When the second day of Rosh Hashanah falls on Friday, as it does this year (the first day never does), a special procedure is required. While cooking is prohibited on Shabbat, it is permitted on weekday festivals… but we may only cook food that is to be eaten on that same festival day. Given that constraint, when is food for Shabbat to be prepared?
Our practice is symbolically to begin preparation of Shabbat food before the onset of Rosh Hashanah (or other festivals that fall on Friday). We do this by creating an “Eruv Tavshilin.” We cook a dish before the festival; this dish, accompanied by a baked item, is set aside until Shabbat. My own practice is to make the Eruv Tavshilin using a hard-boiled egg and a slice of Matzah. Through this rabbinic “loop-hole,” cooking for Shabbat may continue on the festival – Rosh Hashanah – itself. Upon assembling the Eruv, a blessing and accompanying statement of intention are recited: these are readily found toward the beginning of any traditional Passover Haggadah… as, too, in many prayerbooks.
Eruv Tavshilin is especially meaningful in conjunction with Rosh Hashanah: it expresses our commitment to the sanctity of the weekly Sabbath… not to be overshadowed by the hoopla of the High Holy Days.
Shanah Tovah… and Bon Appétit!
Rabbi Joseph H. Prouser is the rabbi of Temple Emanuel of North Jersey and the editor of “Masorti: The New Journal of Conservative Judaism.”
When the second day of Rosh Hashanah falls on Friday, as it does this year (the first day never does), a special procedure is required. While cooking is prohibited on Shabbat, it is permitted on weekday festivals… but we may only cook food that is to be eaten on that same festival day. Given that constraint, when is food for Shabbat to be prepared? 