Pesach Halacha How-Tos

Updated March 2025

Here's a perennial Pre-Pesach question: If I am leaving town before Pesach, what are my obligations relative to Bedikat Chametz (the search for chametz)? The answer is best understood if we first have clarity regarding the purpose of the search. (Or you can go straight to the “bottom line”, in bold below.)

The Torah applies an unusual degree of stringency to the prohibition of chametz. In addition to not eating chametz, we are also prohibited to own chametz.  By law, we can dispossess ourselves of our chametz and thus avoid the prohibition, merely by "nullifying" the chametz  through the recitation of the familiar formulae that we recite each year. (You can find them in the Siddur, or at the beginning of almost any Haggadah). However, the Talmudic sages obliged us to actually search for (and destroy) our chametz anyway, to address two concerns that they had.

They were concerned that if we failed to actually search our premises: (1) we might find chametz during Pesach and unthinkingly eat it before we remember that it's Pesach, and (2) our nullification might be less than whole-hearted if we suspect that there is actually still some valuable chametz in the house somewhere. Thus, the obligation to search on the night preceding Pesach.

However, given people's (apparently eternal) propensity to not be home for Pesach, the sages formulated the obligation so that it actually devolves upon us 30 days before Pesach. So as long as we are leaving fewer than 30 days before the chag, we are obligated to search, albeit without the bracha, on the night before we leave. This is true even if we will not be home at all over the course of Pesach (see concern #2 above.)

What’s the procedure if you are leaving town?  On your last night in town, you would use a candle as normal, and you would recite the regular “first ביטול“ (nullification of chametz) afterwards. The only difference is that you would not recite the bracha. You should make sure to burn or dispose of the chametz that you “found.” You should recite the final bittul on Erev Pesach as usual.

This year, instead of saying the “final bittul” on Erev Pesach, you should recite the final ביטול ON SHABBAT MORNING just prior to the time when we truly can’t possess chametz any longer (to check that time wherever you are, see the Pesach zmanim for your location here). 

To top

Updated March 2025

"HaMotzi" on Shabbat: 

Friday night there are three options. One is to use challah, but to clear the challah away before any of the “pesachdik” implements are brought to the table. One also needs to take great pains to ensure that the challah does not come into contact with any of the Pesach implements and to ensure that any remaining crumbs are confined, collected and ultimately gotten out of the house, and “disbursed into the wind”. Many also permit using the commode for this purpose.

Alternatively, we may use matzah instead of challah. The practice to refrain from eating matzah on Erev Pesach only begins at dawn on Erev Pesach.

If you have the custom to refrain from eating matzah even before Erev Pesach, you can also consider using egg matzah. The practice of refraining from matzah before Pesach only applies to matzah that could be used to fulfill the Mitzvah the night of the Seder. As egg matzah cannot halachikly be used to fulfill the Mitzvah, the customs about not eating matzah in advance of Pesach do not apply. (Please note that some authorities require us to eat at least “two egg’s worth” of egg matzah for it to qualify as ha-motzi.)

Shabbat morning is trickier. This is because regular matzah is prohibited all day, and is thus dropped from the list of options. Challah is still an option, with all of the cautions mentioned above, as long as you are done with it by 10:44 AM. Egg Matzah can also certainly be used until this time. 

Shabbat morning later than 10:44, as well as Seudah Shlishit:

Is “kosher l’Pesach” egg matzah still an option after 10:44?  For Ashkenazic Jews there is considerable debate around this question.

The Shulchan Aruch, representing Sefardic practice that regards kosher l’Pesach egg matza as simply being, well, kosher l’Pesach, explicitly recommends egg matzah for Seudah Shlishit, or for that matter, for a Shabbat lunch that takes place after 10:44).  

But the issue is more complicated for Ashkenazic Jews. Ashkenazic Jews follow the stringency articulated by Rama, to not consume even “kasher l’Pesach” egg matzah during Pesach, unless health concerns necessitate it. This is (probably) due to the off-chance that somehow some water had gotten into the dough while it was being kneaded, rendering that dough especially susceptible to becoming chametz. The question is whether this Ashkenazic “chumrah” (stringency) applies to Pesach only, or whether it kicks in hours earlier, i.e. at the time when we cease eating chametz on Erev Pesach.

In the section of the Shulchan Aruch discussing Erev Pesach on Shabbat, Rama recommends that “in our communities, where we don't eat egg matzah”, we should eat fruit, meat, or fish for Seudah Shlishit. Many authorities infer from this comment that Rama holds that the Ashkenazi “chumrah” about egg matzah is effective at the time that chametz becomes prohibited on Erev Pesach. And this represents the prevalent custom.

Others argue, however, that this is NOT what the Rama meant to imply. In other words, he wasn’t suggesting that we eat fish or fruit for Seudah Shlishit because egg matzah is forbidden by Shabbat afternoon, rather that since “in our communities we do not eat egg matzah” on Pesach, “kasher l’Pesach” egg matzah tends to simply be unavailable in “our communities”.  Aruch HaShulchan (444:5) understands Rama in exactly this way, and Rabbi Herschel Schachter has pointed out that in Rama’s own “Darkei Moshe Ha-Aruch,” he himself says exactly this.  According to these authorities then, using “kasher l’Pesach” egg matzah for either or both of Shabbat lunch and Seudah Shlishit is a fine option. Though this is not the prevalent custom, there are certainly circumstances in which it can be utilized. For example, Rabbi Dov Linzer writes that people who are always particular to have Seudah Shlishit with ha-motzi, should do so on Erev Pesach with kosher l’Pesach egg matzah.

