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Ask The Rabbi

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In our city the Rav (who is also the Chabad shaliach – emissary,) makes Kiddush on Friday night, because there is no-one else available who can do it, however, for health reasons he is not supposed to drink wine or grape-juice. Due to this, he gives the wine to someone else to drink, in the required measure of ‘a full sip’, which according to Halacha is between 40 – 45 grams, and he himself tastes it. Now he has difficulty even with tasting it, so he asks whether he should make Kiddush on challos and not on wine at all, or should he make it on wine and give it to some-one else to drink?

(Shulchan Aruch 271: 24) It is preferable for the person making Kiddush to drink the required measure of wine, (approximately 86 grams.) If he is unable to drink it, one of the people present at that Shabbat meal should do so, and then ipso facto the requirement has been met. If no-one present drank the required measure of wine, then the Kiddush obligation has not been met, and Kiddush must be recited again. If no-one drank the full requirement but several people drank amounts which add up together to the full required measure, and this took place within the minimal amount of time necessary to drink the required measure, then according to the opinion of the Mishnah Berurah, the Kiddush obligation has been fulfilled. The Alter Rebbe maintains that one person must drink the full required measure.
Also, it is preferable to make Kiddush on wine rather than on Challot.

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