|
Ohev Shalom Congregation
Pesach 5768
Erev Pesach On Shabbos:
How And Why Is This Year Different From All Years
This year Erev Pesach occurs on Shabbos. As a result, the order of preparation differs from all other years as follows:
The fast of the first-born cannot take place on Shabbos. Since it will not be held on it proper day, we will not hold it on Friday. The fast is then scheduled for Thursday. The first-born have an alternative to fasting: by attending a Siyum and participating in the feast of concluding a volume of learning, they may avoid the fast. The siyum will be held on Thursday morning after Shachris.
The search for Chometz which must ordinarily take place the night before Erev Pesach cannot be done on Friday night. It must be done on Thursday night. The declaration of relinquishing unknown Chometz property is to be done right after the search.
Chometz should be burned on Friday morning before noon.
The entire house must be cleaned for Pesach and all Chometz and Chometz utensils must be taken away before Shabbos sets in. We are not allowed to eat Matzah on Erev Pesach. This presents a problem for the Friday night and Shabbos morning meals at which we are required to eat some form of bread. For this we have two alternatives:
1) Leave over small Chalos just enough for the size of an egg for each family member for each meal. The morning meal should be eaten before 11:00 AM away from the Pesach table over some paper. One must be very careful no to allow any crumbs to spread about. Crumbs should be flushed down the toilet.
2) It is our custom not to eat egg matzoh on Pesach. We can use egg matzoh for the Sabbath meals before eleven o’clock AM We can recite a Motzi if each person eats at least two whole egg matzohs.
The declaration of relinquishing Chometz, known or unknown should be made Shabbos morning before 12 noon.
|
