Eruv Tavshilin

These Halachos of Eruv Tavshilin are based on the rulings of the Mishna Berura, reflecting Ashkenazi practice.

Introduction

• When Yom Tov falls on Erev Shabbos, it is forbidden to do melacha on Yom Tov to prepare for Shabbos, unless one makes an Eruv Tavshilin, details of which we will iyH go on to outline.
• Note that even if one has made Eruv Tavshilin, one should ensure that the preparations one carries out on Yom Tov for Shabbos are finished sufficiently in advance of Shabbos that there exists a possibility of benefitting from them on Yom Tov itself. In pressing circumstances, however, one may be lenient to prepare for Shabbos right until the end of Yom Tov (MB 527:3, BH”L D”H VeAl Yedei, SSK 2:14).  (see footnote for logic)
• Mitzvah to make: it is a mitzvah to make Eruv Tavshilin; as such even if one doesn’t anticipate needing to do any melacha on Yom Tov for Shabbos, one should still make an Eruv Tavshilin, but one may not make a bracha unless one plans to cook (to be explored more below iyH) (SA 527:7, PT 2).

The Food Used for the Eruv

• Bread and a cooked dish: If one wishes to be able to both bake and cook on Yom Tov for Shabbos, one should both designate some bread (corresponding to baking) and another cooked dish (corresponding to cooking) as one’s Eruv Tavshlin.
• If one does not plan to bake, it sufficies to have a cooked dish, but if one wishes merely to bake one cannot suffice with a baked dish (as the cooked dish is the primary component that Chazal instituted, as below)
• Only cooked dish: After the event, if one only designated a cooked dish not a baked one, one is permitted both to bake and cook (as the cooked dish is the primary part of Eruv Tavshlin).
  • Only bread: if one merely designated bread, one may neither bake nor cook (SA 527:2, MB 5-7)

• Quantity: whilst after the event it suffices if one designated a kezayis (olive-bulk; contemporary opions range from the size of modern olives to 50cc) of a cooked dish and a kezayis of bread, ideally one should use a kebeitza of bread (contemporary opinions about the size of a kebeitza vary between 50 and 100 cc). Furthermore, due to ‘hiddur mitzvah’ (beautifying the mitzvah) one should take a whole loaf (such as a whole challah or matzah) and sizeable portion of cooked for the Eiruv (SA 527:3, MB 8, SSK 2:12).
• Cooked food: for the ‘cooked’ food, one may use food which is typically served as a dish to accompany bread (rather than eaten as a full meal on its own), such as fish, meat or eggs. This food can be cooked, stewed, smoked, roasted or pickled (ie it doesn’t specifically have to be ‘cooked’) (SA 527:4-5, MB 11).
  • Stewed fruit: generally speaking stewed fruit isn’t considered food which is eaten to accompany bread (hence it requires its own bracha at dessert) so may not be used, except in a place where it is eaten to accompany bread (BH”L 527:5 D”H Tapuchim)
• Cooked on Erev Yom Tov: ideally one should cook the food one is planning to use in one’s Eruv specifically on Erev Yom Tov; however, if one prepared one’s food prior to this, after the fact one can use it for the Eruvo (BH”L 527:14, D”H Lechatchila, SSK 2:11)
• Cooked for the Eruv: it is optimal to use a food cooked specifically for the purposes of Eruv Tavshilin, (MB 527:20, BH”L D”H Adashim)

Who Makes the Eruv Tavshilin

• Each household should make its own Eruv Tavshilin (SA 527:7)
• The Rav: The Rav of a community/city, when making his own Eruv Tavshilin, also includes the other members of the community/city in his eiruv (we will not cover the details of how he does so here).
• Relying on the Rav’s Eruv: Therefore, if someone forgot or was unable to make the Eruv Tavshilin, they may rely on the Rav’s eruv to prepare on Yom Tov for Shabbos. However, if one forgot more than once (in one’s lifetime), one may not rely on the Eruv Tavshilin done by their Rav a second time, given their behaviour is deemed negligent in having forgotten a second time (SA 527:7, MB 22)
• Guests: if a family is staying at (and eating their meals with) another family over Yom Tov (be it married children with parents or other unrelated families), the custom is that only the head of the main household makes Eruv Tavshilin and all those staying in the home are covered by it  (SSK 2:13, PT 527:33, SA 527:11).

