Erub Tabshilin

When Yom Tob falls on Ereb Shabbat – as it does on Pesah this year (5780/2020) in the Diaspora, when the first days of Pesah are Thursday and Friday – one must prepare an Erub Tabshilin before Yom Tob in order to permit cooking on Friday for Shabbat. Although cooking is allowed on Yom Tob, this is permitted only for the purpose of eating on Yom Tob itself; one is not allowed to cook on Yom Tob in preparation for the following day, unless he had prepared an Erub Tabshilin. Preparing an Erub Tabshilin entails setting aside one baked product – such as bread – and one cooked product – customarily, a boiled egg – before the onset of Yom Tob, designating them as food which will be eaten on Shabbat.

The Gemara in Masechet Besa (15) brings two views as to why the Sages required setting aside an Erub Tabshilin to permit cooking on Yom Tob in preparation for Shabbat. Rav Ashi maintained that the Sages instituted this requirement as a safeguard to prevent people from mistakenly cooking on Yom Tob for after Yom Tob. According to Rav Ashi, it is permissible, fundamentally, to cook on Yom Tob in preparation for Shabbat, but not in preparation for a weekday. In order to help ensure that people do not cook on Yom Tob in preparation for a weekday, the Sages forbade cooking on Yom Tob even for Shabbat without an Erub Tabshilin. Because of this prohibition, people will realize that if even preparing food for Shabbat is forbidden without an Erub Tabshilin, then certainly it is forbidden to prepare food for a weekday. According to Raba, however, the Erub Tabshilin requirement was instituted to ensure that people will not forget to leave over food for Shabbat. As people are busy preparing for Yom Tob, they might neglect Shabbat, and so the Sages required setting aside food already before Yom Tob for Shabbat.

The practical difference between these two views, as noted by the Rosh (Rabbenu Asher Ben Yehiel, 1250-1327), is the question of whether one must prepare the Erub Tabshilin specifically on Ereb Yom Tob, or if it is acceptable to prepare it even earlier. According to the first approach, the purpose of the Erub Tabshilin is to alert people to the prohibition against cooking food on Yom Tob for a weekday, and so it makes no difference whether the Erub Tabshilin is prepared on Ereb Yom Tob or earlier. Either way, the point is made that preparing on Yom Tob for a weekday is forbidden. If, however, the purpose is to remind people that they must prepare food for Shabbat, then it stands to reason that the Erub Tabshilin must be prepared specifically on Ereb Yom Yom Tob, while one prepares for Yom Tob, to remind him to prepare also for Shabbat.

As for the practical Halacha, the Shulhan Aruch (Orah Haim 527:14) rules that one should preferably prepare the Erub Tabshilin on Ereb Yom Tob, but if he did so earlier, then after the fact, it is valid, and he may then cook on Friday in preparation for Shabbat. Hacham Ovadia Yosef, in Hazon Ovadia (Hilchot Erub Tabshilin, 5), clarifies that one may prepare the Erub Tabshilin already the night of Ereb Yom Tob. He adds that if one prepared the Erub Tabshilin earlier, he should do so again on Ereb Yom Tob, though if he did not, then, as the Shulhan Aruch ruled, the Erub is nevertheless valid.

The Be’ur Halacha (Rav Yisrael Meir Kagan of Radin, 1839-1933) notes that it is preferable for the food used for the Erub Tabshilin to be made on Ereb Yom Tob. Although the Erub is valid if one selected a piece of bread and a boiled egg that were baked and cooked earlier, it is preferable to choose products that were made on Ereb Yom Tob. This might be difficult on Pesah, when most people use Masot which were baked well before Pesah, but at least the egg should, preferably, have been cooked on Ereb Yom Tob. This point is made also by Hacham Bension Abba Shaul (Israel, 1924-1998), in his Or Le’sion (vol. 3, 22:2), where he adds that it is preferable to use for the Erub Tabshilin products which were specifically made for the purpose of serving as the Erub Tabshilin.

