Eruv Tavshilin
This year the festival of Shavuot falls on Friday, immediately adjacent to the Sabbath - and in such a situation it is a commandment to place an eruv tavshilin on the eve of the festival, by means of which it is permitted to cook, bake, and prepare all our needs from the festival day for the Sabbath.
An eruv tavshilin is a cooked dish that one prepares on the eve of the festival for the Sabbath, and it is called an "eruv" (mixture/combination) because through it, the dishes of the festival and the Sabbath become intermingled - and just as it is permitted to cook and bake on the festival for the festival, so too it is permitted to cook and bake on it for the Sabbath. And as long as the eruv remains intact, it is permitted to do on the festival for the Sabbath everything that is permitted to do for the festival itself.
And indeed, from the Torah, even without an eruv tavshilin it is permitted to cook from the festival for the Sabbath, since it is only for an ordinary weekday that cooking is Biblically forbidden. However, our Sages prohibited this without an eruv tavshilin, out of respect for the festival and respect for the Sabbath (Beitzah 15b).
Respect for the festival - for if it were permitted to cook from the festival for the Sabbath without restriction, people might consequently become lax and also cook from the festival for a weekday, thereby transgressing a Biblical prohibition. Therefore, they permitted cooking from the festival for the Sabbath only when one begins the preparatory work on the eve of the festival through the eruv tavshilin - so that everything prepared on the festival for the Sabbath is a continuation of what was begun on the eve of the festival. And when people see that even for the Sabbath it is forbidden to cook without an eruv tavshilin, they will reason, all the more so, that it is forbidden to cook from the festival for a weekday (the opinion of Rav Ashi).
Respect for the Sabbath - for if one does not prepare an eruv tavshilin, there is concern that in the midst of preparing the festival meals, one might forget that the next day is the Sabbath and use up all the finest portions on the festival. And through the eruv tavshilin, which must be placed on the eve of the festival, one will be reminded throughout the festival that fine portions must be set aside for the Sabbath (the opinion of Rava).
It is a Commandment for Every Family to Place an Eruv Tavshilin
Since through the eruv tavshilin one honors the festival and remembers the Sabbath, even one who does not intend to cook for the Sabbath on the festival is commanded to place an eruv tavshilin. One need not be concerned that this constitutes a blessing recited in vain, since the primary purpose of the eruv is to give a person the possibility of cooking from the festival for the Sabbath - even if in practice he will not cook.
In addition, in practice, every household needs to make use of the eruv tavshilin. For in every home one must light the Sabbath candles toward the end of the festival, and according to the majority of poskim (Jewish law decisors), it is the eruv that permits lighting the Sabbath candles on the festival. Likewise, by virtue of the eruv it is permitted to wash dishes on the festival in preparation for the Sabbath, and similarly to set the table in preparation for the Sabbath.
One Eruv Suffices for All Members of the Family and Guests
Through the eruv of the head of the household or the woman of the household, all members of the household and guests who are staying with them are permitted to participate in cooking, baking, washing dishes, and setting the table in preparation for the Sabbath. The head of the household may designate one of the household members or guests to place the eruv on behalf of everyone.
Similarly, guests staying at a kosher hotel - since they eat from the hotel kitchen's dishes - the hotel's eruv is effective for them, and all of them are permitted to light candles on the festival in honor of the Sabbath. Likewise in a yeshiva, the yeshiva's eruv is effective for all the yeshiva's students and guests (Peninei Halakha, Mo'adim 8:3).
How to Place an Eruv Tavshilin
On the eve of the festival, one takes a cooked dish and bread and recites the blessing: "Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe, Who has sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us concerning the commandment of eruv." And one says: "By means of this eruv, it shall be permitted for us to bake and cook and light a candle and perform all our needs from the festival for the Sabbath."
The eruv dish must be a food that is fitting to eat with bread - such as meat, fish, eggs, cooked salads, or a cooked vegetable dish. But something that is not fitting to eat with bread - such as porridge, noodles, and rice - even though they are cooked, they are not suitable for the eruv (Beitzah 16a; Shulchan Aruch 527:4). Ideally, one also places bread, but strictly speaking, a cooked dish alone suffices.
Ideally, it is good to set aside for the eruv a fine and respectable portion, and if possible, it is good to make the eruv using a full pot that was cooked on the eve of the festival in honor of the Sabbath. However, strictly speaking, even if one took a small amount of lentils remaining at the bottom of a pot that was cooked for an ordinary weekday, one has fulfilled the obligation - provided there is at least the measure of a k'zayit (approximately half an egg) (Peninei Halakha, Mo'adim 8:2).
What Does One Do with the Eruv Dish?
Many are accustomed to eat the eruv dish at one of the Sabbath meals - since one commandment was fulfilled through it, it is fitting to continue and fulfill through it, the commandment of oneg Shabbat (Sabbath delight). It is likewise customary to take the eruv bread as lechem mishneh (the double loaf), and break it at the third Sabbath meal (Mishnah Berurah 527:11; 48).
