The destruction of Jerusalem and the loss of the Jewish state are not the only sad events that have occurred on the ninth of Av. The Mishnah enumerates the following: On the ninth of Av it was decreed against our fathers that they should not enter the Land of Israel (Num. 14:29), the Temple was destroyed both the first and the second times, Bethar was captured, and Jerusalem was ploughed up M. Ta’an 4:6).

The destruction of Jerusalem and the loss of the Jewish state are not the only sad events that have occurred on the ninth of Av. The Mishnah enumerates the following: On the ninth of Av it was decreed against our fathers that they should not enter the Land of Israel (Num. 14:29), the Temple was destroyed both the first and the second times. Bethar was captured, and Jerusalem was ploughed Up (M. Ta’an, 4:6).

It is a tragic coincidence that since the time of the Mishnah, many other calamitous events in Jewish history have occured on the ninth of Av. On Tish’ah Be’av in 1290, King Edward I signed the edict compelling his Jewish subjects to leave in England. The expulsion from Spain occured on the same day in 1492. Tish’ah Be’av also marked the outbreak of World War I, begining a long period of suffering for the Jewish people. Not only did this period witness the pogroms and massacres perpetrated against the Jews of Russia, Poland, and other countries of Eastern Europe, but it was also the prelude to World War II and the savage destruction of six million Jews.

Since the reestablishment of the Jewish state, it has been maintained in some quarters that Tish’ah Be’av and the other fasts connected with the destruction Of Jerusalem have lost their meaning and should be discontinued. Some even claim that with the establishment of the Jewish state the prophecy of Zechariah has been realized, and therefore we should fulfill the second part of the prophecy, observing the fast days as festivals. (A sad precedent for this is Shabbetai Zvi’s proclaiming Tish’ah Be’av a festival of joy.)

The opponents of this view insist that the fasts must still be observed since the redemption of Israel is not yet complete. For many years they supported their arguments by pointing out that even the city of Jerusalem was not wholly in Jewish hands, while much of the ancient land of Israel also remained under enemy domination.

Notwithstanding the changes in the political situation following the war of 1967, with Jerusalem now integrated into the State of Israel and the rest of the land under Israeli control, at least for the time being, there was and is no need for such apologetics. Though the fasts are a challenge for “renew our days as of old,” the events commemorated by Tish’ah Be’av cannot be undone, and it is necessary to remember them, whether to establish continuity with our past, or, as Maimonides suggested, as a constant stimulus for repentance and good deeds.

Dr. Robert Gordis, after an extensive discussion of the question, concludes that the fast must be retained. “In sum,” he writes, “Tisha B’av can perform these basic functions for Jews living in the middle of the twentieth century, with the state of Israel before them as a reality. It can keep Jews mindful of the tasks which lie ahead in the areas of Jewish religious rebirth and of ethical living, both in the state of Israel and throughout the world. It can focus attention upon the universal aspects of the Messianic hope, which have long been integral to Judaism. Finally, it can help to remind Jews of the long record of sacrifices and sufferings of past generations, and thus prevent the cultural degeneracy which would follow from the ignoring of the achievements of Galut or Diaspora” (Gordis, Judaism for the Modern Age, P. 210).

The fast of Tish’ah Be’av begins the night before, as does the fast of Yom Kippur, and therefore the last meal before the fast must be eaten before sunset. This meal, called the seudah mafseket  because it marks the boundary between the periods of eating and fasting, was characterized by certain mourning customs. As at the meal served to mourners after a funeral, it was customary to eat special foods that were signs of mourning, such as eggs and lentils. Some pious people went so far as to dip the bread in ashes and sit on the ground during the meal (O.H. 552 in Rama). While these expressions of mourning have fallen into desuetude, we retain the mood by keeping the meal modest and simple.

At Minhah Tahanun is not recited. If the day before Tish’ah Be’av falls on a Sabbath, tzidkatcha is omitted at Minhah (O.H. 552:12 in Rama).

Before the Ma’ariv service, the Parokhet is removed from the ark as a sign of mourning (O.H. 559:2 in Rama). As another sign of mourning, the congregants remove their shoes if they are made of leather (O.H. 554:16). It was once customary not to wear leather shoes during the whole of Tish’ah Be’av, but the practice is now limited by some to the time and place of the service (O.H. 554:17).

Ma’ariv is recited in a subdued voice and a mournful tone (O.H. 559:1 in Rama). The ‘Amidah is followed by the complete Qaddish, including titkabel.

