Passover Eve Guide: What You Can and Can’t Do After Midday

Why Work Is Limited on Passover Eve

- The Sages prohibited doing work on Passover Eve after midday, for two reasons:

1. To ensure people focus on getting ready for Passover—preparing utensils for holiday use, baking unleavened bread (matzah) for that night, and other Seder needs

2. When the Temple stood, the Passover offering was brought from midday onward, and work was forbidden during that time; even though the Temple was destroyed, the restriction still remains

Work by a Non-Jew

- Any kind of work may be performed on Passover Eve by a non-Jew even after midday

Types of Work Permitted on Passover Eve

- "Loss-preventing" work is permitted on Passover Eve even after midday, but ask a rabbi first (this means a task that, if not done, would cause a financial loss or that serves a significant public need, and therefore it was permitted 

  to do it)

- Minor fixes, like sewing up a torn garment, are permitted even after midday

- You may start a washing machine before midday, even if it continues running automatically after  

   midday

- Trimming nails, polishing shoes, ironing clothes, photographing, and writing for study purposes are permitted even after midday

  on Passover Eve

Haircuts on Passover Eve

- It’s a mitzvah to get a haircut and shave in honor of the holiday

- It’s best to get a haircut before Passover Eve; it is permitted on Passover Eve before midday, but haircuts are forbidden on Passover Eve after midday

- If it’s already after midday and someone forgot to get a haircut, it is forbidden to be cut by a Jew, even for free; but they may cut their own hair, or  by  a non-Jew, or by a poor Jewish barber who lacks money for Passover

- Someone arriving from abroad on Passover Eve who didn’t manage to get a haircut before midday may get one after midday from a Jewish barber—even for pay