JOIN US ON
Shabbat afternoon April 16th at 5:30 PM
Shabbat Hagadol Drasha
with Rabbi Kanefsky
"The Broken Matzah and the Insecurity of Freedom"
BDJ'S 1999 PESACH RECIPES
ORTHODOX UNION PESACH HANDBOOK
RABBI EEIDLITZ PESACH BOOKLET
For your convenience we have made the SALE OF CHOMETZ FORM interactive. Just click on the document below, it will open on PDF and you may fill it in and submit it online.
Tuesday, May 18th
V'Atem Tehiyu Li Mamlechet Kohanim V'Goi Kadosh
And you shall be to Me a kingdom of princes and a holy nation (Shemot 19:15)
11:00 PM
Finding the Kedushah Within: Lessons Learned From the Broken Luchot
Dr. Chana Meier
12:15 AM
Nice to Share? Sinai and the Wider World
Rabbi Yosef Kanefsky
1:15 AM ~ Concurrent Sessions
The Second Commandment: Holiness and Eating
Rabbi Daniel Greyber
or
"Blessed are the Cheesemakers": A Non-Literal Approach to the Custom of Eating Dairy on Shavuot
Nick Merkin
2:15 AM ~ Concurrent Sessions
The Rebellion of Korach, the Hitting of the Rock and Lessons Learned and Mount Sinai: Could God Give a Torah That Did Not Yet Happen?
Rabbi Roi Zadok
or
Conquering Midrash: A Textual Analysis
The BDJ Midrash Group
3:15 AM ~ Concurrent Sessions
The Second Commandment: Idol Worship or Idle Worship?
Heshy Kofman
or
Highlights from Kiddushin
Rabbi Yosef Kanefsky
4:15 AM
Who Will You Be Standing With at Sinai?
Reb Mimi Feigelson
5:00 AM
Vatikin Shacharit Followed by Breakfast
May 19th {First Day Shavuot Afternoon}
6:00 PM
Divrei Torah: Harry Nelson, What Monty Python Teaches Us About Shavuot
7:00 PM
Mincha
Divrei Torah: Rav Leubitz
YOUNG PROFESIONALS TIKKUN LEIL SHAVUOT
Where: At the home of Rabbi Avi Greene (email me for the address).
When: May 18th, starting at 10:30 PM, ending around 3:00 AM.
We are excited to announce the first-ever Leil Shavuot event for BDJ Young Professionals. Rabbi Avi Greene will lead us in discussion (real discussion and debate, not lecture) about the most current hot-button issues in Modern Orthodoxy, including the recent controversy over the ordination of women. People with any and all perspectives are strongly encouraged to attend. We will also have plenty of snacks-sugared and not-with plenty of caffeine and a late-night BBQ with hot dogs and hamburgers around midnight. Bring yourself and bring friends.
After the event, those who want will be walking to BDJ for the end of their night of study and Shacharit.
Please try to RSVP if you'll be coming. If you don't RSVP, you're still welcome, we're just trying to get a sense of how many people are coming. Josh Baron - This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
The Marilynn Lowenstein Twilight Tikkun
4:45- 6:15 PM
Shirat Chana
6:15 PM
Guest Shiur: Dr. Chana Meier Gelb
"Transforming Identity Through Chesed"
(Childcare and Shavuot ice cream treats for the kids--During Dr. Chana Meier Gelb's shiur ONLY)
7:30 PM
Mincha
7:50 PM
Shiur with Howie Wettstein
8:30 PM
Ma'ariv
Over the course of Succot, we are required to eat all of our meals in a Succah. If we find ourselves without easy access to one (e.g. at work), we can take advantage of the leniency in the Halachah, which permits "casual” eating outside of the Succah. "Casual eating" includes even large quantities of foods that are not comprised of grain. In other words, dairy products. meat, fish, fruit and vegetables may all be consumed outside the Succah in whatever quantities one desires. At the same time, whenever we do have access to a Succah, it is always meritorious to eat these items in the Succah as well.
