When Shabbat Meets Passover
Guidelines help explain why the first night of Passover is even more different this year.
SHELLI LIEBMAN DORFMAN
Staff Writer
s if getting ready for Passover weren't dif-
ficult enough, this year's holiday involves
the complication of beginning just as
Shabbat ends.
Preparations and rules specific to this situation
involve the days leading up to and including the
first seder, which begins Saturday night, April 23.
• Pre Passover Measures: Observances that
lead up to the holiday are typically performed
one day early. Searching for chametz (leaven)
takes place Thursday night and burning the
chametz is done on Friday morning.
According to Rabbi Elimelech Silberberg of
the Sara Tugman Bais Chabad Torah Center,
"Technically, chametz can be burned later in the
day on Friday, but we
usually try to stay with
the tradition of doing it
in the morning."
In the same light, the
rabbi said, "It is OK to
eat chametz during the
day on Friday, since
Pesach doesn't really
start until Saturday, but
we usually stop Friday
morning."
• Shabbat Plans:
While
normally the day
Rabbi Silberberg
of the first seder is
spent cooking, cleaning
and shopping, this year that day is Shabbat, and
those who are Shabbat observant do not make any of
those preparations on the day of rest.
"To get ready for the holiday while it is still
Shabbat would be an insult to Shabbat," Rabbi
Silberberg said. "When Shabbat ends, then we can
start to get the meal ready and set the table for the
seder."
Food for the seder, however, can be cooked before
Shabbat and stored until the seder meal.
• Making Havdalah: Instead of making Havdalah
right at the end of Shabbat, Rabbi Silberberg said, "It
is piggybacked as part of the Kiddush during the
seder," he said. "But without the use of spices. The
reason we have spices after Shabbat is that we believe
that when Shabbat comes, we are all given an extra
dimension of spirituality. So when it ends, the spices
are like smelling salts that strengthen us as that extra
dimension is leaving us."
On a holiday, though, he said, "We maintain that
high level of spirituality for a time, so we don't need
the spices as a symbolic way to perk us up."
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4/14
2005
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A seder table
Unlike the Havdalah service on a typical Saturday
night, during the seder no Havdalah candle is used.
"Because you cannot extinguish a flame on the holi-
day, if a Havdalah candle is lit, it would have to stay
lit until it burned all the way down," Rabbi
Silberberg said. "So instead, when it comes to the
part of Havdalah where we are supposed to look at
the candle, we look instead at the yom toy (holiday)
candles that are already lit."
• Matzah Versus Challah: While typically challah
is eaten during the Shabbat meal, according to Rabbi
Silberberg, there are two traditions followed regarding
its consumption when Shabbat begins after the house
has been readied for Passover.
"Even though the meal is prepared without
chametz and the dishes that are used are Passover
dishes, those who want to eat challah still can, if they
eat it away from the table — and very carefully,"
Rabbi Silberberg said. "They should make sure that
any crumbs fall into a small, plastic bag, which later
should be flushed down the toilet."
The more common choice, he said is to eat egg
matzah, which is not permitted for consumption on
Passover — except in cases of the infirm — but is not
considered chametz. Regular matzah, he said, should
be saved for when Passover actually starts, so that it is
something that is anticipated.
❑
The situation of what to do when Shabbat is
immediately followed by the start of Passover
involves enough complexities that it was the
topic of a late March meeting of the rabbis of
the Orthodox Union (OU) and the Rabbinical
Council of America at their annual Passover
Seminar for Rabbis.
The seminar was archived on the OU Web
site www.ou.org/chagim/pesach/ourcapesach-
seminar65.htm or is available until the begin-
ning of Passover for $5 by calling Zalman
Umlas at (718) 252-5274.