Question: We are making a private bar mitzvah minyan/seuda. Due to family dynamics, we want to have a milchig kiddush with a long break before the Shabbat lunch. May we make the kiddush before Krias HaTorah?
Answer: The Gemara (Berachot 28b) reports that Rav Huna forbade any amount of eating before Mussaf, but it concludes that the halacha is not like this opinion. However, Rishonim infer from the Gemara (Ta’anit 26b) about not doing Birkat Kohanim at a time when people could be drunk that we assume that people do not have a meal before Mussaf. In fact, the former Gemara only rejects Rav Huna, who forbade te’ima (literally, tasting). The limit on eating is out of concern that it will cause one to forget to daven (see Taz, Orach Chayim 286:2; Shemirat Shabbat Kehilchata 52:54). Therefore, the simple answer is that it is permitted if one is careful about what/how much people will eat.
As the distinction between eating and tasting appears elsewhere (see Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayim 639:2, regarding eating outside the sukkah) the Shulchan Aruch (Orach Chayim 286:3) allows up to a kebeitza (size of an egg) of bread and any amount of “fruit.” Poskim posit that a “kebeitza” is the limit for pat haba’ah bekisnin (baked grain-based foods, e.g., cake). There is less certainty regarding limits on grain-based cooked foods (e.g., cholent) (see Shemirat Shabbat Kehilchata 52:52; Ishei Yisrael 36:76). There is no limit on non-alcoholic beverages (ibid.).
The mitzvah to make kiddush before eating starts after davening, (Shulchan Aruch, OC 289:1), which prevalent practice takes to mean Shacharit (a less accepted position is that it is after Mussaf—see Tzitz Eliezer VI:7). This complicates matters somewhat. One needs to eat at least a kezayit of bread or the like (see more in Living the Halachic Process II, C-3) to fulfill the halachot of kiddush (Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayim 273:5; Mishna Berura ad loc. 21). Since an egg is only twice or three times larger than an olive (see Shulchan Aruch, Orach Chayim 486:1), and considering the many opinions on these measurements, it is a feat to eat a food with confidence that it is between a kezayit and a kebeitza. So without significant care, and cooperation of the participants, the kiddush may violate either the halachot of kiddush or of eating before Mussaf.
There are, indeed, times when the minhag of many is to make kiddush before Mussaf, specifically on Simchat Torah and Rosh Hashanah (on the latter, some justify the minhag in favor (Tzitz Eliezer ibid.) while others oppose it (Mateh Ephrayim 588:2). To compare to our case, Rosh Hashanah has a special mitzvah we prefer not to precede by eating—shofar blowing. On the other hand, on Rosh Hashanah and Simchat Torah, there is a special need, as people will otherwise fast into the afternoon, which is difficult physically and is, perhaps, (beyond our scope) a halachic problem as well (see Teshuvot V’hanhagot V:175). Some explain that since the problem is forgetting to do the mitzvah, if people eat as part of a congregation, there is no realistic concern that everyone will forget (see Minchat Yitzchak V:111).
In your case, the matter of objective need appears missing, but since you refer to a minyan of people, the decreased concern does. Thus, there is room for leniency even if some may eat more than the poskim otherwise allow (especially women and children, whose obligation in Mussaf is less clear/weaker—see Shemirat Shabbat Kehilchata 52:(54)). Another thing in your favor is that this is a unique situation; we would not want to create a new minhag regarding regular Shabbatot. (We do not consider the practice of “kiddush clubs,” opposed by the rabbinic community, a minhag or a model to follow.)
Our practical guidance is that early kiddush is proper only for significant need, which we, from afar, leave to you to ascertain. You mention kiddush before Krias HaTorah, which can be considered if that is part of the practical need. However, due to indications of Krias HaTorah being somewhat connected to Shacharit, it is preferable to do the kiddush only after it (see Piskei Teshuvot 286:8).
This column is written by Rabbi Daniel Mann on behalf of the Eretz Hemdah Institute in Jerusalem, which trains dayanim and has many projects on behalf of Klal Yisrael, including its Ask the Rabbi service in conjunction with the OU. Rabbi Mann is a Dayan at Eretz Hemdah, a senior member of the Ask the Rabbi project, and author of its Living the Halachic Process series. He is also a Ram at Yeshiva University’s Gruss Kollel in Israel.
