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Erev Pesach/Shabbat Hagadol

Erev Pesach/Shabbat Hagadol

EREV PESACH WHICH OCCURS ON SHABBAT - 5781- 2021
By Rabbi Moshe Sokol, Ph.D
 
I. Thursday (3/25/21)
  1. Taanit Bekhorim; siyum after shacharit.
  2. Bedikat Chametz should be performed on Thursday evening, including recitation of the berakha and kol chamira (bittul hametz).
  3. Travellers leaving before Thursday night should perform bedikat chametz without a berakha the evening before they leave.
 
II. Friday (3/26/21)
  1. Chametz may be eaten the entire day.
  2. Chametz should be burned by 11:47 (MA*) or 11:59 (VG*) A.M., but kol chamira is not said.Bedi'avad, chametz may be burned later in the day.
  3. All leftover chametz should be placed in plastic garbage bags and left outside for pickup.
  4. By Shabbat, the house should be completely ready for Pesach.
  5. Preparations for the Seder should be completed before Shabbat, including: roasting the zeroah; preparing the beitzah, charoset and, if possible, salt water; cleaning the marror of insects.
  6. For those who will use regular chametz for lechem mishneh for Shabbos, enough challah rolls should be purchased, placed in a bag, and set aside in a safe place so that there is just enough for (a) lechem mishneh for two meals; (b) a kezayis of challah for each adult and older child for two meals. Pita makes less crumbs, and therefore may be a better option than challah.
  7. Egg matzot should be purchased for young children, and/or for those who choose not to use regular chametz for lechem mishneh instead of ha-motzi challah or pita (see below).
  8. High quality paper plates, bowls, etc.; plastic ware; and a (disposable, if one wants) plastic tablecloth should be purchased and made ready for Shabbat.
 
III. Shabbat (3/27/21)
  1. Food and cooking utensils for Shabbat should be pesachdik. Kiddush should be made and the meal eaten in their usual location in the house.
  2. The table should be completely covered with a plastic tablecloth.
  3. Kiddush should be made with a pesachdik bekher, which should be removed from the table after kiddush.
  4. Paper napkins should be opened up and set at each place, and (as per II:6 above) the challah or pita in its bag, and/or egg matzot, brought to the table.
  5. Ha-motzi should be made on lechem mishneh by one person for the entire family; then a small piece from the challah or pita should be carefully distributed to each adult and older child, supplemented by other challah (rolls) or pita, so that each person eats a kezayit. All challah or pita should be eaten with great care, over the napkins. If one chooses to eat egg matzah for lechem mishneh each person must eat a little over two ounces.
  6. Small children should be given only egg matzah.
  7. After eating the kezayis of challah/pita, the napkins should be carefully folded with the crumbs and disposed of in the bathroom. The floor should be swept with a chametzdik broom and dishpan, the crumbs similarly disposed of, and the broom and dishpan, after cleaning, stored with the chametz. The plastic tablecloth should be carefully removed, the crumbs disposed of in the bathroom, and the tablecloth stored with the chametz.
  8. The table can now be set and the meal continued. While the meal may be light, since it is early, it should include some fish and meat.
  9. If the use of challah presents a special problem, then as noted above one may use egg matzah even for adults according to some major poskim (e. g. R. Moshe Feinstein and the Arukh Ha-Shulhan).
  10. This entire process should be repeated for Shabbat morning.
  11. The chametz (or egg matzah) portion of the meal on Shabbat morning should be completed by 10:32 (MA) or 10:56 (VG). After eating the last of the chametz, everyone should carefully rinse their mouths.
  12. Crumbs must be disposed of, as described above (section III:7), by 11:46 (MA) or 11:58 (VG) A.M., at which time kol chamira should be said as well.
  13. Seudah shelishit should be eaten soon after 1:32 PM, without chametz, egg matzah, or, of course, matzah. The meal should include (for non-vegetarians) fish or meat. Those who eat gebrokhts, should include some knaidlach or gebrokhts baked goods in their meal. Since matzah must be eaten le-teavon at the Seder, seudah shelishit should not be too large a meal.
  14. Some have the custom to divide the morning meal into two parts, washing and making ha-motzi for each part, thus fulfilling the mitzvah of seudah shelishit in the morning with the second of the two morning meals. One should wait at least 15 minutes between each part of the meal, and walk around a bit as well. Remember that chametz or egg matzah may not be eaten after 10:32 (MA) or 10:56 (VG).
  15. Some poskim maintain that since regular matza may not be eaten on Shabbat erev Pesah, it is muktzah.
  16. No preparations for the Seder may start, nor candles lit, until after 8:05 P.M.and after one says Barukh ha-mavdil ben kodesh le-chol. (The two more machmir zemanim are 8:15 and 8:27 PM)
 
Chag kasher ve-sameach!
 
NOTES: There are two shitot regarding the zemanim relevant here, MA = Magen Avraham, and VG = Vilna Gaon
Tue, May 13 2025 15 Iyyar 5785