Frimer, Aryeh A.

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What to Do when Erev Pesach Falls on Shabbat (5768): A Short Guide by Rabbi Aryeh A. Frimer (Revised March 27, 2008)  (Note: For clarity, references have been kept to an absolute minimum. Abbreviations - OH: Shulkhan Arukh Orah Hayyim; MB: Mishnah Berurah; IM: Resp. Igrot Moshe.  Times are Daylight Savings for Rehovot Israel, and ollowing the general custom in Israel, are le-humra: Magen Avraham before noon and Gra after noon.)  f I. General: Ta'anit bechorot is pushed up to Thursday morning. Bedikat hametz is performed Thursday evening.  All hametz, not needed for Friday or Shabbat meals, should be sold, removed or burned before Friday morning 11:15 AM (end of 5 sha’ot zemaniyot; same she’at bi’ur time as in a regular year).  By Friday afternoon, the house should be entirely Pesachdig and only kasher le-Pesach foods and utensils should be used - with perhaps the only exception, bread for lehem mishneh.  All preparations for the Seder (removing challah from the matzot, preparing the maror, haroset, salt water, roasting the shankbone and egg) should have been completed.  No preparations for the Seder or Yom Tov may be done on Shabbat.  II. Basic Principles:   A)  Matzah 1) It is Rabbinically forbidden to eat matzah on erev pesach (OH 471:2).  The majority of Poskim maintain that this prohibition starts only from the morning [alot ha-shahar] (ibid., MB no. 13).  The minority view maintains that one should be stringent from the night before. (IM, OH, I, 155).  Some have the custom of not eating matzah from Purim or Rosh Hodesh Nissan. 2) According to most authorities, this prohibition includes items baked with matzah mehl (e.g., cakes and cookies), but not those cooked (e.g., Kneidelach - kufta'ot) [OH 444, MB no. 8; OH 471, MB no. 20] or fried (matzah brei, chremzelach) [Erev Pesach she-Hal be-Shabbat, R. Zvi Cohen, chap. 21, parag. 5 and note 10].  3) In order to assure that matzah will be eaten with a zest Seder night, Haza"l forbad eating cooked or fried matzah or matzah ashira (see section II.C below) products starting from mid-afternoon (samuch le-mincha ketanah; 3 sha’ot zemaniyot before sunset), which is 3:57 PM.   B)  Bread (Hametz) 1) Rabbinically, it is forbidden to consume hametz on erev Pesach (which this year falls on Shabbat) after 9:56 AM (end of 4 sha’ot zemaniyot). 2) All hametz must be removed and "Kol Chamira" recited by 11:15 AM (end of 5 sha’ot zemaniyot). 3) Hametz may be removed by flushing it down the toilet.  C)  Matzah Ashirah (Matzah made without water using fruit juice or eggs) 1) Sefaradim use matzah ashirah on Pesach (OH 462:1-3) and they may eat matzah ashira on erev Pesach until samuch le-mincha ketanah [3:57 PM; see above sec. II.A.3] (OH 444:1 and 471:2). However, the custom of Ashkenazic Jewry is to refrain from eating it, unless one is elderly or ill (OH 462:4).  Matzah ashirah is not hametz, and may be stored in the house (ibid., MB no. 16).   2) There are three views regarding the time from which this Ashkenazic stringency begins: a) From the same time as it is Rabbinically forbidden to eat Hametz [i.e., 9:56 AM] (IM, OH, I, 154, 155; R. Joshua Katz and R. Elisha Aviner);  b) from noontime [12:39 PM], which is the time it is Biblically forbidden to eat Hametz (Resp. Nodah be-Yehudah Mahadura Kamma, OH, sec. 21);  c) from samuch le-mincha ketanah [i.e., 3:57 PM; sec. II.A.3] (Derekh ha-Chaim, Hilkhot Pesah; Arukh ha-Shulkhan OH 444:5; R. Eliezer Silver; R. Shlomo Goren, Terumat haGoren, sec. 103; R. Nachum L. Rabinovitch; see also Yehaveh Da'at, I, sec. 91, no. 12).  d) Children may eat Matzah Ashirah all erev Pesach. (R. M. Feinstein quoted by R. S. Weissman)  3) Normally one makes a mezonot before and al ha-Mihyah after eating matzah ashirah.  However, when it is used as bread - particularly for a seudat mitzvah (like a Shabbat meal) - and is eaten together with other foods, one recites ha-motzi and birkhat ha-mazon. [IM, OH, I, 154; Yehaveh Da'at, I sec. 91, no. 12; Erev Pesach she-Chal be-Shabbat, chap. 15, note 17].  