Regarding one law that is applicable this year. Because the holiday is falling out on a Thursday and Friday, and we’re going straight into Shabbat, Halacha does tell us that it is forbidden to cook from Yom Tov to Shabbat. Even though Friday is Yom Tov and we are allowed to cook according to the Halachot of Yom Tov, but one would not be allowed to prepare the food on Friday for the Friday night Shabbat, unless one prepared Eruv Tavshilin on Erev Pesach, which this year would be Wednesday. Wednesday before the holiday, Halacha says; you take a slice of Matzah that at least has the shiur of a kezayit and you take a hard boiled egg, and make sure its cooked well, and you place them on the side, and you make the Beracha, "Asher Kidishanu Bemitzvotav Vitsivanu Al Mitzvat Eruv", and then you recite; "Biden Eruva….", ‘With this Eruv that I am making, it would be permissible for me to cook, and to bake, and to carry, and to do all my needs for Yom Tov to Shabbat.’ So Eruv Tavshilin is vital in order to make those preparations. Now, it should be pointed out, Eruv Tavshilin while it helps you for Friday to Shabbat, it does not help from one Yom Tov to the next. This means, if let’s say, someone is having a Seder by their home on Thursday night, which is the 2nd night of Yom Tov, and now they want to start preparing Thursday afternoon, cooking the rice, and preparing some of the foods, so that when the people come home Thursday night its all ready- It’s Forbidden. We’re not allowed to prepare from one Yom Tov to another! We must wait until its dark outside, and then you can start cooking for the holiday. So this Eruv only allows you to start preparing food Thursday night or Friday for the Shabbat meal. Of course the cooking and the preparations have to be finished obviously before Shabbat.
Now, in the event one forgets to make the Eruv Tavshilin, Halacha tells us that the Rabbi of the City, of every city knowing that people forget or don’t know, he has in mind when he makes his Eruv to include all the dwellers in the city. So Bediavad, if you forgot to make Eruv Tavshilin, you’re still OK, as you can rely on the Rabbi’s Eruv. However, you cannot rely on the Rabbi’s Eruv Lachatchila. Which means you can’t say; ‘I’m not making an Eruv, and I’m too busy, and I’m relying on the Rabbi’s.’ That does not work. It only works in the case where you made a mistake, or you forgot or there were circumstances where you couldn’t do the Eruv.
Of course you place the Eruv in a safe place and Halacha says you have to be careful that you don’t eat it until after you finish your cooking on Friday for Shabbat. Halacha says, let’s say you ate or somebody ate it, then now your Eruv is invalid, so either you have to rely on the Rabbi’s Eruv, or Halacha says you can make Eruv Tavshilin on the 1st day of Yom Tov. It’s an interesting Case. Let’s say you remember on the 1st day of Yom Tov, this year being Thursday that you didn’t make Eruv Tavshilin, you could then still make it. However, you have to say the following condition. The condition is we have 2 days of Yom Tov, and Yom Tov is really on Thursday or on Friday. We keep 2 days out of Safek, but one of the days is actually Yom Tov and one of the days is really Chol, so we make the following condition: ‘If today is Yom Tov, and therefore I would not be allowed to make an Eruv on Yom Tov, then no problem, because you don’t need an Eruv, because tomorrow, Friday would really be a weekday, and you’re allowed to cook a weekday to Shabbat. So again, if today is Yom Tov, then you really don’t need an Eruv. However, if today is Chol, then you’re allowed to make an Eruv, and then you make the Eruv, so that Friday you can cook for Shabbat, and when tomorrow is Yom Tov, so therefore you make this condition. Once you make this condition the Eruv then works even on Yom Tov Rishon (1st day), but you do not make a Beracha.
Halacha says when should you eat the Eruv? Preferably you eat it on Shabbat, and the custom is to eat at Seudat Shelishit. You take the Matzah and the egg in order to do another Mitzvah. The Gemarah says that since you’re doing one Mitzvah, you want to recycle it and do another Mitzvah. Again you should remind the ladies or the men, as its not specifically a lady’s item, that one should prepare the Eruv Tavshilin on Wednesday afternoon, and one should set it aside and fulfill this most important Mitzvah.
It’s a trivia question - What’s the only Beracha that Lechatchila, you could only make on a Wednesday? And that’s the Beracha of Al Mitzvat Eruv.