Another possibility for Seudah Shlishit is the use of “mezonot”, i.e products that contain matzah meal, but are distinctly not “bread-like”, for example matzah balls, knaidlach and the like. (See Rama 471:2, Mishna Brura 19 & 20, and Sha’ar Hatziyon #16). 

One last note: if we are eating egg matzah or “mezonot” at Seudah Shlishit, we need to begin eating before 4:00 pm. This has nothing to do with the special circumstances of this year. This is a rule that pertains to every Erev Yom Tov and indeed every Erev Shabbat, that we don’t sit down to a meal too late in the day, lest we ruin our appetite for the holy dinner later that night. 

When Can Preparations Begin?  

No preparation that consists of melacha (e.g. cooking, grinding, lighting candles) can be performed until nightfall (8:02 PM this year). However, preparations that do not involve melacha and which are being done for the sake of a Mitzvah (e.g. setting the table for the Seder) can be performed after sundown (7:23 PM). This applies both as we go from Shabbat into Yom Tov, and as we go from the first day of Yom Tov into the second.

When to begin the Seder?

Thanks to daylight saving time, nightfall will be occurring rather late on the nights of the Sedarim this year. As is indicated on the BDJ Pesach schedule, we need to wait until nightfall (8:02 this year) to begin the Seder. (NOTE: Kiddush on the first night this year includes Havdalah. Your haggadah will have the text.)

This creates a potential problem relative to children’s participation in the Seder. By the time we reach the eating of matza and maror, they may already be asleep. Let me make the following suggestion if none of the more conventional solutions (e.g., afternoon naps) proves successful. Begin the seder promptly at 8:02 PM, but break the Magid section into 2 parts, with one part done before the meal, and the other part after. The pre-meal part should include the sections specified by the Talmud as the bare bones of the Magid. These sections are: • Mah Nishtana • Avadim Hayinu • At first our ancestors were idolaters • The section from “My father was a wandering Aramean,” through the ten plagues • From “Rabban Gamliel” to the end.  If this dividing of the Magid will enable the children to participate in matza and maror, it is well worth doing. If this too won’t do the trick, we would suggest a “model seder” for the kids before the officially appointed hour.

Halacha Q & A: When to start the Seder

Q: One of the key concepts of the Seder night is V'higadeta l'vincha - teaching your children. How do we reconcile this with the fact that we can't start Seder night until so late at night so that our children can't really attend it? While I understand the Halachic need to start after it gets dark, can one not start some parts earlier? Published March 2025

A: (RYK) This is indeed a vexing issue; one made worse by daylight savings time beginning before Pesach. 

The rabbinic source that is primarily responsible for the Seder only beginning after nightfall (i.e. not after sunset, but some 40 minutes later) is the Mechilta which we recite in the haggadah itself, that the Mitzvah to tell the story “does not begin on Rosh Chodesh” etc., rather when the Matzah and Marror are placed before you. The mitzvah of eating Matzah can for sure not be fulfilled before nightfall, and the Mechilta is tying the telling of the story, i.e the entire bulk of the Seder, to it. While halachic arguments have been made that items like Kiddush and karpas, and the breaking of the middle matzah can all be done before nightfall (see this wonderful essay) in truth, this would unfortunately only buy you a few minutes anyway. 

See above section on "When to Begin the Seder" for suggestions on what sections to focus on with children.

Q: This year, Seder falls on Motzai Shabbat, which means the Seder cannot begin until 8 pm. Our children go to bed at 7 and we are hosting secular Jewish family members (adults and kids) who would likely not have a Seder without us hosting, and would likely not come if we were to start after 8.

We were wondering if there's any way to do an "educational seder" as seudah shlishit early with the understanding that this will not fulfill the halachic obligation of the seder? Then, after 8pm, we would have a second, halachic seder for ourselves.

Specifically, one concern is around matzah: Could we have egg matzah in the seudah shlishit "educational seder"? Published March 2025

A: (RYK) Indeed, an important question. So, a few things that are relevant.

In the circumstances you describe it would be worthwhile to have an educational Seder for your kids and for your visiting family members. The trick is timing. As a general rule, we avoid starting meals on Erev Shabbat or Erev Yom Tov once we hit the tenth halachik hour of the day on Shabbat, which would be at 4:00 PM on Erev Pesach this year. We do this - in particular on Erev Pesach - in order to preserve our appetites, so that “we eat Matzah with appetite. So, you’d need to begin earlier than 4:00, and in the spirit of the law, finish before there be any doubt about having an appetite for Matzah later.

With regard to eating Kosher for Passover egg matzah at this hour, please see above section, "Shabbat morning later than 10:44, as well as Seudah Shlishit." If you feel that for the participants in the “early Seder” it would be educationally / spiritually meaningful to eat egg matzah, I think that you can rely on the lenient opinion. 

To top