The Gemara elsewhere (Masechet Pesahim) brings a different debate, as to whether the prohibition against cooking on Yom Tob in preparation or Shabbat applies on the level of Torah law, or was enacted by the Sages. Of course, the fact that the Sages instituted the Erub Tabshilin as a means by which cooking for Shabbat becomes permissible on Yom Tob would certainly suggest that the prohibition to begin with was enacted by the Sages. Otherwise, the Sages would not have been able to suspend a Torah prohibition through the institution of the Erub Tabshilin. However, according to one view brought by the Gemara, cooking on Yom Tob for Shabbat is forbidden in principle, but in practice, since it is possible that guests might arrive on Yom Tob, any cooking done on Yom Tob could, conceivably, end up having been done for the purpose of Yom Tob. Therefore, as a practical matter, cooking on Yom Tob for Shabbat, even according to this opinion, is forbidden only by the Sages, and they instituted the Erub Tabshilin as a means of circumventing this prohibition.

It turns out that according to this second opinion, even if one prepared an Erub Tabshilin before Yom Tob, he may cook on Yom Tob for Shabbat only if the food will be ready in time to potentially be used to serve guests on Yom Tob itself. If the food will not be ready in time, then such cooking is forbidden on Yom Tob, even if one had prepared an Erub Tabshilin.

This Halacha affects the preparation of Hamin for Shabbat lunch when Friday is Yom Tob. Generally, when one cooks on Friday, the food must either be cooked to the point where it is somewhat edible when Shabbat begins, or completely raw when Shabbat begins. Meaning, one must place the meat in the pot early enough in the day so it is somewhat cooked when Shabbat begins, or right before Shabbat begins. Given the concern that one may adjust the heat on Shabbat to accelerate the cooking, the Sages forbade leaving uncooked food over the fire on Shabbat, unless it is completely raw, such that one clearly has no intention of eating it until the following day. When Friday is Yom Tob, it would seem that one must utilize the first option. Since one may not cook on Yom Tob for Shabbat unless the food will be ready for guests during Yom Tob, it would appear that one may not put the Hamin in the pot raw right before Shabbat when Friday is Yom Tob.

This is, indeed, the Halacha. However, Hacham Bension writes that an exception could perhaps be made when Friday is Yom Tob Sheni – the second day of Yom Tob observed in the Diaspora. When Yom Tob is observed on Thursday and Friday, then there might be room to permit placing raw food on the fire right before Shabbat (assuming, of course, that one had prepared an Erub Tabshilin), since Yom Tob Sheni to begin with is observed by force of Rabbinic enactment. Torah law requires observing just one day, even the Diaspora, and it was the Sages who required observing a second day. Therefore, since cooking on Yom Tob Sheni for Shabbat to begin with is forbidden only Mi’de’rabbanan (by the Rabbis), there would be room to permit cooking for Shabbat on this second day even if the food will not be ready to be served until Shabbat.

Despite this line of reasoning, Hacham Bension writes that it is preferable to be stringent in this regard, and cook even on Yom Tob Sheni for Shabbat only if the food will be ready during Yom Tob.

Summary: When Yom Tob is on Friday, or Thursday and Friday, one must prepare an Erub Tabshilin before Yom Tob, which involves setting aside one baked product – such as a piece of bread – and one cooked product – customarily, a boiled egg – before the onset of Yom Tob, designating them as food which will be eaten on Shabbat. The Erub Tabshilin is required in order to permit cooking on Friday in preparation for Shabbat. One should prepare the Erub Tabshilin anytime from the night of Ereb Yom Tob until the onset of Yom Tob. Ideally, if possible, the products used for the Erub Tabshilin should have been baked and cooked that day, Ereb Yom Tob, specifically for the purpose of being used as the Erub Tabshilin. Nevertheless, an Erub Tabshilin is valid even if one chose a random piece of bread and boiled egg which had already been prepared earlier.

Even after preparing an Erub Tabshilin, one may cook on Friday for Shabbat only if the food will be ready during the day on Friday, but not if it will not be ready until Shabbat. Therefore, one who prepares Hamin on Friday for Shabbat when Friday is Yom Tob must do so early in the day, such that the Hamin is at least somewhat edible before Shabbat, and he may not place the food in the pot raw right before Shabbat.