Erev Shavuos

• Unless medically necessary, blood tests and procedures should not be done on Erev Shavuos.

• Maariv should not be davened until after nightfall, unless necessary.

• In any event, Kiddush should not be made until after nightfall.

• Many have the minhag that the women don’t light candles until after nightfall.

Staying awake all night

• This is not a halachah but a minhag.

• One who will not be able to daven or perform other mitzvos properly due to staying awake all night should not do so.

• One may stay awake until dawn and then going to sleep, as long as zmanei tefillah are not missed and a shomer is appointed to remind him to daven.

• One who is awake all night should wash his hands at dawn.

• A brachah should not be made on washing one’s hands unless he first used the bathroom.

• One may wait until before davening to wash his hands in order to prevent bittul Torah.

• Birchas HaTorah should not be recited. However, if one slept at least a half-hour during the previous day, he may recite it in the morning.

• All other Birchos Hashachar may be said except for אלוקי נשמה and המעביר שינה.

• One who goes to sleep for a few hours after staying up all night should not take off his tzitzis and should not repeat Birchas HaTorah after waking up.

• One who does not wear a tallis gadol should not recite a brachah on his tzitzis. Rather, he should hear the brachah from someone who puts on a tallis gadol.

• The brachah on the tallis should not be recited before the proper time.

Dairy

• There are various customs regarding eating dairy on Shavuos.

• If one is having a dairy meal, it’s preferable for it to be at night and not during the day.

• If one eats dairy followed by meat during the same meal:

• New challah/bread must be brought to the table.

• Hands must be washed.

• Some parve food and beverage must be eaten and drunk in between.

• Many have the custom to wait an hour between milk and meat. Some wait a half-hour.

• If one ate standalone dairy, a brachah achronah must be recited before proceeding to wash for a meat meal.

• Drinking glasses that haven’t had hot meat or dairy in them can be used interchangeably.

• Tablecloths that are clean and washed can be used interchangeably.

• Parve food made in dairy utensils, even in utensils that were used for hot in the last 24 hours can be served at meat meals and vice versa. However it should preferably not be eaten in the same bite as meat.

• Hot parve foods made in dairy utensils, even if used in the last 24 hours, can be served on meat utensils and vice versa. As long as the food is not placed directly on the new plates. It should be put onto a different plate first.

• Any food made in a pot not used for hot in the last 24 hours can lechatchila be eaten together with foods of the opposite type. However, it’s preferable not to cook the foods in one type of pot specifically with the intent to eat with the other type, unless it’s necessary.

• Sfardim can lechatchila take parve food, even cooked in a pot within the last 24 hours, and add it onto food of the opposite type.

• Cheese that’s aged for more than six months requires a six-hour wait before eating meat.

• Real parmesan cheese is aged six months.

• If the cheese was melted, waiting is not required.

• There are those that are lenient with our aged cheeses. If necessary, this opinion may be relied upon.

Oven Use for Meat and Dairy

• The following halachos apply for baking dairy in a clean meat oven or baking meat in a clean dairy oven (even if used within 24 hours):

• If the food is covered well (even with one cover) it is permitted.

• If it is uncovered and it is solid food (e.g., challah or cake) it is permitted.

• If it has liquid, the oven should be kashered on the highest for an hour, if not then half an hour on high is acceptable. (This may not be done on Yom Tov.)

• Pareve foods, even with liquid, may be baked or cooked uncovered in a clean meat or dairy oven and it will remain pareve.

• In all the above situations it is recommended to cover the grates with foil before baking in case something spills.

• A meat hot plate can be used for dairy if it’s covered with foil.

Flowers

• Many have the custom to put out flowers, tree branches, etc.

• Flowers may be moved on Shabbos and Yom Tov, even when in a vase.

• If the flowers fall out of the vase they may be returned, as long as they have already fully blossomed.

• Water may be added to the vase on Yom Tov, but only up to half of the amount of water that’s already there.

• Potted plants and flowers may also be moved, but not into the sun.

Cleaning Help

• They can do work in the house on Shabbos/Yom Tov, but they can only do melachah for themselves, i.e., one that makes their job easier.

• For example: They may wash dishes with hot water since it washes quicker than cold water and nobody notices that melachah is being done.

• They may not mop the floor, vacuum, or do laundry, etc.

• Mopping is permitted if the floors are very dirty.

• One may not tell them on Shabbos/Yom Tov where the money for their payment is located. Rather, they should be told before Shabbos/Yom Tov, or paid after Shabbos/Yom Tov.

• One may hint to a goy to turn off the flame of an oven.

• If one has absolutely no way to heat up food, a goy may be asked to turn on the flame or crockpot, etc.

