[Avodah] time of Purim Seudah

[kennethgmiller at juno.com]

I compared having a Purim meal in the late afternoon with a separate Shabbos meal soon after, with having one long meal combining the two, and I asked:

> I think most people will agree that the first idea is very
> b'dieved, while the second one (despite the practical
> problems such as were mentioned in Rav Teitz's post) is
> fully sanctioned, at least for Sefaradim. Why such a
> disparity? Does Oneg Shabbos really suffer more in the
> first than in the second?

R' David Riceman responded:
> I think the problem here is not Oneg Shabbos but bensching
> in the middle of a meal.  Is it really appropriate to
> benstch when you intend to continue eating in a few minutes?

I will grant that benching in the middle of a meal is indeed a problem. But it is a Hilchos Brachos problem, and that's *not* the one that the poskim focus on. Rather, they focus on the Hilchos Shabbos problem, that one's appetite for a Shabbos meal has been ruined by the meal on Erev Shabbos.

My evidence of that is: If the hefsek were the main or only problem, halacha would object only if the seuda was in the last half-hour or so of Erev Shabbos. And even then, the complaint would only exist for people who daven at home. But the truth is that halacha considers the Erev Shabbos meal to be a problem even if it is in the early afternoon. If a person eats a meal in the early afternoon, and another in the evening, that cannot possibly be a Hilchos Brachos problem. But it *is* a Hilchos Shabbos problem.

Perhaps I did not explain my question adequately. I'll try again: If one combines the Purim Seudah and the Shabbos Seudah by means of Pores Mappah, why does it *not* ruin his appetite for the Shabbos portion of the meal?

Akiva Miller
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