Notes on assembling and using
the lulav and etrog
To assemble the lulav, hadasim and aravot, begin by holding the lulav so the thick green spine is facing you. The hadasim (of which you have three) go on the right side of the lulav, and the aravot (of which you have two) go on the left. The hadasim should extend just a little higher than the aravot and the lulav should extend at least three inches higher than the hadasim.
The procedure for performing the mitzvot of lulav and etrog is as follows: We take the lulav (with the hadasim and aravot) in our right hand and the etrog—with pitum facing downward—in our left. (If we were to take the etrog right-side-up, we would at that instant be fulfilling the mitzvah, even before we had a chance to recite the bracha.) Thus holding things, we recite the bracha “al netilat lulav,” and, on the first day, Shehechiyanu. After we’ve recited the brachot, we turn the etrog right-side-up, and wave the entire package in front of us, then to the right, then behind us, then to the left, then upward and finally downward.
I’d be delighted to address any questions you might have either about technical procedure of lulav or about the reasons for why we do this the way we do.
BDJ Young Professionals
Please join us for a bring-your-own lunch the second day of Succot at the BDJ Succah! Just like our great picnics in the park, but a picnic in the Succah—even better! We'll provide the wine and challah for Kiddush, as well as benchers, you provide everything else.
I'd also like to use this event to welcome Rav Shmuly Yanklowitz, just moved here from NY, who will give a short d’var during lunch. Come by to say hello,
even if you've already met him.
If you're interested, please let Elisabeth Bodine ( This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it ) know, so we can get a rough head count. Feel free, though,
to come even if you didn't RSVP.
BDJ Young Professionals is a network of young adults in their 20s and 30s who enjoy getting together in a comfortable and casual environment to socialize, learn, celebrate and establish meaningful relationships with each other and the larger BDJ community. Whether you are new or old to our community, if you would like to be involved or be added to our listserv, please email us at
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
.
The Halachot of Tisha B’Av
The Seuda Hamafseket
The experience of Tisha B'Av actually begins before Tisha B'Av. Unique in all of Jewish life is the special meal we eat before the fast begins, סעודה המפסקת (Seuda Hamafseket). There is no meal, not even a meal eaten in a shiva house, that is designed to be more miserable than the סעודה המפסקת. Neither meat nor wine, nor more than even one cooked food, may be consumed. (Traditionally, we eat bread and a hard-boiled egg.) The meal is not only to be eaten while sitting on the floor, it is to be eaten in isolation. The bentching afterward is specifically not to be preceded by a zimmun. It is the meal through which we imagine the meal of someone who is sitting at the lowest point of the circle of history. There is even a custom to dip the food in ashes.
The סעודה המפסקת is also the subject of a whole historical back-and-forth that plays out on the pages of the Shulchan Aruch. This is because the Shulchan Aruch insists that this meal is intended to be a real meal, not merely a symbolic or ritual PS to the dinner we will have eaten before the fast. Which is to say, there should be a meaningful lapse of time between our last meal, and the סעודה המפסקת, so that we are actually hungry again when we sit to eat the סעודה המפסקת (just like we would be when we would sit down to eat any regular meal). But it’s clear that historically this was a struggle, as people wanted to eat their “real” meal as close to the beginning of the fast as possible, for obvious reasons. Rama writes that the minhag in his land was to eat a regular meal, go and daven mincha, and then eat the סעודה המפסקת (which I think we should do next time Tisha B'Av falls out on a Sunday). Others object that this is too short an interval between the two meals. Eliyahu Raba attempts to justify the popular practice by pointing out that people are in any case acting for the sake of heaven, i.e. are eating their “regular meal” late in the day because they want to insure that their fast can be about reflection and prayer, rather than hunger. But Eliyahu Raba cautions that, at very least, a person mustn’t be full when sitting down to eat the סעודה המפסקת. Eating when full is not recognized as eating at all in the eyes of Halachah.