Fires/Flames on Yom Tov

• One is permitted to light a fire from an existing flame on Yom Tov for Yom Tov needs.- Electric ignition stoves may not be turned on since they create a spark.

• This is why many leave a 24 or 48-hour candle lit the entire Yom Tov.

• Fire may be lit in order to provide light.- Fire may not be extinguished on Yom Tov.

• Fire may not be extinguished, even if necessary to darken a room.

• The above rules apply to a gas-fed fire (which is typical) as well, (although some quote Rav Moshe Feinstein zt”l as allowing turning off gas fires).

• According to the Mechaber, a fire may never be lowered, even to save food from burning. The only option is to light a new flame which is lower than the existing one. This is standard practice for Sephardim.

• However, according to Rema, if there’s no other way for the food to stay hot/warm without burning, the flame may be lowered. This is acceptable for Ashkenazim.

• Modern stovetops first go to high and then have to be lowered. Therefore, there’s no point in lighting a new flame and the existing flame may be lowered.

• Lowering a flame to save gas or because the room is too hot is not permitted.

• One may hint to a goy that the house is too hot, etc., so that they will shut off the fire.

• In extreme heat, one may boil water that will be necessary for Yom Tov in a manner that it will bubble over and put out the flame. Then the gas may be turned off.

• The temperature on electrical appliances may never be adjusted.

• Most poskim do not allow “Sabbath Mode” ovens to be adjusted.

• Gas ovens with knobs (not electric buttons) may be raised with a shinui while the flame is on and may be lowered or turned off when the flame is off. (All gas ovens cycle on and off.)

• Oven doors may be opened at any time.

• The same halachos apply to a BBQ grill.

• A yahrzeit candle should preferably be lit before Yom Tov. If it was not, it can be lit in a dark room to provide light and subsequently moved.

• On Yom Tov, crockpots, hot plates, coffee makers, etc., can be put on Shabbos-clocks to go on and off.

• Once they are turned on, the pins can be removed with a shinui to cause them to remain on or off

Showering On Yom Tov

• A full hot or warm shower is prohibited, even with water that was heated up before Yom Tov.

• The minhag has always been to refrain from bathing on Shabbos and Yom Tov, even in cold water.

• One who is in pain due to not showering, or one who is ill, may wash his or her entire body with hot water, but only with water heated before Yom Tov.

• Washing the body limb by limb is permitted but only with water that was heated up before Yom Tov.

• One’s hands, feet, and face may be washed with hot water that was heated up on Yom Tov. (Some poskim say that any part of the body may be washed this way, up to half the body).

• A child who is normally bathed every day may be bathed with hot water that was heated up on Yom Tov, but not if it was heated up specifically for bathing. (It must be left over from water heated for cooking. The bath may be turned on in order to wash a dish and then left on to fill the tub).

• On a hot day one may take a cold shower. Some say that a small amount of hot water may be added to take away the sting of the cold water.

• In all cases: 1. One must be very careful not to squeeze out water from one’s hair. 2. Only liquid soaps may be used, and it may not be lathered into hair.

Brushing Teeth on Shabbos/Yom Tov

• The following steps permit brushing teeth on Shabbos according to most, if not all, opinions:

• Use a different toothbrush for Shabbos. Preferably one that looks different than the one used during the week.

• Before Shabbos/Yom Tov, dissolve toothpaste in water to make it into a liquid.

• Put the liquid or mouthwash into the mouth.

• Take the dry toothbrush and brush teeth as normal.

• Washing the toothbrush afterwards is prohibited, unless planning on using it again that same day.

• If one’s gums will definitely bleed, a toothbrush may not be used.

• There are other opinions that are more lenient than the above guidelines. A shailah should be asked.

Preparation for Second Day of Yom Tov

• Preparations on the first day of Yom Tov for the second day of Yom Tov, or on Yom Tov for Shabbos, or on Shabbos for Yom Tov, are prohibited.

• This applies even when melachah is not being done (e.g., washing dishes, setting tables, etc.).

• This applies even to preparations for mitzvos.- If frozen food is needed for the second night of Yom Tov, there are two options:

• If it is necessary to defrost the food during the day in order to eat it that night, it is permitted to defrost it early enough in the day that it could theoretically be eaten that same day.

• Place the frozen food needed for the night meal in a bag together with something that is needed during the day. The bag may then be taken out of the freezer to defrost during the day.

• Seforim and talleisim etc. may be carried home from Shul if there is a concern they might get lost.

• Once night has fallen, preparations may be done even before making Kiddush or Havdalah, but ברוך המבדיל בין קודש לקודש should preferably be said beforehand.

• One should not say he is going to sleep in order to have energy for the night. However, one may tell a child to go to sleep in order to have energy for the night.

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