Shabbat Parashat Noach 5785

Ask the Rabbi: Kiddush and Havdala in Shul

Question: In America, I remember that the shuls made Kiddush on Friday night and Havdala. In Israel, this is not standard. What is behind the different minhagim? Are Kiddush and Havdala dependent on each other in this matter?

Answer: Kiddush and Havdala have similarities in this regard, but also differences.

Kiddush in shul is presented as a given in the gemara (Pesachim 101a), the purpose being to facilitate the mitzva of Kiddush for visitors who eat in shul. Havdala in shul is not mentioned in the gemara, but the Tur (Orach Chayim 295) and Shulchan Aruch (ibid. 1) mandate it to be motzi those who do not have wine at home. Havdala in shul has precedent centuries earlier, as we see in the Mi Sheberach after Yekum Purkan, where we bless those who “give [the congregation] wine for Kiddush and Havdala.”

Kiddush and Havdala in shul share the general question of whether to suspend ritual practices whose original justification are barely relevant in our days. After all, it is rare to have a visitor eat in shul, and it is rare for people to not have wine at home.

The main attack on the old minhag on those grounds is found only regarding Kiddush (see Tur and Shulchan Aruch, OC 269:1). The Tur attacks, on fundamental grounds, the continued practice of Kiddush when there are no guests, but seems resigned to it in practice. He mentions (and rejects) Rav Natrunai’s explanation that we continue the practice because the wine of this Kiddush is therapeutic for an eye malady and not everyone has wine at home. The Shulchan Aruch brings two opinions as to whether to continue the minhag without good reason. He prefers discontinuing it and says that the minhag in Eretz Yisrael is not to do it. (Nusach) Ashkenazi minhag has been to do Kiddush in shul (Mishna Berura 269:4), perhaps powered by the Magen Avraham’s (69:3) approval. Regarding minhag Eretz Yisrael, Rav Frank (Har Tzvi, OC I, 153) said that in Yerushalayim, Kiddush should not be made in shul, but elsewhere in Israel both minhagim are acceptable (see also Dirshu 269:11)

In contrast, regarding Havdala, the Tur and Shulchan Aruch (OC 295:1) take it as a given. While one can argue that it is more common for people to lack wine than for shuls to have eating guests, the main difference is something else. Friday night Kiddush contains berachot which if no one is having a meal at the place will be l’vatala (see Tur, OC 269). In contrast, because Havdala can be made anywhere, there is no fundamental reason for there to be a beracha l’vatala.

The one thing that can go wrong with Havdala in shul is that sometimes no one wants to be yotzei with it. Whoever needs to make Havdala at home should not be yotzei at that time because it is very questionable whether he would then be permitted to make it for his wife and daughters (Mishna Berura 296:36; for explanation, see Living the Halachic Process, II, C-8). Even sons of the family who are in shul usually do not have in mind to be yotzei with the shul Havdala, although they could if they wanted to (see Mishna Berura 596:33). If no one including the one making Havdala is yotzei with it, it too can be a beracha l’vatala. A proper thing, which many shuls do, is to have a single man, e.g., including an over bar mitzva son of one of the families, make Havdala and have in mind to be motzi himself and anyone else who wants to be yotzei. However, the K’tzot Hashulchan (96:(9), accepted by the Shemirat Shabbat K’hilchata 60:13) says that if no one specifically wants to be yotzei in shul, we should not do it, because it was not formally instituted the way Kiddush was. Those shuls who regularly do Havdala even when there is no need either do not want to figure out each time if someone needs/desires it and therefore assume there is such a person, or they hold that the minhag for Havdala, even if not mentioned in Chazal, is a real takana.

An informal survey I did among American community rabbis finds that all the permutations of practice to do or not do Kiddush and/or Havdala exist, and we have explained how they all can be readily justified.

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