Kiddush - Women

QUESTION: May a woman eat or drink before hearing kiddush on Shabbos morning?

ANSWER: There is no requirement to recite Kiddush before davening. The obligation to recite Kiddush begins only after davening, when one is permitted to eat the Shabbos meal.

The Rambam (Hilchos Tefilah 1:2) writes that there is a Torah obligation to daven, and this applies to both men and women. According to the Magen Avraham (106:2), many women do not recite the formal Shemoneh Esrei but rely on the informal prayers that they recite. Shemiras Shabbos K’hilchasa (52:13) writes that if a woman does not daven Shacharis but recites a short prayer in the morning, the short prayer is equivalent to davening Shacharis vis-a-vis the requirement to recite Kiddush. Once she has said her short prayer, she is obligated to recite Kiddush, and may no longer eat or drink until she has fulfilled the requirement of Kiddush. On the other hand, Rav Chaim Soloveitchik argued with the Magen Avraham and maintained that prayer must encompass three key elements: praise, requesting our needs, and thanking Hashem. Rav Soloveitchik zt"l therefore required women to recite the standard Shemoneh Esrei to properly fulfill their obligation (see Shiurei HaRav al Inyanei Tefillah, p. 106).

If a woman is feeling weak and does not have grape juice available, some poskim are lenient to allow her to eat in the morning before hearing Kiddush (Teshuvas Minchas Yitzchok 4:28:3). This is because some Rishonim exempt a woman from the daytime Kiddush of Shabbos. Though we do not normally follow this view, we can rely on it in situations of necessity.

Rav Moshe Feinstein zt”l held that a married woman is not obligated to recite Kiddush before her husband has davened (Igros Moshe, volume 4, 101:2). Accordingly, if a woman has completed her morning prayers before her husband has davened, she may eat a full meal. Shemiras Shabbos Kehilchasa (52:46) notes that Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach zt”l disagreed with Rav Moshe zt”l on this latter point.

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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.