A minimum of a kezayit [10 g or approximately 1/3 of a Matzah - Shiurim de-Rabbanan; based on Siddur Pesach keHilkhato, II, Chap. 8; "Halachos of Pesach" R. Shimon Eider, sec. XXI.D.7; R. Nachum L. Rabinovitch] is required for birkat ha-Mazon [OH 184:6]; however, one should preferably eat at least the volume of a ke-beitzah (20 g or approximately 2/3 matzah) to fulfill the obligation of seudat shabbat [OH 291:1, MB no. 2].  D)  Kitniyot (The custom of Ashkenazim not to eat rice or lentils on Pesach). Pri Migadim (Eshel Avraham, OH 444, no.2) permits eating kitniyot on Erev Pesach, and indicates that the prohibition of kitniyot is only on Pesach proper. Nevertheless, Hok Yaakov (OH 471 no. 2) forbids eating kitniyot on Erev Pesach (from 9:56 A.M.), and this seems to be the general custom (Resp. Shevet HaLevi, III, end of sec 31; Nitei Gavriel, Hag HaPesach, II, Chapter 38, no. 14; Siddur Pesach keHilkhato, I, Chap 16, no. 10, note42* - citing R. Joseph Shalom Elyashiv; Hilkhot Hag be-Hag, Hag ha-Pesach, Chapter 12, no. 15 suggests that the custom begins from noontime [12:39 PM]). Kitniyot may certainly be eaten Friday night. Kitniyot are not hametz, and may be stored in the house.  III. Options for Three Meals:   A) Friday Night: use Bread (Challah or pita – the latter makes less crumbs), Matzah (if your custom permits it) or matzah ashirah.  If bread is used: Make ha-Motzi over two hametz challot AWAY from the table.  Eat the Challot over a paper towel or hametz plate, collect all crumbs and dispose of them by flushing them down the toilet.  Wash plate in bathroom sink and put it with the hametz dishes.  Wash out your mouth and hands and continue with your Kasher le-Pesach meal.   B) Shabbat Morning: use bread or matzah ashirah. 1) If you intend to use bread (Challot) - daven at the early minyan Shabbat morning and finish eating your challot and washing out your mouth before 9:56 AM.  Continue with you Kasher le-Pesach meal.  Finish the clean up and recite kol chamira before 11:15 AM. 2) If you intend to use matzah ashirah:  a) If you follow the most stringent position (see section II.C.2.a) then attend the first minyan, and finish eating the matzah ashirah before 9:56 AM.  b) If you hold like either of the two more lenient positions (section II.C.2.b or c), you can attend the regular minyan and finish eating the matzah ashirah by 12:39 PM or 3:57 PM, respectively.  c) In all cases, BE SURE TO SAY KOL CHAMIRA BEFORE 11:15 AM.  It can be said Shabbat morning before Shul.  If you have no intention of using hametz at all on Shabbat, kol chamira can be said already on Friday after you have removed all your hametz.  C)  Seudah Shlishit:  1) One approach is to eat two meals in the morning, separated by a period of interruption (go for a walk, read a book etc.).  If you are using hametz or matzah ashirah [and you follow the most stringent position as to the latest time to eat matzah ashirah (sec. II.C.2.a)], then finish eating hametz or matzah ashirah of the second meal by 9:56 AM.  If you are using matzah ashirah and hold the middle position (section II.C.2.b),  you can eat it until 12:39 PM. 2) A second approach is to eat products made from cooked or fried matzah pieces or matzah mehl (sec. II.A.2) or matzah ashirah [if you hold the most lenient position (sec. II.C.2.c)].  Make mezonot and al ha-michyah - unless you eat ca 4 volumes of ke-beitzah (~2.7 matzot), in which case you make ha-Motzi (Yehaveh Da'at, I, sec. 91, nos. 11 and 12; OH 168, MB no. 24).  Use them before 3:57 PM.  3) Finally, one can use fruit, meat, fish or potato starch cakes and macaroons, even after 3:57 PM.  Be sure not to fill yourself up, so you will have an appetite by the evening.   חמשו רשכ גח

What to do when Erev Pesach falls on shabbat (5768) : a short guide

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