Dear Rabbi, On Shabbos, if one hears Kiddish where one is eating there lunch sueda and there is going to be a delay between kiddish and the meal, is one required to eat enough cake to make a bracha achrona, as one whould have to do if hearing kiddish in shul?

Shalom, Thank you for your question. You are correct in thinking that one needs to have a meal where they make kiddush – which is why you need to eat cake (or bread) at the kiddush in shule (as you point out). Your question is how close to the kiddush does the meal have to be – even when it will be in the same location. The Rema in the Shulchan Aruch (Orach Haim, 273, 3) writes that one needs to eat immediately. The Mishna Brurah (ibid) adds that “one should not break even for a small time” before eating. However, the Aruch HaShulchan clarifies that the laws were not given to angels – and the meaning of the rule is not to have a longish break. However, a pause to take care of things that are needed for the meal itself, such as bringing food to the table etc, is certainly allowed (Mishna Brurah, ibid 14). With this in mind, you will need to examine what length of delay you are talking about. A few minuets or so – say 5 to 10 minuets – would seem fine. If the pause is going to longer than this, you should either wait with kiddush until you are ready to eat the meal, or eat some cake, as you mentioned is done at the shule kiddush. Blessings.