Must Kiddush Be Followed by a Bread or Is Mezonos Sufficient?

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

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

The Tur and Shulchan Aruch (OC 273:5) quote the Ge’onim who hold that one can fulfill the mitzvah of Kiddush without actually eating a full meal at the time and place that he makes Kiddush. Rather, a person can consume a mere ke’zayis of bread or even drink an additional revi’is of wine as his Kiddush-time “meal” to fulfill the requirement of Kiddush b’makom se’udah. The Magen Avraham (273:11) and Aruch Ha-Shulchan (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.

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