After Qaddish the worshippers sit on the ground or on stools (O.H. 559:3 in Rama) for the reading of Eicha –the Book of Lamentations (O.H. 559:1-2). It is chanted in a special plaintive cantillation, and it is Customary for the reader to raise his voice at the beginning of each chapter. The last verse, hashivenu elecha, is recited aloud by the congregation, and then repeated by the reader (O.H. 559:1 in Rama), The chanting of Eicha is followed by Qinnot, sorrowful hymns that emphasize the import of Tish’ah Be’av and lament the tragic events associated with it (O.H. 559:2). The Qinnot are followed by veatah kadosh. On a Saturday night, when veatah kadosh is recited the whole year, vayehi noam is omitted (O.H. 559:2). Veatah kadosh is added after the Qinnot because it is necessary to follow the recitation of these lamentations with a prayer for the coming of the Messiah, who will put an end to our mourning. The introductory passage ( uva l’tzion goel ), however, is not said because there is a tradition that the deliverance will not come at night (Shibbolei Haleqet 267). Another reason for the omission is that this passage speaks of the Covenant of the Torah, and Tish’ah Be’av is one of the rare occasions when Torah study is not permitted (Munk, World of Prayer, 2:331; O.H. 554:1).

The complete Qaddish follows, but the verse titkabel is omitted, as in the prayers in a house of mourning (O.H. 559:4 in Rama). The same form is followed in the Qaddish after Shaharit but not at Minhah. The reason for the omission is that in the Book of Lamentations we say satam tefilati (Lam. 3:8). If the gates of prayer are closed, it would be a contradiction to say titkabel (Kitov, Sefer Hatoda’ah 2:378).

In accordance with a tradition originating with Rabbi Meir of Rothenburg (ca. 1215-1293), the Talit and Tefilin are not worn at Shaharit (O.H. 553:1), as an additional sign of mourning. The Tefilin are termed p’er , or “ornaments,” and the Book of Lamentations says: “The Lord has cast down tiferet yisrael,” which was interpreted as referring to the Tefilin (Munk, World of Prayer, 2:327).

The Shaharit service itself follows the pattern of the regular weekday service, except that the reader says anenu before r’faenu during the repetition of the ‘Amidah, as on all public fasts, and the Birkat Kohanim is omitted (Qitsur Shulhan ‘Arukh 124:3).

After the ‘Amidah, neither Tahanun nor avinu malkenu is said. The Torah is taken from the ark and Deuteronomy 4:25-40 is read. Three people are called up, with the last also reading the Haftarah, Jeremiah 8:13-9:23, which is chanted according to the tune of Eicha (O.H. 559-4 in Rama, and in M.A. 6).

After the Torah is returned to the ark, the worshippers sit on the ground or on low stools and recite Qinnot, followed by aeshri. The psalm lamnatzeach is omitted, but uva l’tzion is said, with the verse vaani zot briti omitted because it mentions the studying of the Torah, which is not permitted on Tish’ah Be’av (Qitsur Shulhan ‘Arukh 124:3). After uva l’tzion the complete Qaddish without titkabel is recited. The service ends with aleinu , followed by the mourners’ Qaddish. The psalm for the day is omitted. In places where ein keloheinu is said at the morning service, it is omitted on Tish’ah Be’av (O.H. 559-4 in Rama).

At Minhah the Talit and Tefilin are put on, and the prayers that were omitted in the morning (such as the psalm for the day) are recited. After ashrei the Torah is taken out and three people are called, the third also reading the Haftarah. Both the Torah reading and the Haftarah are the same as on the other public fasts. In the ‘Amidah nachem is added before the closing benediction of v’lirushalayim ircha and anenu before ki atah shomea. The reader repeats these in the repetition of the ‘Amidah but says anenu as a separate benediction before r’faenu, as on the other public fasts (Qitsur Shulhan ‘Arukh 124; 19). The Ma’ariv is the regular weekday service, and it marks the end of the fast. At the meal after the fast one should still abstain from meat and wine, since the burning of the Temple continued until the next day (O.H. 558; Qitsur Shulhan ‘Arukh 124:20).

Tish’ah Be’av is subject to the same limitations as Yom Kippur: abstention not only from food but also from bathing, anointing oneself, wearing leather shoes, and conjugal relations (O.H. 554:1). In addition, because of the joy it affords, the Sages forbade all study of sacred literature, with the exception of books that fit the mood of the day, such as the Book of Job, the parts of the, Talmud and Midrash that tell of the destruction of Jerusalem, and parts of the Book of Jeremiah (O.H. 554:1, 2).

