While the first Seder (or the only seder in Israel) CAN happen on a Saturday night, it is not a common occurrence. It only happens 11 or 12 times in a century. The last time it happened was in 2021; the next time after 2025 will be 2045.[i]
This article provides an overview of how this happens and what changes are made to observance when the holiday follows Shabbat so that everyone can enjoy their Passover holiday while understanding what changes are made and how and why this can even happen.[ii]
How can Passover start on a Saturday night?
To understand how Passover can start on a Saturday night, we need to have a short primer on the Jewish calendar. The Jewish calendar is lunisolar. This means that we use lunar months, but we align them with the solar year.[iii] This is why our holidays will fall out on different secular dates each year. To keep the two cycles aligned, we add an extra month into our calendar 7 times out of every 19 years.[iv] In those years, an extra month, Adar I, is added to the calendar.[v]
This, however, was not exactly enough to “fix” the calendar, so two months in the year, Heshvan and Kislev, are variable in length; they can either be 29 or 30 days, while all the other months are always 29 or 30 days.
Between the variable months and the leap years, we can keep the two calendars well aligned. However, there are a few more problems.
The first day of Rosh Hashana cannot occur on a Sunday, Wednesday, or Friday. If it were to occur on a Sunday, then Hoshana Rabba would fall on Shabbat, and there are practices for this day that are forbidden on Shabbat. If Rosh Hashana were to occur on a Wednesday or a Friday, then Yom Kippur would either precede or follow Shabbat, and the Rabbis did not want to have two Shabbat days in a row.[vi]
We know that Rosh Hashana can only start on four of the seven days of the week: Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. We also know that from Tevet to the following Tishrei, there are a fixed number of days. It follows, then, that all of the other holidays can also only start on four of the seven days. And since the number of days is fixed, we can calculate which days of the week on which all the other holidays can start. For example, Yom Kippur can only occur on Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday, and Monday. Passover can only begin on a Thursday, Tuesday, Saturday, or Sunday. And since we begin our festivals on the evening before, the (first) seder can only occur on Wednesday night, Monday night, Friday night, or Saturday night. Passover must be able to begin on a Saturday night to preserve the other holidays as the rules dictate.
What is different when Passover begins on Saturday night?
There are three major changes with regard to Passover beginning on Saturday night: the fast of the firstborn, the search for hametz, and eating three meals on Shabbat. The first two are fairly simple, the third is much more complicated.
- The Fast of the Firstborn
The most authoritative source on Jewish practice, that is almost universally accepted by the Jewish community is the Shulhan Arukh, written by Rabbi Yosef Karo in Tzfat in 1563.
The Shulhan Arukh (470:1) tells us that firstborn children (whether firstborn of the father or mother) should fast on Erev Pesah. In his commentary called the Mishna Brurah[vii], Rabbi Yisrael Meir HaCohen Kagen (also known as the Chofetz Haim) explains that the fast is in memory of the miracle when the firstborn of the Israel was spared from the tenth plague in Egypt. Ashkenazim and most Sephardim do the fast on Thursday, while some Sephardim will not fast at all.
Of course, the fast is generally avoided by attending a seudat mitzvah, a meal that accompanies the performance of certain mitzvot. A Brit Milah or Pidyon HaBen would be good examples. So is the completion of studying a tractate of Talmud or a seder of Mishna. Most synagogues today will arrange for someone to spend some time studying so they will complete the study in time to finish on Erev Pesah. A small meal will be prepared so that those who are present may eat, and that will allow them to eat for the rest of the day.
- Search for Hametz
The Mishna (Pesahim 1:1) tells us that on the evening of the 14th of Nissan, we search for Hametz in our homes by candlelight. The Mishna Brurah (431:1:3) adds that we search with the use of the candle at night because the candle is “brighter” at night (it lights up a location when there is no other ambient light), and it forces us to look closely in cracks and crevices.
Since the time for the search is the night before the seder, when the seder is on Saturday night, we would have to do the search on Friday night after dark. We cannot do the search then because it is already Shabbat. The search is pushed back to Thursday night. We say the blessing over the search and recite the correct formula for the search as we do in any other year.
