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Shabbos
Candle-lighting Time
This week, candle-lighting will be at 7:42pm*
* The Happy Minyan begins Shabbos early in the summer, prior to candle-lighting, with Mincha on Friday evening at 6:30pm.
If you begin Shabbos early, be sure to recite Shema (again) after nightfall.
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When Tisha B'Av
Falls on Shabbos
This year, the calendar date of the 9th of Av falls on Shabbos. It is forbidden to mourn on Shabbos. Therefore the mournful observance of this day is pushed until the following day, the 10th of Av.
This Shabbos, even though it is technically the 9th of Av, we may eat meat and drink wine as usual, and sing Shabbos songs and study the Torah portion, etc.
Throughout the year, there is usually a more serious tone to Shalosh Seudos, the Third Meal of Shabbos, for a few reasons, including that Shabbos is soon departing. This week at Shalosh Seudos we similarly feel pangs of the imminent departure of Shabbos. Additionally, we finish eating at sundown (7:45pm this year, with the fast beginning at 8:00pm), which is earlier than usual, but the fast of Tisha B'Av always begins at sundown.
Leather shoes are removed at Maariv evening service. You may leave your non-leather shoes at the minyan before Shabbos.
One recites "Hamavdil" to conclude Shabbos, however Havdallah is only made on Sunday night after the fast.
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Shabbos Chazon
This Shabbos, the Shabbos before Tisha B'Av, is called Shabbos Chazon - the Shabbos of Vision. It is named after the opening words of the day's reading from the prophets ("haftara"), which is the third of the series of readings known as the "Three of Rebuke." On this Shabbos, say the Chassidic masters, we are granted a vision of the Third Temple; we may not see it with our physical eyes, but our souls see it, and are empowered to break free of our present state of galus (exile and spiritual displacement) and bring about the Redemption and the rebuilding of the Temple. May we be blessed that this Shabbos Chazon is different, and not only do we have this spiritual vision this Shabbos, but also may we literally see the redeption and the Third Temple now!
Good Shabbos, and in the hopes of the redemption today - Good Yomtov!
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Tisha B'Av Laws and Customs
(Ordinarily, since we do not mourn on Shabbos, and Tisha B'Av is the saddest day on the Jewish calendar, this would be in a separate email from our Shabbos newsletter. However, since Tisha B'Av falls on Shabbos this year, and the observance of the solemn day begins immediately after Shabbos, this is going out now to assist you, in case we unfortunately need to observe Tisha B'Av again this year.)
1. No eating or drinking until nightfall the following evening.
Pregnant and nursing women are also required to fast. If one suspects it could be harmful to the baby or mother, a rabbi should be consulted.
A woman within 30 days after birth need not fast. Others who are old, weak, or ill should consult with a rabbi. (Mishna Berura 554:11) Medicine may be taken on Tisha B'Av, preferably without water.
In case of great discomfort, the mouth may be rinsed with water. Great care should be taken not to swallow anything. (Mishna Berura 567:11)
2. Other prohibitions include:
a) Any bathing or washing, except for removing specific dirt - e.g. cleaning the eyes in the morning (Orach Chayim 554:9, 11).
(Upon rising in the morning, before prayers, or after using the bathroom, one washes only the finger tips. See Orach Chayim 554:10, 613:3, and Mishna Berura 554:26)
b) Anointing oneself for pleasure.
(Deodorant is permitted.)
c) Having marital relations.
d) Wearing leather shoes.
(Leather belts may be worn.)
e) Learning Torah, since this is a joyful activity.
It is permitted to learn texts relevant to Tisha B'Av and mourning - e.g. the Book of Lamentations, Book of Job, parts of Tractate Moed Katan, Gittin 56-58, Sanhedrin 104, Yerushalmi end of Ta'anis, and the Laws of Mourning. In-depth study should be avoided. (Mishna Berura 554:4)
3. Other mourning practices include:
a) Sitting no higher than a foot off the ground. After midday, one may sit on a chair. (Orach Chayim 559:3)
b) Not engaging in business or other distracting labors, unless it will result in a substantial loss. (Orach Chayim 554:24)
c) Refraining from greeting others or offering gifts. (Orach Chayim 554:20)
d) Avoiding idle chatter or leisure activities.
