[Avodah] Mezonos Becomes HaMotzi

[Akiva Miller via Avodah]

Rabbi Meir G. Rabi wrote:

> An airline meal which, other than to those living in the third
> world, is not a true meal by any stretch of the imagination,
> is not the benchmark for defining Halacha.
> ...
> There are likely many thousands who keep busy work schedules
> and make a meal on the go their regular lunch, but that hardly
> qualifies to set the standard to define a meal.

I thank RMGR for bringing a new question to light: EXACTLY what do we mean
by "seudah" in this context?

In other words:

We already know that "seudah" means different things in various contexts.
For "Kiddush B'Makom Seudah", the seudah can be as little as a kezayis of
plain pasta. Same thing for Melaveh Malka and many other Seudos Mitzvah.
But even a kebeitzah of pas gamur can be eaten outside the sukkah - it is
only when one eats *more* than a kebeitzah that it must be eaten in the
sukkah. And while I will grant that the word "seudah" might not appear in
that context, this same shiur applies to eating a Seudah prior to
performing mitzvos like ner chanuka or bedikas chometz; only if it is
*more* than a kebeitzah does it constitute a Seudah of the sort that is
assur in such situations. (And if anyone wants to quibble over these
examples, please do so elsewhere. I'm only demonstrating that "Seudah" can
have different definitions in different circumstances.)

If so, it is entirely reasonable to ask: If "mezonos becomes hamotzi when
it is eaten as a meal", what do we mean by "as a meal"? What sort of meal
do we compare it to?

> There are likely many thousands who keep busy work schedules
> and make a meal on the go their regular lunch, but that hardly
> qualifies to set the standard to define a meal.

I think it is fair to say that most of us live in three-meal-per-day
societies, and that the morning meal is consistently the smallest of them.
Of the other two meals, some have the midday meal as larger, and some have
the evening meal larger. Among Shomrei Shabbos, the Shabbos meals are
largest of all. This gives us approximately four different meal sizes, and
none of them constitute the majority of one's meals. I don't think any of
the four even has a clear plurality.

RMGR is emphatic that the sort of lunch one eats on a workday cannot define
a standard meal, but in the course of a week, the meals that one has on
weekday evenings is also in the minority. So which one establishes the
shiur of "as a meal" for the halacha of mezonos becoming hamotzi?

Perhaps some poskim have already discussed this, or maybe we can at least
find some relevant sources.

For example, Mishneh Berurah 639:16 cites the Maamar Mordechai: "One who
eats Pas Habaa B'Kisnin in the morning with coffee, and similar, as is our
practice every day of the year -- even though one would not say Hamotzi
because he's not eating a shiur that people are usually kovea on,
nevertheless, he does require a sukkah because he *is* kovea his seudah on
it. Etc."

The MB continues: "He simply gave a common example. The same would apply
even without drinking coffee, since he *was* Kovea Seudah on Pas Kisnin.
And if he *wasn't* Kovea Seudah on it, but merely ate More Than A
Kebeitzah, there are differing views among the acharonim whether he should
bench Layshev Basukkah."

I really think that the MB is distinguishing between meals and snacks:

(1) The common case of "Pas Habaa B'Kisnin in the morning with coffee"
*does* constitute a meal for Hilchos Sukkah. It would do so even if he
skipped the coffee, and the MB does NOT specify how much mezonos he ate
(except to say that it is not enough to make it Hamotzi). The deciding
factor is that the nature of the situation of "Pas Habaa B'Kisnin in the
morning" constitutes Kevias Seudah for Hilchos Sukkah.

(2) It is possible to eat that same amount of Pas Habaa B'Kisnin, in a
manner that does *not* constitute Kevias Seudah, in which case, the
requirement to eat it in a Sukkah is subject to machlokes. The MB doesn't
doesn't spell out exactly what makes this case different from the above,
but it is obvious to me that the distinction lies in the time of day: A
piece of mezonos in the morning is Breakfast; the same mezonos at another
time is a snack.

I concede that the focus here is on Hilchos Sukkah; the MB already said
very clearly that this breakfast *is* a seudah for Sukkah, but at the same
time, it is *not* a seudah for Hamotzi.

Why not? If it *is* Kevias Seudah for Sukkah, why does Hamotzi have
different rules?

One answer might be that nothing is being eaten together with this
breakfast mezonos, and Chazal have already specified that the shiur to
become Hamotzi in such situations would be 3-4 kebeitzim. If so, then we
see that the shiur of "3-4 kebeitzim" applies across the board, to all
meals, and the fact that breakfast tends to be small is irrelevant. If so,
then I would imagine it to be equally irrelevant that Shabbos meals tend to
be large. Rather, there must be a "standard meal" to be used in the halacha
that "mezonos becomes hamotzi when it is eaten as a meal."

I must be honest with myself. If this "standard meal" is neither breakfast
nor a Shabbos meal, then it is probably lunch or dinner, or some
combination. I have seen many groceries in frum neighborhoods where one can
purchase a pre-made tuna sandwich (or other kinds) on a mezonos roll. I
would still be very wary of saying Mezonos on such a sandwich at noon --
but to do so at 3 PM or 10 PM doesn't sound so outlandish any more.

Akiva Miller
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