If Tish’ah Be’av falls on a Sabbath it is postponed to Sunday, since on the Sabbath one may neither fast nor mourn publicly (O.H. 551:3; 288; Y.D. 400:1).

If it falls on a Sunday, tzidkatcha is not recited at Minhah of the Sabbath preceding it. In the Ma’ariv of Saturday night atah chonantanu is said; so is boreh moreh ha’esh, but the Havdalah on wine is postponed until Sunday night. When Havdalah is said on Sunday night, the benedictions on light and spices are omitted (O.H. 556).

If there is a funeral on Tish’ah Be’av, the tziduk hadin is not said (O.H. 559:10 in Rama).

A mourner who is sitting Shiv’ah may go to the synagogue both morning and evening for Eicha and Qinnot (O.H. 559:6).

Just as the weeks preceding Tish’ah Be’av are marked by practices that accentuate the sorrowful mood of the period, so the weeks following are marked by some practices that encourage a mood of comfort and consolation. During the seven weeks following Tish’ah Be’av we read Haftarot that comfort the children of Israel with the promise of the restoration of Zion. These are called shva d’nechamata. The first Sabbath after Tish’ah Be’av is called shabbat nachamu because the first of these seven Haftarot begins with nachamu nachamu ami] (Isa. 40:1) (Ziv Haminhagim, p. 137; O.H. 428:8).

Excerpted from:
A Guide to Jewish Religious Practice by Isaac Klein (Supplement by Rabbi Joel Roth)
91żě˛Ą of America, New York and Jerusalem, Copyright 1979, 1992

The period between Pesach and Shavu’ot is called Sefirah (“counting”). The name is derived from the practice of counting the ‘Omer, which is observed from the night of the second Seder of Pesach until the eve of Shavu’ot.

The Sefirah period is a time of sadness. According to the Talmud, this is because twelve thousand of Rabbi Akiva’s disciples died one year between Pesach and Shavu’ot (B. Yeb. 62b; Otsar Hage’onim Yebamot, p. 141). The rabbis explain that this massacre took place because the disciples did not respect each other. Historians connect the event with the Hadrianic persecution, which followed the Bar Kokhba revolt in which Rabbi Akiva was involved (Wahrman, Hagei Yisra’el Umo’adaw, p. 166).

Some associate the somberness of these days with an even earlier period of Jewish history. The fruits of the field ripen during the time encompassed by Sefirah, and it is, therefore, a period of uncertainty — of hope and prayer that our physical sustenance will be continued in abundance (Abudraham Hashalem, p. 241; B. R. H. 16a). A contemporary scholar has suggested that this uncertainty was due, in particular, to the fact that in Israel, the hot winds that are so harmful to the crops blow between Pesach and Shavu’ot (Wahrman, Hagei Yisra’el Umo’adaw, p. 171).

The ‘Omer could no longer be brought to the Temple of Jerusalem after the destruction. The counting was continued, however, as a zekher lemikdash (remembrance of the Temple) — hence another reason for sadness (B. Men. 66a; Kol Bo, chap. 55; Maimonides, Hil. Sefirat Ha’omer). It was easy to superimpose other sorrowful memories on such a period, and the Hadrianic persecution was the most prominent of these.

The Crusades added another reason for sorrow, especially for the Jews of Germany, since the massacres perpetrated by the Crusaders also took place at this time of the year (O.H. 493:2 in M.D. 2).

Another reason for sadness was added in modern times. While the crematoria and gas chambers of the Nazis operated all year round, some notable tragic events took place in the Sefirah period. The Parliament of Israel fixed the twenty-seventh of Nisan as Memorial Day for those slaughtered by the Nazis during World War II. In addition, the day before Israel Independence Day is called Yom Hazikaron for those who died in the War of Liberation. The last great deportation to the gas chambers, that of the Jews of Hungary, took place during the Sefirah period

These sad events are memorialized by our refraining from participation in joyous events during this period. No weddings should take place, and it is customary not to have the hair cut (O.H. 493:2). No event involving music and dancing should be scheduled during Sefirah (O.H. 493:1 in M.A. 1).

The one interruption in this doleful period is Lag Ba’Omer the thirty-third day of the counting of the ‘Omer, which falls on the eighteenth of Iyar. Evidently on this day there was an interruption in the oppression and hence the requirements of Sefirah were waived.