Note: Following Tisha B'Av, all normal activities may be resumed, except for the following which are delayed until midday of the 10th of Av, because the burning of the Temple continued through the 10th of Av: taking haircuts, washing clothes, bathing, eating meat and drinking wine, listening to music, and swimming. (Since this year, the observance of Tisha B'Av is on the 10th of Av, many of these activities are permitted immediately afterward.)
4. Prayer on Tisha B'Av
* Lights in the synagogue are dimmed, candles are lit, and the curtain is removed from the Ark. The cantor leads the prayers in a low, mournful voice. This reminds us of the Divine Presence which departed from the Holy Temple.
* The Book of Eicha (Lamentations), Jeremiah's poetic lament over the destruction of Jerusalem and the First Temple, is read both at night and during the day.
* Following both the night and day service, special "Kinos" (elegies) are recited.
* In the morning, the Torah portion of Devarim 4:25-40 is read, containing the prophecy regarding Israel's future iniquity and exile. This is followed by the Haftorah from Yeremiahu (8:13, 9:1-23) describing the desolation of Tzion.
In the afternoon, Shemos 32:11-14 is read. This is followed by the Haftorah from Yishayahu 55-56.
* Since Tallis and Tefillin represent glory and decoration, they are not worn at Shacharis. Rather, they are worn at Mincha, as certain mourning restrictions are lifted.
* Prayers for comforting Tzion, "Nacheim", and "Aneinu" are inserted into the Amidah prayer at Mincha.
* Shortly after the fast is broken, it is customary to say Kiddush Levana.
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Happy Minyan News and Upcoming Events
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* "Early Shabbos" Mincha & Kabballas Shabbos Davening Time:
Mincha on Erev Shabbos is now at
6:30pm through the summer.
Kabballas Shabbos and Maariv follow Mincha.
* Happy Minyan Simcha Buddies:
Simcha Buddies meets upstairs at the Happy Minyan every Shabbos morning, from 10:15am-12:15pm, and features our highly popular Parsha Puppets, led by Adam Silver.
My Gym outdoor activity is back!, but our usual teen counselors are all still on summer break through August. Therefore...
***ALL children, regardless of age, MUST be supervised by a parent
.
Do not leave your child in the
back play area or
upstairs unattended at any time.***
* This Shabbos, 7/25 - Special Shalosh Seudos of Inspiration and Unity:
* Forming a New Nusach Sefard (Chasidic) Weekday Minyan in Pico-Robertson:
Our friends at
Kahal Chasidim She'aris Yaakov are forming a new weekday Shacharis minyan at their new location at 9017 West Pico Blvd. If you are interested in coming to this weekday minyan, please
click here to fill out a form letting them know your contact information and availability. They are also hosting a seed program this summer, to begin after Tisha B'Av. If you are interested in signing up for a study partner, please
click here.
*
Happy Birthday, Happy Minyan!
20 years ago was the first time there was a "Happy Minyan"... right here in LA! Now, there are dozens of Happy Minyan's - ie. "Carlebach-style" davening - B"H, that in some way were inspired by us, and hundreds and thousands of Jews around the world experience the special "ruach" we enjoy every week. (May our Rebbe, Reb Shlomo, ztz"l have much nachas from us, and smile down on us from Shamayim!) And now, we intend to celebrate this milestone all year long! The celebration has already begun on
Facebook with the creation of two photo albums called
"Historical Happy Minyan". The
first album spans 1995-2006, and also includes some pictures of Reb Shlomo Carlebach with our chevrah in the early 90's. The
second album spans 2006 - 2015. Pictures will be added to the albums every (Throwback) Thursday, BE"H, all year long! If you have pictures to contribute to the Happy Minyan archives, please email the pictures, (or send a message letting us know if there are too many pictures you have to send and we'll get together!) to
info@happyminyan.org
.
* BUY Bentzion Simmond'
s New Book SOULAR POWER and help support the minyan!
Woohoo!
Soular Power - Unlocking the Eight Gates to Joy and Abundance
is a fun, empowering spiritual handbook that helps you shift from fear to love in as little as 60 seconds. It's your personal ego-soul ON-OFF switch!
