Question: After reciting Kiddush on wine on Shabbat morning, we customarily serve everyone cakes and soft drinks. Must one recite the “Shehakol Nihya Bidvaro” blessing on these soft drinks?
Answer: In the previous Halacha we have explained that the appropriate blessing for all beverages, such as, water, juice, beer, spirits, and the like, is “Shehakol Nihya Bidvaro.” Wine, however, requires the “Boreh Peri Ha’Gefen” blessing.
We have written that if one recites the Ha’Gefen blessing on wine and at that point intends to drink other beverages later on, one should not recite a Shehakol blessing on the other beverages since they have already been exempted by the Ha’Gefen blessing on the wine which exempts any beverages that follow it just as the Hamotzi blessing on bread exempts all foods eaten after it.
Drinking Soft Drinks After Kiddush
Let us now deal with the question at hand. A similar question was posed to Maran Rabbeinu Ovadia Yosef zt”l regarding those who make Kiddush in the synagogue after the Mussaf prayer on Shabbat day. All in attendance hear the person reciting Kiddush recite the “Boreh Peri Ha’Gefen” blessing and then they all taste some wine. If they would like to partake of the other soft drinks served before them, must they recite a Shehakol blessing on these drinks or not?
The question can be divided into two parts. There are those who taste some wine after the person reciting the Kiddush concludes his recitation of the “Boreh Peri Ha’Gefen” blessing while others do not taste any wine at all and immediately upon the conclusion of the Kiddush begin partaking from the other beverages before them. Are both types of individuals exempted with the “Boreh Peri Ha’Gefen” blessing recited by the one reciting Kiddush?
Those Who Have Tasted Some Wine and Those Who Have Not
Regarding those who do not taste any wine at the conclusion of the Kiddush, Maran zt”l writes (in his Halichot Olam, Volume 2, page 24) that they are not exempted from reciting a Shehakol blessing on other beverages since this can only be said regarding one who tastes some wine; only then do we say that the other beverages are secondary to the wine one has drunk.
On the other hand, those who have actually tasted some wine at the conclusion of the Kiddush retain the same law as one who has recited the Ha’Gefen blessing on wine and they do not recite the Shehakol blessing before drinking other beverages. Although others argue that merely tasting a small amount of wine during Kiddush is not sufficient to exempt the beverages one drinks afterwards, the Halacha nevertheless does not follow this opinion.
Summary: If one hears Kiddush on Shabbat morning, tasted some wine at its conclusion, and then wishes to drink any other beverage (which one intended to originally), one does not recite the Shehakol blessing on these beverages since the Ha’Gefen blessing on the wine exempts any beverages that follow it.
However, if one hears Kiddush from the individual reciting it but does not taste any wine and would then like to partake of other beverages, one must recite the Shehakol blessing before drinking any of the beverages being served.
