Question:
On the first night of Sukkos, can one fulfill the mitzvah with any kind of bread (pita, bagels, matza)?
Can one drink water or something else to help the bread go down more quickly?
Can one put a spread on the bread (or honey)?
Answer:
The gemara tells us that when we eat the first kzayis, (and preferably the first k’batza – an eggs worth) on the fifteenth of Tishrei that it is similar to eating the matzoh on the fifteenth of Nissan. In order to fulfill this mitzva we have to eat bread any type of bread, cake etc. or mezonos dishes are not good enough to fulfill the mitzvah. (They can be eaten later.) The bread should be eaten within the time of kdai achilas pras, approx. 4 minutes, (but two minutes is better). You may drink water etc. while you are eating the bread.
We may eat the bread with a spread or with honey, even though we may not eat the matzoh with anything else. The reason is that the mitzvah is just to eat a kzayis of bread on the 15th night in the succah, but not for all the particulars of the mitzvah of eating matzoh. Although there are opinions that one should be careful about this, this doesn’t seem to be the halacha.
Sources:
O:CH 639-3 M:B 21,22, Tzlach Pesachim 108a, Kovetz Yad Harashaz-2 pg. 38 from R’ Chaim Brisker zt”l, Halichos Shlomo Tishrei 9-3 Dvar Halacha 7 that it may be even better to eat the kzayis with honey to make the mitzvah more pleasant. Kovetz Halachos ( R’ S. Kaminetsky zhlit”a Succos 13-7, Moadim Uzemanim 1-86.
