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Preparing For Motzei Shabbos On Shabbos

Question:

What can I do towards the evening as Shabbos is leaving to prepare for the night? May I bring a tallis from my study to the living room for the shaliach tzibbur to wear for maariv? May I bring a megilloh from home for the megilloh reading in shul?

Answer:

  1. One is not allowed to prepare from one day to the next. That means from before shkia to anytime after shkia, certainly not for a time after tzeis.
  2. One cannot prepare from bein hashemoshos for a time after tzeis, since it is possible thatbein hashemoshos is day and after tzeis is surely night.
  3. Shkia is defined as sunset and tzeis is when 3 stars are out. In between that is bein hashemoshos.
  4. Bein hashemoshos may be day, may be night, or is a safek day\night. Those are 3 distinct possibilities. The third possibility is that the period of bein hashemoshos is one of transition between day and night and is a period in itself, so that the day is divided into 3 parts. There is an opinion that the third period is part day, part night and we don’t know when the transition is.
  5. Can one prepare from bein hashemoshos to a later time in bein hashemoshos? Is that possibly preparing from one day to the next? If all bein Hashemashos is day, it is permitted. If it is all night it is permitted. If it is a class in itself of safek, it should be permitted. However, it might be part day and part night and we don’t know when the transition is, in which case it should be assur. But since the gemara raises many possibilities as to what bein hashemoshos is, it is considered a safek. Rav Shlomo Z. Aurebach (S.S.K. 28: note 159) is lenient in this instance. Perhaps the reason is because there are so many possibilities for heter, and the issur is derabbonon, he is meikal.
  6. Then, one cannot prepare from before sunset to after sunset, or from bein hashmoshos to after tzeis, but one is allowed to prepare in between shkia and tzeis.
  7. There are many opinions when tzeis is. Tzeis could be 27 minutes, 30, 33, 43, 72, minutes after shkia. Therefore, using similar logic, I think one could prepare from after 27 minutes for a time after that, since 3 medium stars are out by then, it may be from night to night. It also may be from bein hashemoshos to bein hashmoshos, and both of those are permitted. There is only a small chance that it is from bein hashemoshos to night, and therefore, it surely should be muttar to bring the tallis from your room after 27 minutes to be used before 33 minutes. You cannot bring the tallis before 27 minutes post shkia into the living room to be used for maariv.

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