Jews face a Passover conundrum

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — For a Jewish family in Overland Park, Kan., this weekend poses a dilemma of religious proportions: how to simultaneously observe two holy days that have conflicting rules.

For Seth and Judi Dimbert, as well as other traditional Jews, the core of the problem is what to do about bread, which is a vital part of the weekly Sabbath observance but which must be cleaned from the house for the annual Passover holy days.

While the Jewish Sabbath begins at sundown each Friday of the year, the date of Passover changes every year. Occasionally the eve of Passover is also the Sabbath.

That's what's happening this year.

"You are not allowed to eat matzah (unleavened bread) on the eve of Passover," said Rabbi Herbert Mandl of Kehilath Israel Synagogue in Overland Park, "so you can't use that for the blessing on the Sabbath. . . . So what do you do about the prayer and blessing over the bread? That is a big problem."

The rules of Passover require all leaven products to be cleaned from the house before Passover begins at sundown. As a rule, families could continue their cleaning right up to the start of Passover. This year Passover starts Saturday evening, April 23, after the Sabbath ends.

Because traditional Jews do not do work such as housecleaning on the Sabbath, that means families like the Dimberts will have to complete their cleaning — including removing leaven products from the house — before the Sabbath begins. That means, of course, there won't be any bread for the Friday night meal.

The Sabbath laws require the eating of two to three meals with bread on the Sabbath.

Complicating this even more is that the dietary laws of Passover go into effect — not at sundown at the start of the holiday but many hours earlier — about 11 a.m., said Rabbi Moshe Elefant, executive rabbinic coordinator of the Orthodox Union.

At first glance, fasting until the first Passover Seder Saturday night might seem to be one option. Not so, Elefant said, since "you are not allowed to fast on the Sabbath because you are supposed to enjoy yourself."

He pointed to yet another challenge for traditional Jews: how to pack in two complete meals with bread on the Sabbath before 11 a.m. and also attend Sabbath services that morning?

And here's another hitch: If the leaven products they eat before 11 a.m. have leftovers, how do they dispose of them? Because burning or carrying garbage is prohibited during the Sabbath, Elefant said.