Summary: Though the Kiddush is part of both the holiday and Sabbath table rituals, Chida looks at the text at length. He explores the question whether the festival Kiddush is a rabbinic or a Torah obligation, why it is customary to introduce the Kiddush with Savrei, “With permission,” and what it means to say that “Israel was chosen from among the nations.” This third topic raises the issue of whether Israel is spiritually different from other nations - the reader should beware that Chida’s attitudes towards Israel’s spiritual status fly in the face of our modern sensibilities, including his attitudes toward converts. Finally, Chida analyzes the special Havdalah prayer which is added to the Kiddush on Saturday nights. In his commentary on the Mekhilta, the honorable Rabbi Eliezer Nachum¹ has questioned whether the Festival Kiddush is a Torah or a rabbinic obligation. Based on the reasoning of Rambam, he writes that it is a rabbinic obligation even though the Mekhilta states, “From where do we learn that one recites Kiddush on festivals? It is stated, “These are the set times of Adonai,” ((Lev. 23:4). Rambam did not base his decision on this this Braita because it does not appear in the Talmud. This reference is only an (asmachta).² is an allusion found in the Hebrew Bible for rabbinical prohibitions or any other Halakha. It's an exception in the talmudical hermeneutics, since it doesn't base the law on the cited verse, but uses the verse as a hint. (wikipedia) This is a summary of his opinion. This surprised me since he fails to note that in the Talmud, Masechet Shabbat, the festival Kiddush is not considered a Torah matter. Rabbi Eliyahu Shapira³ notes this iin his comments on the Hilchot Gedolot.⁴ is a work on Jewish law dating from the Geonic period. It exists in several different recensions, and there are sharply divergent views on its authorship, though the dominant opinion attributes it to Simeon Kayyara. We have noted regarding his opinion elsewhere that it is possible that this is his own interpretation based on the opinion of the younger Rabbi Isaiah D’Trani⁵ in Sefer HaMakhriyah S. 71… Actually, the Mekhilta is only a reference (and not a basis for the law) and before this it is used as a reference to the daytime Kiddush. Afterwards I saw that Rabbi Shlomo Shalem⁶ in his book Lev SHalem, Chapter 6, the laws of festivals that he brings the opinion of Rambam.

footnotes: ¹ Rabbi of the second half of the 17th and the first half of the 18th century; born about 1660; died about 1746; pupil of R. Jacob Striemer. He was one of the leading rabbis of his time, and held the rabbinate of Adrianople, in which city he also directed a yeshivah having numerous pupils. At an advanced age he went to Jerusalem, where he was elected chief rabbi and officiated for about ten years. There he devoted himself to the study of the Law, wrote legal decisions and responsa, and disputed, even in his last days, on learned questions with Rabbis Isaac Zerahiah Azulai and Meïr Mizraḥi of Jerusalem. (Jewish Encyclopedia) ² In Talmudical hermeneutics, asmachta ³ Elijah Spira (1660–1712) ("Shapira" or "Shapiro"), was the son of Benjamin Wolf Spira. He was rabbi at Tiktin, and afterward preacher and director of a large Talmudic academy in his hometown of Prague. He died in Prague April 14, 1712. (wikipedia) ⁴ Halachot Gedolot ⁵ Isaiah ben Elijah di Trani (the Younger) was an Italian Talmudist and commentator who lived in the 13th century and 14th century. He was the grandson, on his mother's side, of Isaiah (ben Mali) di Trani the Elder. (wikipedia) ⁶ He lived between 1705-1780 in Turkey. It seems that this final comment was an addition to the text since Rabbi Shalem lived after the time of Chida.