Q&A from the Bais HaVaad Halacha Hotline

Meal Plan

March 6, 2025

Q Our seudas Purim usually goes on for several hours, so this year’s may continue into Shabbos. What should we do about bentching, kiddush, davening, Al Hanisim, etc.?

A The Rama (O.C. 695:2) directs that when Purim falls on Friday, the seudas Purim should begin before chatzos hayom (Mishnah Brurah ibid. 10) so as not to interfere with the honor of Shabbos. Some allow delaying the seudah until sha’ah asiris (the tenth hour), approximately three hours after chatzos (Mishnah Brurah citing Yad Efrayim). If you were unable earlier, you may begin even in the late afternoon, because it is a seudas mitzvah (see Mishnah Brurah 249:13). In all cases, limit your eating so you retain an appetite for the Shabbos meal (Mishnah Brurah 529:8 and Sha’ar Hatziyun ibid. 10).

If the seudah continues until Shabbos, you may be poreis mapah umekadeish (“spread a cloth and make kiddush”), a procedure that goes as follows (O.C. 271:4):

At candle lighting time, stop eating. The neiros Shabbos are lit, and a cloth is spread over the bread on the table. Kiddush is made, but borei pri hagafen is omitted if wine was already drunk during the seudah. After kiddush, challah should be eaten (at least a kebeitzah), but no bracha is made, because hamotzi was already made at the beginning of the seudah. Some say that two challos should be held and a piece broken off in fulfillment of lechem mishneh (Purim Meshulash by R’ Srayah Dublitzki, based on Aruch Hashulchan). Others say that lechem mishneh is not required, because hamotzi is not recited (Shu”t Ha’elef Lecha Shlomo O.C. 113).

The poskim debate whether Al Hanisim should be said in addition to Retzei. The Mishnah Brurah (ibid. 16) concludes that only Retzei is said, as saying both would be contradictory.

After the seuduah, Kabalas Shabbos and Maariv are recited.

In some communities, this procedure was practiced lechat’chilah in years like this. (See Me’iri Ksubos 7a and Mekabtziel Vol. 24 p. 89.) But the prevailing custom today is to finish the seudah during the day. Some also cite from kabalah sources that kiddush should be made only after Kabalas Shabbos and Maariv (Kaf Hachaim 271:22).