Normally, the time for burning the Hametz would be before the sixth hour on the day of the seder. The “hour” in this case is proportional, 1/12th of the daylight hours in the day. For this year (2025) in the New York area that would be at 11:54 am on Saturday. We cannot burn the Hametz at this time because it is Shabbat. So, we also move that back and burn the Hametz on Friday. Technically, we could burn the Hametz all day on Friday, but to make things no different from every other year, we burn the Hametz before the correct time on Friday (11:54 am this year in the New York area).[viii] We do not, however, recite the nullification that one would say at the time of burning because we can still have some hametz left over for Shabbat dinner. If you choose to have challah or other hametz for Shabbat dinner, it must be carefully kept separate from everything in the house that is already ready for Pesah. In my home we do eat bread for this meal. We will use a disposable tablecloth and paper plates etc. When we finish the meal, we carefully roll up the tablecloth and put it in the trash. Egg matzah is also permitted for this so as not to eat regular matzah before the Seder. So, we say the nullification paragraph on the day of the seder before the sixth hour as in any other year.[ix] This year, this will be said on Shabbat morning.
- Shabbat Meals
The question of how to eat Shabbat meals when erev Pesah is on Saturday is a little complex.[x] We cannot eat hametz on erev Pesah after the 4th hour. We also cannot eat Matzah after the 9th hour[xi]. Most authorities have extended this to the entire day before the seder. We are also supposed to have three meals on Shabbat with bread. How to do this is the question we will try to answer.
In a teshuva[xii], Rabbi David Golinkin brings five different ways that one can deal with Shabbat meals in this situation. Briefly, these possibilities are, 1) ignoring the custom of not eating Matzah on erev Pesah, 2) leave out enough bread for Shabbat dinner and Shabbat lunch (which will have to be before the end of the 4th hour) and eat egg matzah for Seudah Shlisheet, 3) soaking the matza in hot soup or broth, letting the soup cool with the matza in it, and then taking the matza out to use for the three meals, 4) preparing some matza before Shabbat with the intention that it is not fit for the seder, and 5) using egg matza. The first choice is not valid. All Rabbis agree that we cannot eat Matzah on Erev Pesah. While it may be a custom (the Halakha only said we cannot eat Matza after the 9th hour), it is a VERY strong custom. All the other choices are valid for what we can do. Rabbi Golinkin prefers the final choice of eating egg matzah.
Rabbi Golinkin suggests that you can even use egg matzah for Seudah Shlisheet. In the Shulhan Arukh, Rabbi Isserles, in his additions for the Ashkenazic world, suggests not having any bread at Seudah Shlisheet in this case and only having fruits, meat, or fish.
When the seder is on Saturday night, there is also the issue of preparing for the seder. We are not permitted to prepare for a Yom Tov on Shabbat. So that means that all of the cooking and seder preparations must be completed before Shabbat. In other years, the Shulhan Arukh tells us that we should have the table prepared for Seder during the day so that we can begin the seder as soon as possible after nightfall.[xiii] When the seder begins on Saturday night, we could set the table on Friday before Shabbat, but that would be impractical, especially if one needs to have their Shabbat meals at the table. The Sephardic sage Rabbi Chaim Palachi of Smyrna wrote in the 18th Century that it is permissible to set the table on Shabbat after midday. He reasoned that setting the table before Shabbat would take up space where people sleep. Today, when we have larger homes, perhaps a bigger issue is that if we have to wait until after Shabbat to set the table, it will push the start of the seder later, which is difficult for families.[xiv]
Rabbi Shimon Grunfeld of Hungary (1860-1930) agrees with the idea of preparing the table on Shabbat, but explains that this is because waiting until after Shabbat will not only make the holiday observance more difficult because of the hour, but it will make our Shabbat observance worse because we will be worrying about it during Shabbat.[xv]
We cannot light candles (from an existing flame since we are going from Shabbat to Yom Tov), say Kiddush, or eat Matzah and Maror until Shabbat ends, which will be around 8:15 pm in the New York area. Many observant people have family coming to their seders who are not observant and would prefer starting things earlier. When it is not Shabbat, some sources will permit the Seder to begin early, up to an hour and fifteen minutes before Sundown. However, on Shabbat, that is problematic because you cannot light the Yom Tov candles until Shabbat is over. My family has adopted a change in what we do to make it easier for guests. We start our evening with Seudah Shlisheet and serve some chicken soup and a fish course before the seder begins. This serves to give our guests some food in their bellies (without matzah) and allows us to start earlier. By the time we have cleaned up from Seudah Shlisheet, it will be time to say Kiddush and start the seder. We have even gone as far as serving the entire meal (without matzah) as Seudah Shlisheet to start even earlier if young children are coming to the seder. At Shulhan Orekh, in the seder we would eat dessert.
