Eating Before Shabbos Morning Kiddush
On Shabbos morning, before davening it is permitted to drink light beverages such as coffee, tea or soda, without first making Kiddush. This is because the requirement to recite Kiddush does not take effect until the zeman seudah, the time when it is permitted to eat a meal; since it is not permissible to have a meal before davening, it is not yet time for Kiddush and one may have a drink. In addition, even if a person wishes to be stringent and recite Kiddush before drinking, he may not do so for two reasons: 1) Any Kiddush must be followed by a meal; otherwise, it is invalid. Since it is prohibited to eat before davening, one cannot make Kiddush at that time, either. 2) Drinking wine before davening is considered “haughty behavior” and is not permitted.
Mishnah Berurah150 rules that a person who is ill or elderly and is allowed to eat before davening should recite Kiddush before he eats, for his obligation to make Kiddush begins as soon as it is the zeman seudah for him. The fact that he will drink wine before davening does not present a problem since he must drink the wine in order to eat. Such a person may not even drink water before Kiddush, since the zeman seudah is considered to have begun for him.151
Mishnah Berurah’s ruling on this subject, however, has been challenged by some later poskim.152 While many poskim agree with the basic ruling,153 they suggest that the practical halachah will depend on what exactly the person eats. If he eats fruit, cereal and milk, or other cooked items upon which the berachah of mezonos is recited, he should eat without reciting Kiddush first. If, however, his health compels him to wash over bread or eat at least a kezayis of cake or any other baked mezonos items, he should make Kiddush before he eats.154
Question: May women eat before Kiddush on Shabbos morning?
Discssion: There is much debate regarding whether women need to make Kiddush on Shabbos morning. Although it is prohibited to eat before davening on weekdays, many women eat breakfast after reciting a brief supplication and finish davening later in the morning. The poskim allow them to do so, since they may rely on the view of Rambam, who maintains that women fulfill their obligation to daven by reciting a brief supplication. Thus, they are, in fact, eating after “davening.” On Shabbos morning, however, women have an obligation to make Kiddush, in addition to their daily obligation to pray. As soon as they meet their basic davening obligation by reciting a brief supplication, then, zeman seudah begins for them, and they may not eat until they make Kiddush.155
Some married women, however, eat on Shabbos morning without first making Kiddush. These women rely on the view that it is not considered zeman seudah for them until their husbands are ready to eat, which is not until davening in shul has concluded.156 Other poskim do not agree with this argument.157 In either case, unmarried women, including girls who eat at their father’s table, may not rely on this leniency.
Children, who are allowed to eat before davening,158 are not required to make Kiddush before eating.159
150. Beiur Halachah 289:1, s.v. chovas.
151. Da’as Torah 289:1; Rav S.Z. Auerbach (Nishmas Avraham, vol. 1. pg. 54).
152. Some suggest that the obligation of Kiddush begins only after davening, even for a person who is allowed to eat before davening, since it is only then that zeman seudah begins for everyone; see Keren l’David 84, Igros Moshe, O.C. 2:28 and Chelkas Yaakov 4:32.
153. See Emes l’Yaakov, O.C. 652:2 who quotes a Taz as a source for this ruling.
154. Igros Moshe, O.C. 2:26. Rav S.Z. Auerbach (Shemiras Shabbos Kehilchasah 52, note 37), however, maintains that it is better to make Kiddush and eat cake than to eat cereal and the like without Kiddush.
155. Pri Megadim, O.C. 289:4; Minchas Yitzchak 4:28; Shemiras Shabbos Kehilchasah 52:13.
156. Igros Moshe, O.C. 4:101-2. Even according to this view, once a married woman has davened, she may not eat before Kiddush, even if her husband has not yet completed his davening; ibid.
157. Rav S.Z. Auerbach (Shemiras Shabbos Kehilchasah 52, note 46; Shulchan Shlomo 289:8-3, 4). See Ashrei ha-Ish, vol. 2, pg. 61.
158. Mishnah Berurah 106:5
159. Mishnah Berurah 269:1.