#74: Standing or Sitting for Kiddush

Rabbi Eli Ozarowski

There are three customs concerning whether to stand or sit for Kiddush on Friday night:

  1. Some hold that one should sit for the entire Kiddush, since sitting creates more of a connection between everyone listening to the Kiddush and the one reciting the Kiddush (Rema 271:10).
  2. Some hold that one should stand for the paragraph of Vayechulu since one must stand when giving testimony. One then sits when the berachot are recited. (Shulchan Aruch 271:10)
  3. Some stand for the entire Kiddush (based on the Arizal).

All three customs are acceptable. One should follow one’s family custom. One who is spending Shabbat away from home should follow the practice of wherever one is visiting.

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Dedicated by Fran Broder as a zechus for the hostages to be released safely to their families and may everlasting peace come to Eretz Yisrael in the merit of learning Hilchos Shabbos.