Kiddush I: Obligation קידוש (א): חיוב

(12) Observe the sabbath day and keep it holy, as the LORD your God has commanded you. (13) Six days you shall labor and do all your work, (14) but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your ox or your ass, or any of your cattle, or the stranger in your settlements, so that your male and female slave may rest as you do. (15) Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt and the LORD your God freed you from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God has commanded you to observe the sabbath day.

‘Remember’ and ‘keep’ were said in one utterance. That which the mouth cannot speak and that which the ear cannot hear.

…For “remember” is a positive mitzva, He commanded that we should remember the day of Shabbat to sanctify it, and should not forget it. And “keep” for them [the Sages] is a negative mitzva, for “everywhere that it is said ‘keep yourself,’ ‘lest,’ or ‘do not’ – these are only negative mitzvot” (Eiruvin 96a), He cautioned us to keep it to sanctify it and not to desecrate it…

“Remember the Sabbath to sanctify it.” Could it be in your heart?…How do I expound “remember”? That you repeat it with your mouth.

Remember the Shabbat day to sanctify it: remember it over wine as it enters.

The 155th mitzva is that he commanded us to sanctify the Shabbat and to recite words as it enters and as it goes out. We mention in them the greatness of this day and its elevation and its distinction from the other days that precede it and that follow it. And this is what He, may He be elevated, said: Remember the Shabbat day to sanctify it. That is to say, remember it [with] a mention of sanctity and magnification. And that is the mitzva of kiddush.

But our rabbis had a further midrash on it [the verse] from the word “le-kadesho“, that we should sanctify it [Shabbat] through remembering, like the matter of “and you shall sanctify the fiftieth year” (Vayikra 25:10), which requires sanctification by the beit din [religious court] to say on the Yovel “It [the year] is sanctified. It is sanctified.” So too here He commanded that we should remember the Shabbat day in our sanctifying it.”

Rav Acha bar Yaakov said: And one must mention the Exodus from Egypt in kiddush ha-yom. Here [concerning the mitzvot of Pesach] is written “in order that you remember ” and there [concerning kiddush] is written “remember the Shabbat day to sanctify it.”

Rav Ada bar Ahava said: Women are obligated in kiddush ha-yom as a matter of Torah [law]. Why? It is a positive time-bound commandment, and women are exempt from all positive time-bound commandments. Abbaye said: [They are exempted on a Torah level and obligated] on a rabbinic level. Rava said: But behold he said it is a matter of Torah [law], and furthermore [by that logic] should we rabbinically obligate them in all positive commandments? Rather Rava said: Scripture said “remember” and “keep,” everyone who is included in keeping [negative commandments of Shabbat] is included in remembering [positive commandments of Shabbat]. And these women, since they are included in keeping, are included in remembering.

Women are obligated in kiddush even though it is a positive time-bound mitzva, because “remember” (Shemot 20:8) is compared to “keep” (Devarim 5:12), and these women, since they are included in keeping, they are included in remembering.…

To recite kiddush over wine is [obligatory] from the words of the scribes.

For granted that kiddush is obligatory on a Torah level, over wine is not on a Torah level, for “mention it over wine” is a mnemonic…

For Rabbi Shemuel son of Nachmani said Rabbi Yochanan said: Whence [do we know] that we only recite song over wine? For it is said (Shofetim 9:13), “And the grapevine said to them: I have ceased my wine that gladdens God and people.” If it gladdens people, how does it gladden God? From here [we learn] that we only recite song over wine.

Therefore we are obligated to do the act with wine, for the nature of a person is aroused within him a great deal when he feasts and makes merry…

Rabbi Chizkiya opened: It is written “like a lily among the thorns.” Who is a lily? This is the congregation of Israel…Five strong leaves surround the lily and these fove are called salvation and they are five gates, and about this secret is written “I will lift up the cup of salvation.” This is the cup of beracha. A cup of beracha needs to be upon five fingers and no more, like a lily that sits on five strong leaves represented by five fingers. And this lily is the cup of beracha. From the second [mention of] God to the third [mention of] God, there are five words…

If the one reciting kiddush did not taste [the wine] and one of those eating tasted a cheekful (meaning filling his mouth), he has discharged his obligation…And in any case the preferred mitzva is that all should taste [the wine]…And the Ge’onim thought that if the reciter of kiddush did not taste [the wine] he did not discharge his obligation, and it is fitting to be concerned for their words.

All types of labor that a woman performs for her husband, she does for him in nidda, except for: mixing the drink, for she is prohibited from mixing the drink before him at the table, unless she makes a recognizable sign [that she is in nidda], such as placing it on the table with the left hand.

Just as she is prohibited from mixing for him, so he is prohibited from mixing [a drink] for her, and not only that but even to send her a cup of wine is prohibited, regardless of whether it is a cup of beracha or a different cup, if it is especially for her. But if they drink from the same cup, and she drinks after him, there is no [halachic concern] for us.

He should not drink from the leftovers of a cup from which she has drunk. Rema: If no other person breaks [i.e., drinks] between them, or if the cup was emptied from this cup to another cup even if [the liquid] was returned to the first cup…And she is permitted to drink from a cup from which he drank.

Remember the Shabbat day to sanctify it: remember it over wine as it [Shabbat] enters. I only have at night, during the day [is derived] from where? The verse teaches: Remember the day of Shabbat. During the day what blessing does he recite? Rav Yehuda said: Borei peri ha-gafen. Rav Ashi traveled to Machoza. They said to him: Let Master recite kiddusha rabba for us. They gave [the cup] to him. He thought: What is kiddusha rabba? He said: Since with all berachot they say borei peri ha-gafen at the beginning—he said borei peri ha-gafen and drew it out. He saw an elderly man who bent over and drank. He [Rav Ashi] said of himself “a wise man has his eyes in his head.”

…For behold even on a weekday if he is about to drink, he needs to recite this beracha . Nevertheless, since [kiddusha rabba] comes by way of an enactment, it is an obligatory beracha, and since it is an obligatory beracha, it is also called kiddush. For it was indeed enacted for this, that the day be sanctified through it, that one’s meal be important when it is established over wine.

To sanctify it: to sanctify it with a beracha. From here they said: We recite kiddush over wine as it [Shabbat] enters…I only have Shabbat. Whence do [we learn of] Yom Tov? The verse teaches us (Vayikra 23:37), “These are the appointed times of God [which you will proclaim as sacred proclamations]” etc.

Shabbat and Yom Tov nights have kiddush over a cup…Shabbat and Yom Tov [day] don’t have kiddush over a cup…

They don’t have kiddush over a cup – except for borei peri ha-gafen on its own.

Just as we recite kiddush on Shabbat nights …so we recite kiddush on Yom Tov nights…for all of them are Shabbatot of God.

On the night of Yom Tov one recites kiddush over wine as on Shabbat…And so on Yom Tov one recites kiddusha rabba in the manner that one recites kiddush on Shabbat.

Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: Women are obligated in these four cups, for they indeed/too (af hen) were part of that miracle.

…Regarding kiddush on Yom Tov, if we say that it is obligatory on a Torah level, it is possible that it is equivalent to Shabbat also regarding women, that they are obligated. But if we say that it is rabbinic, it is possible that women are not obligated…