The Jewish calendar as we know it today was designed by Hillel II. The name was really Hillel, but we add or call him Hillel II so as not to confuse him with the famous Hillel, who lived several centuries before him.
Hillel II was a leader of the Jewish community in the 4th century in Israel some 1,600 hundred years ago. He was a mathematical and astronomical genius. He had no computer, no adding machine, not even an abacus, but he designed the calendar that we are using to this very day and will use forever in the most remarkable kind of way.
He designed the Jewish religious calendar so that certain various impossible situations never occur. For example, Yom Kippur can never occur on a Friday or a Sunday, which would be an impossible situation because of its proximity to Shabbat. Other impossible situations are avoided by various manipulations that he made in designing the calendar.
The only situation that Hillel could not avoid was a complicated, but not an impossible one, and that is this calendar year. The way the holidays fall this year are very difficult and complicated, but doable. This type of year occurs every 10, 15 years. The last year we had a year like this was in 2008. For example, Purim fell on a Friday, which is definitely awkward. Yom Kippur occurs on a Thursday, which is also awkward, because when it is over on Thursday night it already is the eve of Shabbat. The wildest and weirdest thing in this year’s calendar is the way in which Passover falls.
This year Passover begins on Saturday evening, March 27, after dark. The problem is that on the eve of Passover we don’t eat bread or leaven products or chametz after late morning. This year that is Shabbat. So how does one handle Shabbat lunch? Furthermore, if you already have all your Passover dishes out and ready to use, how do you have Friday night dinner that involves challah or bread? There is an obligation to eat bread on the Shabbat. It is also forbidden to eat matzah on the eve of Passover so it will be a new food for us. So what is one to do?
One has to have one’s home totally kosher for Passover before Shabbat. You can easily use disposable dishes or Passover dishes on the Shabbat but all your non-Passover utensils and dishes, etc. have to be put away before Friday night. The bread issue is a problem for the Shabbat.
The easiest thing is to serve a completely kosher-for-Passover meal Friday night and Saturday lunch. In the case of Friday night, have two small challah rolls in a different room on a napkin or a small tablecloth, use them for Kiddush, and dispose or flush any crumbs, and then return to the dining room for the rest of the meal.
Saturday morning presents other issues. One cannot have chametz or bread after late morning, so many synagogues including ours at Kehilath Israel Synagogue, will start services earlier than usual, enabling people to get home have an early lunch and then repeat the two challah rolls for Shabbat lunch and dispose of remains, etc.
There are other oddities about this Passover. The Fast of the First Born, which usually occurs on the eve of Passover, does not because it is Shabbat. It is moved to Thursday morning, March 25. The burning of the chametz, which usually takes place late morning on the eve of Passover, cannot take place as it is Shabbat, so it is moved to late morning the Friday, March 26.
As I said above, Hillel II was a genius and created the most unbelievable calendar, especially because we are dealing with a lunar calendar and not a solar one, and yet our holidays are tied into the solar calendar as well, and he enables us to leap years and other manipulations to function. This one oddity that he could not seem to control of the unusual Passover is an interesting, complicated but doable one.
This strange year will appear again in four or five years and not again for another 20. So many of us will have this experience only probably one more time in our lifetime.
May you all have a wonderful, safe, healthy and kosher Passover.
Rabbi Mandl is rabbi emeritus at Kehilath Israel Synagogue