Kiddush - Meal Requirement

QUESTION: Must Kiddush be followed by a meal with bread, or is it sufficient to make Kiddush and then eat mezonos?

ANSWER: There is a halacha that Kiddush must be recited at the place where one will eat their meal. This requirement is known as Kiddush b’makom se’udah (Pesachim 101a). If one does not eat a se’udah after Kiddush or if one recites Kiddush in a location other than where he eats the meal, he has not fulfilled the mitzvah of Kiddush and must recite Kiddush again when and where he eats.

The Tur and Shulchan Aruch (OC 273:5) quote the Ge’onim that one can fulfill the mitzvah of Kiddush without actually eating a full meal. Rather, a person can consume a ke’zayis of bread or even drink a revi’is of wine to fulfill the requirement of Kiddush b’makom se’udah. The Magen Avraham (273:11) and Aruch HaShulchan (273:8) explain that, according to the Ge’onim, one can eat Mezonos food (e.g., cookies, pastry, or cake) after Kiddush to satisfy the rule of Kiddush b’makom se’udah. This view has become widely accepted, and many poskim permit partaking of Mezonos foods after Kiddush but ideally advise against satisfying the mitzvah by merely drinking an additional revi’is of wine (see MB 273:25). Some halachic authorities, including the Chasam Sofer, as quoted by Rav Moshe Shternbuch, shlita (Teshuvos V’Hanhogos 5:80), have ruled that if one makes Kiddush and then eats Mezonos foods, he must make Kiddush again later at his actual se’udah. This was also the opinion of Rav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik zt”l.

____________________________________________________

The Gerald & Karin Feldhamer OU Kosher Halacha Yomis is dedicated to the memory of Rav Yisroel Belsky, zt"l, who served as halachic consultant for OU Kosher for more than 28 years; many of the responses in Halacha Yomis are based on the rulings of Rabbi Belsky. Subscribe to the Halacha Yomis daily email here.