Friday – it’s a day of standing in the kitchen, giving baths, setting the table, lighting the candles…and wearing costumes?
Purim this year
falls out on none other than an already busy Friday. So when exactly are we
cooking for Shabbos? Not sure, but what we can be sure about is that we’ll have
not only two delicious meals on Shabbos, but one on Friday as well. Putting
aside the food (which will be prepared at some unknown point in time), let’s
talk about some of the other mitzvos of the day and how they may (or may not)
look different this year.
Let’s start with mishloach manos. Between preparation and
execution, it is probably the most time consuming of Purim’s mitzvos,
especially when it involves themes. Themes: it’s a word some families love and others
dread.
Since Chanukah, or
even before, many families discuss endlessly what they are going to be – and
then search Amazon or other stores to get materials to make the perfect
costumes… only to discover that a younger sister insists on being a ballerina
and ballerina only, so you must cajole her into wearing the absolutely “horrid”
painter’s apron and hat by promising her all the Dum-
Dums you receive
in your mishloach manos.
After the major
decision of a theme, the mishloach manos are
assembled from the perfectly chosen foods and explained by a cute (but not
nerdy) poem – and voila. You are set for Purim.
Will this scenario
look different this year? With Shabbos on the horizon, will you have time to
visit all your kids’ 27 friends and nine teachers? Will you be able to sit so
long in bumper-to-bumper traffic on one of the neighborhoods’ many side streets
as in every other year? Or will you have to decide which parts of town you just
won’t see this Purim?
The custom of mishloach manos is beautiful but can’t
come at the expense of the other mitzvos of the day. Megillah reading must happen Thursday night and Friday morning.
Though that mitzva will probably look the same, we do have to keep in mind the
shorter time frame. We also must make sure to give matanos l’evyonim before the zman.
* * *
I’m going to put
aside the mitzva of the Purim seuda for
a moment and talk about the phenomenon of a Friday Purim. What’s the scoop? I
spoke to Rabbi Heber and received some fascinating information:
Purim falls on a
Friday on an average of every nine years. The longest possible streak without a
Purim on a Friday is 20 years. After this year, we will enter into one of these
20-year stretches. The last 20-year streak occurred between 1954 and 1974. So,
if you are not looking forward to a shorter Purim, never fear – this won’t
happen again until 2045.
It is important to
note that whenever Purim falls on a Friday, Pesach, just one month later, falls
on a motzei Shabbos – and this creates its own set of unique halachos beyond
the scope of this article.
* * *
Now let’s talk
about that final mitzva – seudas
Purim. The main so-called issue of the day is the meal. On Purim, many people
continue their seudos into the night,
which we obviously can’t do this year because of Shabbos. Additionally, many
people make mesibos (parties) at the
end of Purim, which also will not be possible because of Shabbos. Practically
speaking, we will have to plan accordingly, but there are also many halachic
ramifications, such as, when exactly are we supposed to start our seuda?
Rabbi Heber
explained that we should ideally begin eating the meal before chatzos (halachic noon). If you miss the
deadline of chatzos, then you are
supposed to start before the ninth hour of the day. However, if you miss this
deadine, too – still eat the seuda!
Technically speaking, you may start at any time and cannot skip this mitzva.
There are some who
may wonder – well, why can’t I just go straight from my Purim seuda into my Shabbos seuda? Though there are halachically
permissible ways to accomplish this, any family interested in combining their seudos should only do so after receiving
guidance from a rav, as the halachos are complex.
The other mitzvos
of the day – Megillah, mishloach manos, and matanos l’evyonim are the same as any
other year, as I wrote above, but of course we must make sure to accomplish
them within our shorter timeframe. It’s important to note that preparations for
Shabbos must also occur at some point or another – don’t forget about those!
* * *
Something
extremely fascinating about Purim falling on a Friday is the question of what
occurs in Yerushalayim (and any other of the “walled” cities that celebrate
Purim on the 15th of Adar). Yerushalayim celebrates Purim a day
later than the rest of the world, which would mean that Purim would be on
Shabbos. So what happens then?
Rabbi Heber
explained that Yerushalayim has what’s known as a Purim meshulash – it becomes a three-day Purim with parts of Purim taking
place on Friday, Shabbos, and Sunday. Let’s take a look at the different
mitzvos and when they are performed: The Megillah
cannot be read on Shabbos because we are worried that we may come to carry the Megillah
to bring it to an expert. This is the same reason we don’t blow the shofar on Rosh
Hashanah or bring dalet minim on
Sukkos if either of those days falls on Shabbos as well.
Usually,
Yerushalayim is a day later than everyone else, but in a year with a Purim meshulash, the Megillah reading gets pushed up by a day, so the Megillah is read on Thursday night and
Friday morning. It’s fascinating to note that a Purim meshulash is the only time the whole world reads the Megillah on the same night and morning.
The mitzva of matanos l’evyonim is linked to the Megillah, so the Yerushalmis give tzedakah on Friday. The gemara says that
the poor look forward to the Megillah
reading because this is when they make their money, so those two mitzvos are
tied together.
Mishloach manos are given on Sunday, and the seuda is also eaten on Sunday. You might
ask, why not eat the seuda on Shabbos?
Well, because we are already eating seudos
on Shabbos – that is precisely why we do not eat the Purim seuda on the same day, because how would
we distinguish one from the other? What would show that it was a seuda special for Purim? So, the mitzva
of seuda is moved to Sunday as well.
(There are some who have the stringency to eat a seuda on Shabbos in honor of Purim and one on Sunday, but halacha l’maaseh is that seudas Purim only takes place on
Sunday.)
So we have two of
the mitzvos done on Friday and two on Sunday – but what about Shabbos? After
all, it is the acutal day of Purim. On Shabbos we say al hanisim in bentching.
Additionally, what would normally be leined
(read) on Purim is leined as the maftir on Shabbos. Fascinatingly, the haftorah on a “Shabbos Purim” is the
same as the week before, Shabbos Zachor,
when we lein the story of Shaul and
Agag. This is the only time we ever lein
the same haftorah back-to-back – only
in Yerushalayim and only on a Purim meshulash.
There is also an inyan to talk about
Purim on Shabbos; though we can’t do the mitzvos themselves, we can discuss
them.
So there you have
it, Purim this year will be spread out over three days in Yerushalayim. Thank
you, Rabbi Heber, for taking the time to explain to me this extraordinary event
and fascinating set of halachos.
I wish everyone
much hatzlacha with their themes, their
mishloach manos shopping, and their preparation
for Purim. And I hope you figure out when you’re cooking for Shabbos as well!
A freilichen Purim!
