Can a nurse aide (gentile) sit at the Seder table with her patient? Can she also partake of the meal being presented?

Question:

1. Can a nurse aide (gentile) sit at the Seder table with her patient?
2. Can she also partake of the meal being presented?

Answer:

1. Regarding having a gentile at the seder table, I don’t know of any problem with this, however the gentile should not be given from the matzoh of mitzvah or from the matzoh of afikomon.
2. The halachos of yom tov differ from shabbos in a number of ways. One of them is that we allowed to cook on yom tov for the yom tov meal. This only applies to cooking for Jew, who is eating yom tov meal, cooking for a gentile however is not permitted because it is doing melacha for a non yom tov purpose, since the gentile doesn’t have yom tov. In addition to this, chazal forbade inviting a gentile guest for the yom tov meal, because we may come to cook extra for him, and thereby transgress a biblical prohibition. However a gentile that is in the house anyways would not have this prohibition, and he may partake in the meal. Regarding preparing for the aide, it it permitted to prepared for them before yom tov. However on yom tov itself it would only be permitted to add extra to a pot of food in a way that you are not doing anything extra for the gentile’s food, i.e. when putting the food together in one pot. It would not be permitted to add to the pot after it was put up to cook, or to cook foods that are done individually, such as frying cutlets, or baking rolls. .

Sources:

1. Taz O:CH 167- 18, Kaf Hachaim ibid 140, Nitei Gavriel Pesach 90-20.
2. O:CH  512-1, M:B ibid 11 12.