On Shabbat one should eat three meals. The Friday night and the Shabbat morning meals require kiddush with wine and two challot, lechem mishneh, and the third meal, Seuda Shlishit, requires lechem mishneh. The correct time for Seuda Shlishit is in the afternoon. But this year it will be Shabbat Erev Pesach and no chametz may be eaten after the fourth Halachic hour of the day. No problem. Let’s use matzah for Seudah Shlishit. But that cannot be done either because one may not eat kosher l’Pesach matzah on Erev Pesach and, though it is Shabbat, it is also Erev Pesach. So if you cannot use challot or matzah for Seudah Shlishit, what should you do?
It depends. If you are Ashkenazi, you have the following options. You may eat the Seuda Shlishit meal in the morning before the fourth halachic hour of the day with challot for lechem mishneh, and this is the way some poskim recommend it should be done. First you make kiddush and Netilat Yadayim for the Shabbat morning meal and eat a kezayit amount of challah. Then you immediately recite Birkat Hamazon, Grace After Meals. After a short break of about a quarter of an hour (if you are pressed for time, right after Birkat Hamazon), you wash your hands again for Seuda Shlishit, finish all of the bread and recite Birkat Hamazon again. Alternatively, Seuda Shlishit can be made in the afternoon with no bread and a small amount of cooked food or fruit. According to Rabbi Avigdor Nebenzahl of Jerusalem, one should do both in order satisfy the opinions of the authorities (Sefer Yeraiyim) who maintain that Seuda Shlishit with lechem mishneh is a Torah requirement and the authorities (Shulchan Aruch) who maintain that Seuda Shlishit must be eaten in the afternoon. In either case, the following procedures are recommended: The Shabbat meals, except for the challot and all utensils in which they are prepared, should be kosher l’Pesach. Small challah rolls or pita bread should be used for lechem mishneh because they can be entirely consumed. These challot should be kept under wraps, separate from the rest of the kosher l’Pesach surroundings. At the Shabbat morning meal(s), a separate disposable tablecloth should be used together with disposable plates and tableware for the challah. As soon as Kiddush and lechem mishneh for the Shabbat morning meal(s) are completed as described, the disposable tablecloth and plates should be discarded, and one should remove the crumbs from one’s clothes, rinse out one’s mouth and sweep the floor. Then one spreads out a new Pesach tablecloth, sets the table with kosher l’Pesach tableware and continues with the kosher l’Pesach meal. If one wishes to eat other chametz food with the challot, such food should be treated the same way as the challot. Rabbi Nebenzahl suggests that in public places, such as hotels or hospitals, where there is a danger that people who are unaware of the Halachot may inadvertently violate the laws of Pesach, the following procedure may be adopted: Instead of challot, kosher l’Pesach matzot may be used for all three meals in the following way: On Friday night, one may wash and say Birkat Hamazon three times, in the way described above, thereby fulfilling the mitzvah of the three meals all on Friday night.
If you are Sephardi and follow the ruling of the Mechaber, which requires Seudah Shlishit to be eaten on Shabbat afternoon, the following alternatives are available: Egg matzah may be used for lechem mishneh, provided this is done early so that kosher l’Pesach matzah will be eaten with appetite at the Seder. Alternatively, one may cook kosher l’Pesach matzah in kosher l’Pesach soup before Shabbat and when it has cooled off on Shabbat, one lifts it out of the pot and uses it for lechem mishneh.
Shacharit is recited early and as expeditiously as possible, so that all chametz can be eaten by the fourth Halachic hour of the day. Other differences to keep in mind when Erev Pesach is on Shabbat are as follows. Bedikat chametz— searching for the chametz— and Bitul chametz— nullifying the chametz by reciting Kol Chamira— are performed on the night preceding the 13th day of Nissan. Biyur chametz— burning the chametz— is performed without reciting Kol Chamira on Friday, the 13th day of Nisan, before noon. Any chametz to be used for Shabbat should be kept separate, and if possible, Rabbi Nebenzahl suggests it be kept together with the chametz sold for Pesach. After the Shabbat morning meal(s) are eaten and the remnants of the chametz are discarded, but not later than the fifth Halachic hour of the day, the chametz is again nullified by the recital of Kol Chamira. Seder preparations should be completed before Shabbat. These include: roasting the shank bone and egg, mixing the salt water, making the charoset, grating the horseradish and checking the lettuce for insects (Rav Dovid Feinstein). In view of the fact that one may not prepare on Shabbat for Yom Tov, the Seder table should be set after Shabbat ends. Because of the differing opinions in many of these matters, please consult your rabbi.
Raphael Grunfeld, a partner at the Wall Street law firm of Carter Ledyard & Milburn LLP, received Semichah in Yoreh Yoreh from Mesivtha Tifereth Jerusalem of America and in Yadin Yadin from Harav Haga’on Dovid Feinstein, zt”l. This article is an extract from Raphael’s book “Ner Eyal: A Guide to Seder Nashim, Nezikin, Kodashim, Taharot and Zerai’m” available for purchase at www.amazon.com/dp/057816731X or by e-mailing Raphael at [email protected].
