Eating Karpas Before Havdalah

Q. One is not permitted to eat before hearing Havdalah. If one forgot to recite Havdalah in Kiddush and must wait until after Maggid to recite Havdalah, may Karpas be eaten at the usual point of the seder?

A. The Shulchan Aruch Harav (473:7) writes that in this scenario, since one cannot recite Havdalah until after Maggid, one may eat the Karpas even without having said Havdalah. The Mishnah Berurah (Beiur Halacha 473, s.v. Od) writes that if one has not yet eaten the Karpas, perhaps it is better to recite Havdalah (before Maggid) and then eat the Karpas, because eating before Havdalah is a clear violation, while adding an additional cup is a matter of dispute among poskim. However, he leaves the question unresolved. The Kol Dodi Haggadah quotes Rav Moshe Feinstein, zt”l who held that in this case, since one is forbidden to eat without making Havdalah, one should in fact recite Havdalah before eating the Karpas.

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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.