Finally, there is a change in the Pesah Kiddush because we have the addition of a special Havdalah to mark the change from Shabbat to Pesah. The Rabbis created a mnemonic for us to remember the order of the Kiddush blessings: YaKNehaZ. This stands for Yayin, Kiddush, Ner, Havdalah, and Zman.
Yaiyn – We say the blessing over the wine, “borei pri hagafen”.
Kiddush – We say the Passover Kiddush blessing “asher bachar banu…”
Ner – We say the blessing for the Havdalah candle, “borei m’orei ha’esh.”
Havdalah – We recite a special Havdalah paragraph that is only said when either the holiday begins on Saturday night (this can only happen on Passover) or outside of Israel, when the 2nd night of the holiday is Saturday night (on Sukkot, Simaht Torah, or Pesah). Rather than saying “hamavdeil bein kodesh l’hol”, who separates between the holy day and the weekday, we say “hamavdeil bein kodesh l’kodesh”, who separates between one holy day and another holy day.
Z’man – We say the blessing “she’hekhyanu” to mark the special time in our yearly cycle.
[i] In the 20th century, it happened in 1903, 1910, 1923, 1927, 1930, 1950, 1954, 1974, 1977, 1981, and 1994. In the 21st century, it happened (or will happen) in 2001, 2005, 2008, 2021, 2025, 2045, 2048, 2052, 2072, 2075, 2079, and 2099.
[ii] For a very comprehensive article including many relevant Jewish text citations, please see “What should we do when Erev Pesah fall on Shabbat” by Rabbi David Golinkin, which in turn reproduces two previous excellent papers on the same topic by Rabbi Golinkin’s father and grandfather.
[iii] For a full explanation of the Jewish calendar, I hope to publish an article on this topic soon.
[iv] In the 19 19-year cycle, the leap years are the 3rd, 6th, 8th, 11th, 14th, 17th, and 19th years.
[v] Adar II takes on all the aspects of the regular month of Adar from non-leap years.
[vi] Yom Kippur is called “Shabbat Shabbatot” the Sabbath of Sabbaths. On the other festivals (Rosh Hashana, Sukkot, Pesah, and Shavuot) one is permitted to cook for the holiday on the holiday, but not on Shabbat or Yom Kippur.
[vii] Many in the Orthodox world will consider the Mishna Brurah to be the “Posek Aharon” or the final Halakhic decisor. Meaning that his rulings are the final say, and any responsa from this camp will generally use his rulings. Another work called the Arukh HaShulhan, by Yechiel Michel Epstein, written slightly later than the Mishna Brurah and more complete, is the other competing work to be seen as the final word.
[viii] Mishna Brurah 444:2:9
[ix] Mishna Brurah 444:6:22
[x] For a comprehensive examination of this topic, see the teshuva from Rabbi David Golinkin, “What should we do when Erev Pesah falls on Shabbat”.
[xi] Shulhan Arukh 471:1
[xii] ibid
[xiii] Shulhan Arukh 472:1
[xiv] For a discussion of these sources, see “Starting the Seder Early and Preparing on Shabbat and Yom Tov” at Sefaria
[xv] ibid