the night of Shabbat to place bread on the table between two white tablecloths, as a reminder of the mann. So too wrote Rabbi Menachem ben Aharon, a student of R. Y. ibn Shuib, in his book Tzeidah LaDerekh (Fourth essay, general principle one, chapter five): A person should always arrange his table on erev Shabbat between sunset and cover the table with a white tablecloth. This is cited in Elyah Rabbah (siman 271, seif katan 16). See also Responsa Beit Moshe, part 6 (siman 134, letter 2), where he wrote that those who are accustomed to spreading a tablecloth in all kinds of colors on the table are not acting properly, because the tablecloth must be white. In any event, it seems that although it is proper and fitting to conduct oneself this way, it is still not in the category of an obligation. It is also worth noting what is written in the sefer Tehila LeDavid (siman 271, letter 13) regarding the words of Elyah Rabbah in the name of Tzeidah LaDerekh cited above: perhaps his intention is that it must be laundered and not that it should not have been used before, but with regard to its being white there is no strict requirement. End quote. Later I saw in the sefer Chazon Ovadia, Shabbat, part 2 (page 15), that he wrote that there is no requirement for the tablecloth to be white, as written in Tehila LeDavid, and not like what was written in Responsa Beit Moshe to be exacting about this. End of quote. 

With blessings, Hillel Meirs