Shabbat Parashat Bechukotai 5784

Ask the Rabbi: Kiddush a Second Time for a Guest

Question: We go to an early Shabbat minyan, and when we come home, make Kiddush with cake. A few hours later, we have the main Shabbat meal. When we have a guest who has not heard Kiddush yet and is not used to making her own Kiddush, should I make Kiddush a second time, or must she make her own Kiddush?

Answer: You imply that you do not usually make Kiddush another time before your main meal. That common minhag is fine, as the Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chayim 273:5; see Mishna Berura ad loc. 24) accepts the opinion to count this snack as “Kiddush in the place of a meal.” On the other hand, some people are careful to make daytime Kiddush again. One reason is to want an unquestionably valid Kiddush, i.e., one followed by a bread meal (see Ma’aseh Rav 122). Another is that we want the main meal to be elevated by wine (Teshuvot V’hanhagot I:264). (Igrot Moshe (OC IV:63) has another reason regarding after a shul Kiddush, in that the Kiddush was not in the same place as the main meal.) The many with your practice should not be concerned about an unwarranted, repeat daytime Kiddush, as we only recite Borei Pri Hagafen. This after all is needed when drinking wine before or even during the Shabbat meal (which is part of oneg Shabbat ­– see Rambam, Shabbat 29:10) as the berachot acharonot after your first “Kiddush” ended the wine drinking (see Living the Halachic Process, III, C-8). Therefore, Halacha has nothing against another Kiddush, as your guest may prefer.

But does your Kiddush work for her if you already fulfilled that mitzva? The gemara (Rosh Hashana 29a) posits that one who has recited and finished with a beracha can make the beracha to be motzi someone else, except for berachot on foods. Rashi (ad loc.) explains that the ability to be motzi others is based on arvut (responsibility for a fellow Jew’s religious observance), which only applies to cases where the other is obligated, and he is not obligated to eat. The gemara continues that one can make the beracha on the wine of Kiddush on another’s behalf because that is an obligation.

However, whether this applies to daytime Kiddush may depend on its nature. The Ran (Pesachim 22a of the Rif’s pages) says that the day Kiddush is a truncated, less prominent redoing of the night Kiddush. Rabbeinu David finds this difficult, considering that Shabbat is not mentioned (the p’sukim people recite are a post-Talmudic minhag); rather, the wine is used to elevate the meal. R. David introduces nafka minot between approaches, including that the gemara’s permission for one who has made Kiddush to be motzi a friend is only at night. During the day, the beracha is just to allow him to drink the wine, so the beracha is not a direct, classic mitzva.

This only a slight problem for you. First, regarding all of R. David’s nafka minot (including whether one needs wine at seuda shlishit), we rule against him (see Yabia Omer, IX, OC 3). Furthermore, since he treats the beracha on the wine as a regular food beracha, assuming you will drink some wine after making Kiddush, your beracha will be justified and work for your guest (see Shulchan Aruch, OC 213:1; Dirshu 273:26). There are actually another two possible reasons you should drink from the Kiddush wine. The Shulchan Aruch (OC 273:4) says that one should not make Kiddush for someone without taking part in it for himself unless the person he is doing it for is not capable of doing it himself. While this is a chumra that not all agree with, it is difficult to ignore it when there is an option (Mishna Berura ad loc. 20). Also, there is a minority opinion (cited and preferred l’chatchila by the Shulchan Aruch, OC 271:14) that the required amount of wine to drink after Kiddush (m’lo lugmav) should always be drunk by the person making Kiddush. This also is a chumra, but one that is hard to ignore (see Be’ur Halacha ad loc.).

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