#17: Erev Pesach on Shabbat (Part 7)

1. On Shabbat that falls on Erev Pesach, challenges arise regarding how to fulfill the mitzvah of Seudah Shelishit/Shalosh Seudot (eating the third meal). This is because on Erev Pesach, one may not eat chametz after the fourth hour and one may not eat matzah all day. In addition, after the tenth hour, one may not eat other foods made from matzah that are permitted earlier in the day (e.g., cooked matzah dishes such as matzah balls and baked foods made with matzah meal) (Halichot Shlomo, Pesach, ch.8)) (Shulchan Aruch, O.C. 471:1). One option for fulfilling Seudah Shelishit is to eat it in the afternoon. One can eat fruits, vegetables, and shehakol foods, such as meat or chicken, eggs, fish, or cakes made of potato starch (Rema, O.C. 444:1). One may also eat permitted mezonot food (such as matzah balls and dishes) if one eats seudah shelishit before the tenth halachic hour of the day (approximately 4 p.m.) (Mishnah Berurah 444:8). For Sephardim, and Ashkenazim who are lenient to eat egg matzah until the tenth hour (see yesterday’s post), egg matzah and matzah ashira may also be used until the tenth hour. Some poskim permit eating cooked matzah (made by placing a whole matzah in boiling water or hot soup on the fire before Shabbat, removing the pot from the fire, and removing the matzah after the liquid cools somewhat) and reciting Hamotzi on it (Yechaveh Da’at 1:91; Magen Avraham 444:2), while many others do not recommend this (Ma’amar Mordechai, Moadim; Sha’ar Hatziun 444:1). Whatever one eats, one should make sure to have an appetite at night at the Seder.
2. A second option is to eat Seudah Shelishit in the morning, before the latest time for eating chametz, by using challah or egg matzah. Although Seudah Shelishit is normally eaten in the afternoon, a morning meal fulfills the mitzvah according to some opinions, which may be relied on in this situation (Mishnah Berurah 444:8). To do this, one should divide the morning Shabbat meal (discussed previously) into two parts. After the first part (which includes Hamotzi and a first course), recite Birkat Hamazon, take a break or take a walk for fifteen minutes (some say thirty minutes; see Piskei Teshuvot 444:6), and then recite Hamotzi again (before the latest time for chametz), and eat the rest of the meal. Many follow both approaches, dividing their morning seudah with bread or egg matzah into two, and also having a seudah in the afternoon without bread or egg matzah (Mishnah Berurah, ibid.).

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Dedicated by Fran Broder as a zechus for the hostages to be released safely to their families and may everlasting peace come to Eretz Yisrael in the merit of learning Hilchos Shabbos.