Bottom line: the סעודה המפסקת is a vital part of the overall experience of Tisha B'Av. We should plan to stagger Monday night’s dinner and the subsequent סעודה המפסקת to the greatest degree that is feasible.
The Halachot of TISHA B'AV
(1) The restrictions of Tisha B'Av
Tisha B'Av is similar in many ways to Yom Kippur. The fast is a full “24+” hours, and the restrictions of the day include not washing one’s body (except for hand-washing in the morning), not wearing leather shoes, and refraining from marital relations, in addition to not eating and drinking. Additionally, on Tisha B'Av, all those who are physically able to do so sit on the floor or on low stools rather than chairs. [This last custom extends only until midday—see below.] All of this is included to help generate a shiva-like feeling of loss and grief. This feeling can then serve as the framework for the prayer and kinot of the day.
Tisha B'Av does not have the status of Shabbat. Nonetheless, the less time we can spend at “work” work, the better. Also, if going to work can be delayed until midday, that option should be pursued.
Perhaps the most awkward custom of Tisha B'Av is that of not exchanging greetings throughout the fast. This too is borrowed from the laws of shiva. Though it feels odd to not say "hello" to the people we see in Shul, the pointed avoidance of exchanging pleasantries helps to create the atmosphere of sad reflection.
(2) סעודה המפסקת (Seuda Hamafseket)
Please see previous HALACHAH HOW TO.
(3) Tallit and tefillin
Neither tallit nor tefillin are worn on the morning of Tisha B'Av. Both are symbols of Israel’s glory, and neither is appropriate as we sit on the floor in the depths of dismay. Tallit and tefillin are worn at Mincha, as the gloom of the day slowly begins to lift.
(4) Chatzot (Midday)
As was mentioned above, the custom of sitting on the floor ends at midday. Solar midday this year will be at 12:59 PM.
חֲבֵרִים כָל יִשְרָאֵל
On Tisha B'Av day, we will again have two opportunities to express and experience Jewish brother- and sisterhood. In the morning hours, we will have our traditional kinot with YICC and Beth Jacob.
In the afternoon, everyone is invited for a joint learning and break-fast program sponsored by BDJ, Beth Am, and IKAR. The program will be hosted by Beth Am, who will be providing us with a room for an Orthodox minyan for both Mincha and Ma'ariv.
MONDAY, AUGUST 8TH
Fast Begins – 7:49 PM
Mincha – 7:35 PM
Ma’ariv, Eicha and Kinot – 7:50 PM
TUESDAY, AUGUST 9TH
Shacharit and Kinot #1 – 6:30 AM AT BDJ
Shacharit and Kinot #2 – 8:30 AM; we will again be davening and reciting kinot with the members and rabbis of YICC & BJ,
this year hosted at YOUNG ISRAEL OF
CENTURY CITY.
Chatzot (Midday) – 12:59 PM
First Mincha (tallit and tefillin):
BDJ minyan at Beth Am at 6:15 PM, followed by
KLAL YISRAEL LEARNING
at 7:00 PM as we join with the members and rabbis of IKAR and Temple Beth Am.
Second Mincha (tallit and tefillin):
7:15 PM AT BDJ
Dvar Torah with Rabbi Devin Villarreal
Ma'ariv - 8:05 PM
Fast Ends – 8:14 PM
Preview and download the music from the Yom Hashoah seder here.
Erev Yom Kippur – Friday, Erev Shabbat, September 17th
Selichot 6:45 AM
Shacharit 7:00 AM
Mincha 4:00 PM
Candlelighting by 6:40 PM
Kol Nidre - Friday, September 17th 6:35 PM
Yom Kippur - Shabbat, September 18th 8:00 AM
Yizkor 11:30 AM
Mincha 4:50 PM
Shofar Blowing
Havdalah 7:34 PM