[Avodah] Eating Shalosh Seudos late in the Afternoon

[Professor L. Levine]

The following is from today's OU Kosher Halacha Yomis.


For  me it raises questions about the common practice of men eating Shalosh Seudos in shul after Mincha.  Another question I have about this practice is that it leaves the women at home alone and many will not eat Shalosh Seudos at home alone,  whereas if the husband came home to eat the third meal chances are the wife would join him.


Q. This year, because the first day of Pesach is Shabbos, one must make sure to eat three meals on the first day of Yom Tov. Is there any issue with eating Shalosh Seudos late in the afternoon?



A. The mitzvah of honoring Yom Tov includes refraining from beginning a meal on erev Yom Tov within 3 hours of sunset. Chazal forbade starting a meal close to Yom Tov, so that one will enter Yom Tov with an appetite. Even on Shabbos, when there is a requirement to eat Shalosh Seudos, it is preferable that one begin Shalosh Seudos more than three hours (sha'os zemaniyos - halachic hours) before sunset. In early Spring, a halachic hour will be only slightly longer than a regular hour. However, it is also preferable to eat Shalosh Seudos after davening Mincha. Therefore, one should try to attend an early Mincha on Shabbos, so one can start Shalosh Seudos more than three hours before sunset. If this is not possible, one should eat before davening Mincha. However, if one was delayed and did not begin Shalosh Seudos before this time, the Mishnah Berurah (529:8) writes that one must still eat Shalosh Seudos even after this time. One should scale back the meal, so that one will still have an appetite at night.

The Magen Avrohom writes that this even applies in a year such as this one when Shabbos is also the first day of Yom Tov. In other words, we are required to scale back our eating in the late afternoon of the first day of Yom Tov, in order to have an appetite at night (which is the second day Yom Tov). The Mishnah Berurah (Beiur Halacha 529, s.v. B'erev) questions why this should be so. How could enjoying the first day of Yom Tov, which is a mitzvah from the Torah, get pushed off because of the need to honor the second day of Yom Tov, which is only a mitzvah d'rabbanan? However, the Mishnah Berurah recognizes that the ruling of the Magen Avrohom was accepted by the later poskim, and elsewhere, the Mishnah Berurah (471:16) quotes the Magen Avrohom without comment.


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