***And 10% of the book sales will be donated to the Happy Minyan!***
* Refuah Shleimah: Chana Anna bas Adina, *Yehoshua Yehochanan Yedidyah bar Chana*, Gila bat Frances, Tziporah bat Gila, Chayim Yechiel ben Malka, Yosef Chaim ben Sara Bracha haLevy, Pesach Tzvi ben Sara Bracha haLevy, Shoshana Chana bas Chava Erika, Lieba Shoshana bas Masha, Miriam bas Yetta, Dona bat B'era, Sarah Chaya bat Birtha, Zev Zvi ben Baila, Gila Meira bas Feiga Leah, Shlomo Yosef ben Esther, Shlomo Eliezer Ben Pesia, Shoshana Chaya bas Miriam, Shaul ben Sarah, Sara Tovia bas Rahel Mira, Morasha Arielle bas Rahel Mira, Ezra Avraham ben Chasha, Benyomin Refoel Menachem Mendel ben Tova Chana, Shimon ben Tikvah, Yehudit Miriam bat Celia, Hendy bas Chaya Raiza, Chaya bas Sarah Henya ...b'soch sh'ar cholei am yisroel.
*Reb Yedidya Blanton (
Yehoshua Yehochanan Yedidyah bar Chana) is currently at
and will continue teaching his weekly Likutei Moharan class there!
Sunday nights, 8:00pm-9:30pm
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Chazon - Seeing a Glimpse
I want to tell you something very very strong.
Chazon is always about seeing the future and here Tisha B'Av is to see the past, so someone asked me how does Shabbos Chazon fit in with Tisha B'Av? Strong question. So I answered like this. Everybody knows that the Beis Hamikdash was destroyed because people didn't love each other. What does it mean to not love one another? It means I don't see you, if I hate you I don't see you, simple as it is!
So listen to this, everybody knows that the Beis Hamikdash was destroyed on a Saturday night. On the very last Shabbos they were there, they knew the Beis Hamikdash has just a few more minutes to be standing. Can you imagine with how much love the people met each other in the Beis Hamikdash that last Saturday night? People who hated each other their whole lives, people who spit at each other, can you imagine the way they saw each other that last Shabbos?
So every Shabbos Chazon the holiest thing happens to us yidden. The Ribbono Shel Olam is showing us every Jew who ever lived from Avraham Avinu until Mashiach is coming. He is showing us every yidele and whatever happens to them.
This is the Chazon.
In 1963, I had the privilege of being with the Holy Vizhnitzer Rebbe in St. Moritz, Switzerland on Tisha b'Av. And there was a Yiddele there who started chanting Eichah, (the Book of Lamentations) but he was crying so much that he made the reading very long.
So the Vizhnitzer said, "Please make it fast". The Yiddele didn't make it fast, so the Rebbe gave Eichah to somebody else to read.
At the end of Eichah, everybody was standing around the Holy Vizhnitzer. And the Rebbe said, "I want you to know, my holy father, the heilige Reb Yisrael Vizhnitzer, was up all night on Tisha b'Av. And he had some Yidden with him who knew some niggunim, some melodies, which were not so sad and not really happy but were in-between - they were holy niggunim for Eichah. My father and his Chassidim were up all night singing Eichah - but not with the traditional melody, with other niggunim."
I didn't understand why the Rebbe told us this until I found a mind-blowing teaching by the Radomsker Rebbe. He said like this:
"When a son is crying, a good father consoles his son. What happens when both the father and the son are crying? If the son is a good son, then for a few moments he forgets his own pain and tries to console his father."
On Tisha b'Av, we are sad because of what happened to the Temple, which really means that on Tisha b'Av, we start becoming sad because of what happened to ourselves.
But it is even worse.
The truth is, on Tisha b'Av night we are crying - and G-d is crying as well. The Radomsker says that real people forget for a moment their own pain, and they mamesh pretend to be happy - for just a few minutes - in order to make it easier on their Father in Heaven. Because the destruction was hardest on Him. If only we felt God's pain.
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| Can't Afford To Have Another Tisha B'Av |
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Moshe's Last Speech
Every year before Tisha B'Av we are always beginning the book of Devarim. What is this new book teaching us about fixing the world?
David Sacks teaches every Shabbos morning at 8:30am at the Happy Minyan, 9218 West Pico Blvd, and every Sunday morning at 9:30 am at Congregation Mogen David, 9717 W. Pico Blvd.
You can also listen to David Sacks online anytime by going to his website Spiritual Tools for an Outrageous World.
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Descent For The Sake Of Ascent
In a sicha (Torah and Chassidus talk) given by the Lubavitcher Rebbe zt"l on Shabbos Chazon 5750 (1990), the Rebbe opens with a well known Chassidic explanation: The name of this Shabbos, Shabbos Chazon, (it is so named) because on this Shabbos, the Future Temple is shown to everyone.
