One-Page Learn · The Halachos at a glance
הִלְכוֹת שְׁבִיתַת יוֹם טוֹב
Shevitat Yom Tov · Chapter 6
Sefer Zemanim · The eruv tavshilin, cooking for Shabbat on a festival, and the anatomy of festival joy
1 olive
The whole measure of an eruv tavshilin
1000
People covered by that single olive-sized portion
½ + ½
The festival day: half to God, half to yourselves
30
Days before a festival: no scheduled eulogies
Part 1The eruv tavshilin
- The problem. When a festival falls on Friday, the Sages forbade cooking on it for Shabbat - lest one conclude he may also cook on a holiday for a weekday. (6:1)
- The device. Set aside a portion of cooked food before the holiday; Shabbat cooking is then a continuation of what was begun. It creates a distinction, like the eruv of courtyards - hence its name. (6:1-2)
- An olive suffices. One olive-sized portion of cooked food (not bread or grain) - meat, fish, egg, even lentils from the bottom of the pot or fat scraped from the roast knife - covers one person or a thousand. Roasted, stewed, pickled, or smoked all count. (6:3-4)
- With a blessing. One blesses "on the mitzvah of eruv" and declares: with this eruv I may bake and cook tomorrow, on the holiday, for the Sabbath - naming those included, or the whole city. (6:8)
RememberOne olive of forethought set out the day before permits an entire city to cook.
Part 2Sharing it, losing it, lacking it
- One for many. A person may establish an eruv for others - even a whole city and its limits - by granting them a share in it through another person, as with the eruvin of Shabbat. (6:6-7)
- It must survive. The eruv must last until the Shabbat cooking is done; if eaten or lost first, no new cooking - though a dough or dish already begun may be finished. (6:5)
- No eruv, no flour. One who made no eruv may not cook for Shabbat, and even his provisions are bound - a neighbor may cook for him only after ownership of the food is transferred to the neighbor. (6:9)
- No conditions today. In the era of the fixed calendar the second festival day is custom, not doubt - so the Rambam rules one may no longer establish an eruv conditionally on the first day; and on Rosh HaShanah, never. (6:11-15)
RememberThe eruv is intention made visible - it works for a whole city, but only while it exists.
Part 3The joy of the day
- Honor and delight. The festivals carry the Sabbath's obligations of honor and delight; from mid-afternoon before, one should not sit down to a significant meal, so the holy day is greeted with appetite. (6:16)
- Joy has an address. Children get roasted seeds, nuts, and sweets; women, clothes and jewelry as one can afford; men, meat and wine. No fasting or eulogies all festival long. (6:17-18)
- Open the gate. One must feed the convert, the orphan, the widow, and the poor; who locks his courtyard and feasts only with his family - that is not the joy of mitzvah but "the rejoicing of his gut." (6:18)
- Joy with a shape. Half the day to God (prayer and study), half to yourselves; drunkenness and levity are not rejoicing but foolishness, and courts post officers on festival afternoons to keep celebration from sliding into sin. (6:19-21)
- Grief stands down. On Chol HaMoed no mourning rites, no eulogy after burial; and one should clear grief from his heart before the festival and turn his attention to joy. (6:22-24)
RememberSame table, same wine - the open or locked gate decides whether it is the joy of heaven or the rejoicing of the gut.