Question:
Shalom Rabbi,
I am writing regarding the upcoming Passover dates on the Hebrew calendar. This year Passover is preceded by Shabbat. Passover first night will be on a Saturday night when Shabbat ends. We have to burn the Chametz on Friday morning and then not eat any Chametz or matzah product until the Seder begins Saturday night. That means that the Shabbat dinner is without the challah. How would we do the hamotzi blessing for Shabbat dinner?
(We will obviously plan to do our cooking for both Shabbat and the Seder before the start of Shabbat on the Friday.) Please advise and wishing you all the best in the upcoming holiday.
Answer:
Hello,
This year, being that Erev Pesach is Shabbos, there are a number of things that we do differently than other years. One of them is that we will burn the chametz, on Friday, even though it isn’t yet erev Pesach, and we are still allowed to eat chametz. In fact, we have to still eat chametz, as we have to eat bread for the Friday night and Shabbos day meals. So, what we will do is, we burn and get rid of all chametz, except, that we leave over enough bread, for the first two Shabbos meals. (It is practical, to get small rolls or pitas). We will eat them very carefully, after washing Friday night and Shabbos day. We will also make sure to eat the Shabbos day meal early, before the and of the fourth hour of the day, (as we may not eat chometz after that time). Some people even try to eat Shalosh seudos, before this time, in order to wash and eat it with bread. Any leftovers from these rolls, will get taken out of the house, if you have an eruv, or crumbled and flushed down the toilet.
Regarding saying the declaration annulling all chametz that we own, during most years we say it after we burn the chametz, but this year, since we will still eat chametz, we won’t say it on Friday, rather after we have finished eating the chametz on Shabbos morning.
Yes, that Shabbos we will be off to an early start, but there will be plenty time to sleep after the early Shabbos meal(s).
Best wishes