This explanation is the opposite of the simple and straightforward meaning of Shabbos Chazon. "Chazon Yeshayahu" [Is. Chap 1] is the third and last in a series of three haftaros known as T'lasa D'puranusa - three (Haftorah readings) of retribution. Chazon Yeshayahu, which is always read on the Shabbos before Tisha B'Av - the fast of the 9th of Menachem Av, is replete with very strong words of rebuke and warnings of impending destruction.
On the seven Shabbasos following Tisha bAv, we read a series of seven Haftorah portions known as Shiv'ah D'nechamsa - the seven (readings) of comfort - prophecies containing Hashem's words of comfort to the Jewish people.
Thus, the Chassidic teaching that it is particularly on Shabbos Chazon that every one of us is shown the Beis Hamikdash of the future is astounding. The Rebbe asks, would it not have been more appropriate that the vision of the future Beis Hamikdash should be shown after Tisha B'Av, when the Children of Israel are being comforted, rather than when they are being foretold of the coming destruction of the [first] Beis Hamikdash?
The explanation, says the Rebbe is based on the principle of "Yeridah L'tzorech Aliyah" - a descent for the sake of ascent.
Hashem is the essential Good, and it is the nature and desire of good, to do good. Therefore there really is no room for any possibility of a true descent in Hashem's world, for that would be the opposite of the good. Therefore it must be, the Rebbe explains, that the intent and ultimate purpose of the descent is that it should bring about an ascent of a much higher caliber and order. Since the essence of everything is its intent and purpose, we can understand that substance of the descent is the ascent that it will bring about as a result. And so, the descent is actually the beginning and a stage for the ascent.
We need to perceive the descent as a purposeful transition phase towards an even higher ascent. When you want to throw a ball high into the air, you first lower your hand and pull it back to get a lot of power behind the ball. Even though you have lowered your hand, you did it only for the sake of the greater ascent.
Chassidus emphasizes that we are shown the third and ultimate Beis Hamikdash particularly on this Shabbos, before Tisha b'Av, before we go into deep mourning, so that we should not forget that the descent is for the sake of ascent! Mourn? Yes. Be sad? No!
Rav Sholom founded Yeshivat Simchat Shlomo in Reb Shlomo Carlebach's honor in 2001, where he teaches daily and weekly classes in Chasidut. To learn more about the Yeshiva or to sign up for his emails, go to
shlomoyeshiva.org and to watch the yeshiva classes online, go to
Yeshivat Simchat Shlomo Youtube Channel.
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Rachel Landsman on Parshas Devarim
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What's the Good Word in Devarim
This week we begin reading from the last book of the Torah, the book of Devarim. This is also the name of this week's parsha. Generally speaking, the names of both the parshios (weekly Torah portions) as well as the Five Books of the Torah (Chumashim) are named based on the first significant word mentioned in the first line or two of that section. In this week's case, the word is "Devarim", which actually means "words". "These are the words which Moshe spoke unto all of Israel..."
Our Sages point out that the significance of those words that follow is that they are being said by Moshe himself, as opposed to the majority of the Torah which was taught to the masses by Aharon, Yehoshua, or the other elders. In a way, that places a higher importance on these words. And what are these precious words he spoke? Mainly, Moshe gives over words of instruction and guidance, some are more like rebuke and some are more like encouragement. They are also the parting words he gave over before his death.
The word "Devarim" also means "things". Words are so powerful that we call them things. Yes, in our tradition, words are like tangible items. A good word can ultimately lead to the creation of good things. A discouraging word can, G-d Forbid, lead to destruction and negative things. So it makes sense that Moshe leaves us with words, powerful and instructional words, because he wanted to leave some things behind... some real and important things.
Perhaps this is why so often when two people part, they part with good words, wishing each other well.
This Saturday night through Sunday we commemorate Tisha B'Av, the anniversary of many tragedies that have befallen the Jewish People, the saddest day on the Jewish calendar. We are taught that national tragedies, (may we be spared any further suffering), are meant to bring us closer as a People. This is traditionally a time when we all reflect on our state as a People and hopefully resolve to really love our neighbor as ourselves. Maybe we can take on something kind of simple, like parting with a good word. A blessing. A thank you. A good wish. Because you never know what good it could lead to - perhaps it could lead to the healing and redemption for which we are all yearning.
May we all be blessed with good words and good things. |
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