If one began to eat from the eruv dish on the festival, as long as a k'zayit remains of it, it is permitted to cook, bake, and prepare all the Sabbath needs. But if less than a k'zayit remains, it is forbidden to perform further festival-day labors for the Sabbath. And even if the bread placed for the eruv remains, it is of no avail - for the essential part of the eruv is the cooked dish (Peninei Halakha, Mo'adim 8:3).
When Is the Eruv of the Leading Figure of the City Effective?
Even though it is a commandment for every person to place an eruv tavshilin, it is a commandment for the leading figure of the city - that is, the local rabbi - to place an eruv tavshilin on behalf of all the residents of the place. Through his eruv, even someone who did not place an eruv tavshilin due to circumstances beyond his control or due to forgetfulness, is permitted to cook from the festival for the Sabbath. Likewise, someone who does not know how to place an eruv tavshilin may rely on the eruv that the leading figure of the city places.
However, someone who was able to place an eruv and transgressed by not doing so - since he nullified the commandment to place an eruv - may not rely on the eruv of the leading figure of the city. Likewise, one who forgot twice in a row to place an eruv - on the second occasion, his status is like one who failed to place it negligently, and he may not rely on the eruv of the leading figure of the city. But someone who forgot once, and the next time remembered, and then forgot again, is not considered negligent, and the eruv of the leading figure of the city is effective for him (Peninei Halakha, Mo'adim 8:4, note 5).
The Eruv Must Be Transferred to Everyone
In order for the eruv to be effective for everyone, it must belong to everyone - and for this purposem an act of acquisition must be performed. That is to say, the rabbi must give the eruv dish to another person, who lifts it a handbreadth in order to acquire it on behalf of all the residents of the city - the rabbi and himself included. Then, when the eruv dish belongs to all the residents of the city, the rabbi takes the eruv, recites the blessing over it, and says: "By means of this eruv, it shall be permitted for us and for all the residents of the city to bake and cook and light a candle and perform all our needs from the festival for the Sabbath."
Ideally, it is good for the act of acquisition to be performed by an adult who has reached the age of commandments and is not dependent on the rabbi's table for his sustenance - and after the fact, the rabbi's wife may perform the act of acquisition on behalf of all the residents of the city (Shulchan Aruch 366:10; 527:10-11).
For Whom Is the Rabbi's Eruv Effective?
The rabbi's eruv is effective for all who are within the Sabbath boundary - and even someone who did not know at the time of the placing of the eruv that it was intended for him: as long as he learns on the festival that the rabbi placed an eruv for everyone, he may cook for the Sabbath on the basis of the eruv that the rabbi placed. But someone who is outside the Sabbath boundary is not benefited by the eruv, since he cannot come to eat from it (Shulchan Aruch 527:8-9).
In a place where it is known that the rabbi is careful always to place an eruv for everyone, one who forgot may rely on this without further inquiry - since there is a presumption that the rabbi remembered to place an eruv for everyone, and if he should forget, he will announce it publicly so that people will not mistakenly cook on the basis of his eruv (Rema 527:9).
In addition to the local rabbi, any resident of the place is permitted to place an eruv on behalf of everyone - so that if the rabbi forgets, he can inform the public that someone placed an eruv, and they may rely on it. For this purpose, he must ensure that another person lifts the eruv dish a handbreadth to acquire it on behalf of everyone, and recite the text designated for all the residents of the city (Mishnah Berurah 527:32; Sha'ar HaTziyun 31).
Are Women Obligated to Study Torah?
There are two components of the commandment to study Torah. The first is to know the guidance of the Torah for the conduct of life - and in this component, men and women are equally obligated. As God said to Moses our teacher: "So shall you say to the house of Jacob and tell the children of Israel. You have seen what I did to Egypt… and now if you will surely heed My voice and keep My covenant, you shall be My treasured possession among all the peoples, for the entire earth is Mine… These are the words that you shall speak to the children of Israel… And all the people answered together and said: Everything that God has spoken we will do" (Exodus 19:3-8).
God's address through Moses was to men and women alike, as our Sages expounded: "'So shall you say to the house of Jacob' - these are the women; 'and tell the children of Israel' - these are the men" (Mechilta ibid.). And the response was from "all the people together - everything that God has spoken we will do."
The second component - which is called the commandment of Talmud Torah - concerns studying the entire Torah: both commandments connected to the student's own life and those that are not, and delving deeply and carefully into the entire Torah, including matters that do not directly pertain to the guidance of life. In this component men alone are obligated, as it says: "And you shall teach them to your sons" (Deuteronomy 11:19) - our Sages expounded: "and not to your daughters" (Kiddushin 29b). Nevertheless, a woman who voluntarily undertakes to fulfill the commandment of Talmud Torah will merit reward (Sotah 21a).
In earlier times, the difference in the obligation of this commandment between men and women was great - and today, the difference has narrowed considerably, since in order to know how to live a life of Torah in our times, one must study a great deal of halakha together with an understanding of its underlying logic, as well as a great deal of emunah (faith) and mussar (ethics) through the study of the Bible and books of emunah - and even most men do not succeed in fulfilling their obligation in this regard.
This article appears in the 'Besheva' newspaper and was translated from Hebrew.