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The current series, which will cover Maariv on Friday night and Kiddush, is available for sponsorship. Please contact Rabbi Reingold for more information.
We are beginning siman 22, where the Chayei Adam is discussing kiddush b’mokom seudah. Today, we will discuss the definition of a “seudah”.
The Gra holds that a meal means a person washes and says hamotzi. According to the Gra, if a person does not wash and eat bread after kiddush, they are not yotzei kiddush. However, the Shulchan Aruch does not follow this opinion, and holds that the seudah required for the purpose of kiddush b’mokom seudah is not the same as the requirement for seudos Shabbos. While a person must wash to fulfill the chiyuv of seudos Shabbos, the seudah for fulfilling kiddush b’mokom seudah can be smaller.
The Chayei Adam writes that even if a person only drinks a revi’is of wine, which is enough to require a bracha achrona for the wine, and certainly if they eat a kezayis of mezonos, they have fulfilled their chiyuv of kiddush b’mokom seudah. Being yotzei kiddush b’mokom seudah through wine is the opinion of the Geonim. Chazal understood (in the Gemara) that wine has the tendency to fill up a person, so for the purposes of kiddush b’mokom seudah, the Geonim held wine is sufficient.
To clarify, this revi’is must be drunk in addition to the melo lugmav the person making kiddush must drink after making kiddush as part of the kos shel bracha.
The Chayei Adam wrote that certainly one is yotzei with mezonos. A kezayis of pas haba’ah bekisnin, bread-like mezonos, are sufficient for this purpose. We need to discuss whether non-bread-like mezonos would also suffice. If a person eats a certain amount of pas haba’ah bekisnin, it assumes the status of hamotzi, and they would wash, say hamotzi, and recite birchas hamazon. Therefore it is similar to bread, and shares bread’s property that it is considered a seuda. Cooked mezonos, however, such as pasta, always maintains its mezonos/al hamichya status.
The poskim discuss whether one can be yotzei kiddush b’mokom seudah with cooked mezonos. Maybe one is only yotzei with pas haba’ah bekisnin because it has bread-like qualities to it, and therefore one would not be yotzei with cooked mezonos. However, the assumption of the poskim is that one can be yotzei kiddush b’mokom seudah with cooked mezonos as well. Thus, one can be yotzei kiddush b’mokom seudah with items such as yerushalmi kugel or lokshen kugel.
The Chayei Adam writes that one cannot be yotzei kiddush b’mokom seudah through fruits nor through beer. Even if we hold that one can make kiddush on beer or whiskey, it does not suffice for the meal aspect of kiddush b’mokom seudah because Chazal do not tell us that they fill up a person in the same way as wine.
In the parentheses, the Chayei Adam writes that the Shiltei Giborim holds that one is yotzei with fruits. The Chayei Adam concludes that if a person is feeling weak, and if they were to wait for mezonos to be available they would get uncomfortable, they can rely on the opinion of the Shiltei Giborim and be yotzei kiddush b’mokom seudah through fruit. This is one of the explanations as to how people could make kiddush on pesach without washing or matza meal cakes. Many shuls did not want to supply a revi’is of wine for each person, as it was too expensive. Therefore, they would rely on the Shiltei Giborim. There is another approach, based on Rav Moshe, which we will discuss in the upcoming shiur, be’ezras Hashem.
Summary
- One can be yotzei kiddush b’mokom seudah through a revi’is of wine or a kezayis of mezonos. In pressing situations, one may be able to rely on fruits.
