We have mentioned that this year, 5781, Erev Pesach will coincide with Shabbat. We shall now discuss what one may eat for this coming Shabbat’s meals.
The Shabbat Night Meal
One may eat Chametz for the Shabbat night meal, for the time when Chametz becomes prohibited has not yet arrived. It is likewise permissible to eat Matzah during this meal, for when our Sages forbade eating Matzah on Erev Pesach, this only applies from the morning of the 14th of Nissan (i.e. Shabbat day); however, it is permissible to eat Matzah on the night of the 14th of Nissan.
The Shabbat Morning Meal
Nevertheless, on Shabbat morning, the time when Chametz becomes prohibited will already have arrived (in Jerusalem at approximately 10:15 AM and in New York at approximately 10:30 AM) and one may not eat Chametz during the Shabbat morning meal unless one wakes up early to pray at sunrise on Shabbat morning, in which case there will still be time to get home and have this meal with bread before the latest time to eat Chametz arrives. This is indeed the prevalent custom in many synagogues throughout the Jewish nation in that Shacharit prayers begin very early this Shabbat morning in order to have enough time to eat Chametz during the Shabbat morning meal. (However, eating Matzah during this meal is forbidden since eating Matzah becomes prohibited from sunrise on the morning of Erev Pesach.)
After the meal, one should be careful to store away the Chametz dishes in a designated area and shake out the Chametz crumbs into the trash can outside the house. One should also take care to clean up all Chametz crumbs throughout the house. If there are some pieces of bread left, one should either discard them in a public trash can, flush them down the toilet, or crumble up the pieces so that none of them contain a Kezayit and then discard it in one’s own trash can outside the house.
One must sweep the floor so that not even the smallest amount of Chametz remains and then throw out all these crumbs into the trash can. One should wash one’s hands and mouth well so that not even a crumb of Chametz remains.
After the meal and discarding the Chametz, one should renounce the Chametz by exclaiming: “Any Chametz which is in my possession, which I have seen or I have not seen, which I have destroyed or I have not destroyed, is hereby nullified and should be like the dust of the earth.”
In tomorrow’s Halacha, we will discuss some good ideas regarding this coming Shabbat’s meals.