The Procedure

• Procedure: Bracha: once one has organised the food one is using for the Eruv, one takes it in one’s hand and make the bracha ‘al mitzvas eruv’.
• Statement: One then says the statement (which can be found in the siddur) which states that ‘through this Eruv it should be permissible to cook, bake, insulate, light candles and do all needs from Yom Tov to Shabbos’. If there are any other specific melachos one plans to do (eg shechting or carrying where there is no eruv) it is ideal to explicitly specify these as well, though if one didn’t and merely say ‘all needs’ that suffices (SA 527:12, MB 37-38, SSK 2:16)
• Language: the statement above is written in the Siddur in Aramaic. If one doesn’t understand it, one should say the English translation as one must understand what one is saying (R 527:12, MB 39-40)
• Omitted the statement: if one omitted this statement, there is a dispute whether the Eruv is valid or not. Therefore, if one did not originally say it and one realises before Yom Tov comes in, one should again take the food of the Eruv in one’s hand and say the statement, though without saying the Bracha again. If one didn’t do so before Yom Tov, they should gift their ingredients to someone else to cook for them (we’ll explore this in more detail below in paragraph ‎9 iyH); if this isn’t feasible they may rely on the lenient opinions and cook for themselves (R 527:20, MB 36, 63).
• Planned Melacha: as mentioned above, if one doesn’t anticipate needing to cook any food from Yom Tov to Shabbos one should still make the Eruv but may not say a Bracha on doing so. This applies even if one is planning to light Shabbos candles, as there is a dispute in the poskim whether an Eruv Tavshilin is needed to permit this – whilst we rule stringently to require one to make an Eruv Tavshilin to permit this, due to the opposing opinion  one cannot make a bracha.
  •  It is therefore preferable to cook something on Yom Tov for Shabbos, (SA 527:19, Dirshu 63, PT 2, fn 25).

If the Eruv got Lost

• Eruv eaten or lost: if the Eruv gets accidentally eaten or lost, if a Kezayis remains then the Eruv remains in force; however if less than a kezayis remains one may not cook food from Shabbos to Yom Tov.
• Cooked vs baked dish: As mentioned above, the cooked dish is the primary part of the Eruv Tavshilin, such that this halacha applies specifically to the cooked dish – if the bread gets eaten or list this isn’t a concern (but if the cooked food gets accidentally eaten, even if the bread remains this doesn’t help) (SA 527:15, SSK 2:15).
• Solutions if one lost the eruv: if one’s eruv tavshlin got lost, one may set aside food that one had previously cooked for Yom Tov to be eaten on Shabbos and then one may cook on Yom Tov for the Yom Tov meals. However, one may not do this if one forgot to make an Eruv entirely (SA 527:18, MB 51)

Using the Eruv

• Using the Eruv: technically speaking, one may eat the Eruv tavshilin as soon as one has finished doing the melachos on Yom Tov to prepare for Shabbos. However, it is optimal to keep the bread to use as part of Lechem Mishna for the three meals on Shabbos and to eat it at Seudah Shlishis – as it has been used for one mitzvah (eruv tavshilin) it is appropriate to use it for other mitzvos too (SA 527:16, MB 48, SSK 2:15)

Two Day Yom Tov

• Yom Tov Thursday-Friday: even if one has made an eruv tavshilin (on Wednesday), if Yom Tov is Thursday-Friday one may only prepare for Shabbos on Friday, not Thursday (SA 527:13, SSK 2:17).

One Who Didn’t Make an Eruv

• One who didn’t make an Eruv: as above, one who forgot to make an Eruv, as a one-off can rely on the Eruv made by the Rav. One who is unable to (eg having previously already once forgotten Eruv Tavshilin and relied on the Rav) or does not wish to, may not cook etc from Yom Tov to Shabbos.
• Gifting ingredients: A solution for such a person who needs food cooked or baked on Yom Tov for Shabbos is for them to gift the ingredients to someone from a different household who did make an Eruv Tavshilin who can then cook/bake for them (even in the home of the first individual). The one being ‘gifted’ the ingredients acquires them by performing a ‘kinyan’ by lifting them up 3 tefachim (c30 cm) or bringing them into his property (SA 527:20, MB 56, 60).
• Cooking extra food: another solution for one who hasn’t yet eaten their Yom Tov meal is for them to cook dishes for their Yom Tov meals and ensure the quantity in each pot is large enough that food will be left for Shabbos as well. One may even cook multiple different dishes (that one hadn’t initially planned to eat on Yom Tov) and ensure to eat a little (at least a kezayis – opinions vary between the size of modern olives and 50cc) from each dish at the Yom Tov meal and keep the rest for Shabbos (SA 627:21,  MB 68-71, 77).