There are numerous variations in the customs prevailing during this period (O.H. 493:3). Some observe mourning up to Shavu’ot, excluding Lag Ba’Omer only (O.H. 493 in M.D. 2; ibid. in Sha’arei Teshuvah 8); some observe mourning only until Lag Ba’Omer (O.H. 493:1 in Rama); others start the period of sadness on the first day of Iyar (O.H. 493:3) and count until Shavu’ot, with the exception of Lag Ba’Omer; and still others begin on the first day of Iyar and continue until three days before Shavu’ot (Hayyei Adam 130:11).

In Ashkenazic communities, the most widespread custom has been to observe mourning from Pesach until the three days before Shavu’ot. Exceptions are made on Rosh Hodesh lyar, Rosh Hodesh Sivan, and Lag Ba’Omer (see in Mishnah Berurah, O.H. 493:15). Some add the fifth of lyar, which is Israel Independence Day.

The Committee on Jewish Law and Standards of the Rabbinical Assembly, in 1949, adopted the Geonic tradition with the following statement:

“According to Geonic tradition, marriages in the Sefrah days were forbidden only from the second day of Passover until Lag B’Omer, and not from Lag B’Omer on (Otsar Hageonim, Yebamot 140).

“This tradition was also practiced in the Medieval period in the Jewish communities of France.

“The prohibition against marriages during these thirty-three days applied only to wedding ceremonies accompanied by dancing, singing and music.

“We therefore recommend that the Geonic tradition concerning marriages during Sefirah be followed, and that the prohibition be observed from the second day of Pesach until Lag B’Omer. During this period, marriages not accompanied by dancing, singing and music may be performed.

“On those days, during the thirty-three day period, when Tahanun is not recited in the synagogue, as well as on the fifth day of lyar (Israel Independence Day), marriages of a public and festive nature may be solemnized.”

A later decision of the Law Committee shortened the period even more and introduced a new element. On the one hand, the whole basis for the restrictions during the Sefirah period rests on shaky grounds. On the other hand, two other events which happened within our own memory must be memorialized and given significance. These are the martyrdom of the six million victims of the Holocaust and the establishment of the State of Israel. For the one we have declared the twenty-seventh of Nisan as Yom Hasho’ah, and for the other we have declared the fifth of Iyar as Yom Ha’atzma’ut. Both are gaining more and more recognition by Klal Yisrael. Hence it was proposed and passed that no joyous functions be allowed on the weekend before the twenty-eighth of Nisan, and that it be declared a period of mourning for the six million martyrs. Beyond that there should be no prohibition whatsoever (see Law Committee archives).

We should add the caveat expressed by the Rama, who says that in order to avoid separation, we should strive to avoid a situation where some Jews in a city adopt one custom and others, another custom (O.H. 493:3). In large communities this may not be applicable, but in small ones it is good advice.

The Warsaw Ghetto Memorial. It has become the custom in many communities to memorialize the martyrs of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. There is, as yet, no uniform pattern of observance. However, the day has tended to become a memorial not only for the fighters of the Warsaw Ghetto but also for the six million martyrs. When a pattern finally crystallizes, this day will rival the ninth of Av in solemnity and in the memories it will evoke. As of this writing, the twenty-seventh of Nisan has been accepted as Yom Hasho’ah.

Yom Ha’atsma’ut. The fifth of Iyar has been designated the official day for celebrating Israel’s independence, for it was on the fifth of Iyar, 5708, that Israel’s independence was declared. In Israel it has become both a national and religious holiday. As the years pass, a tradition of observance is beginning to crystallize. A special service and a guide for observance have been drawn up by the Chief Rabbinate. In time Yom Ha’atsma’ut will certainly take its place alongside Hanukkah and Purim.

In the diaspora Yom Ha’atsma’ut has also been recognized as a day of rejoicing. The Rabbinical Assembly has prepared a special service that expresses thanks for the great deliverance and recognition of the interdependence of the Jewries of Israel and the diaspora.

In Israel the day preceding Independence Day is called Yom Hazikaron, a day of remembrance for all those who made the supreme sacrifice during the War of Liberation.

Pesach Sheini

In the time of the Temple, those who could not bring the Paschal lamb at the required time, either for reasons of ritual impurity or because they were traveling and were too far from Jerusalem to arrive in time for Pesach, could bring the Paschal lamb a month later, on the fourteenth of lyar (Num. 9:612). Today the day on which they did this (called Pesach Sheini) is remembered with a slight variation in the service, i.e., Tahanun is not recited. In some places a piece of matsah is eaten during the day (Singer, Ziv Haminhagim, p. 104).

Lag Ba’Omer

The thirty-third day of the ‘Omer, which falls on the eighteenth of lyar, is a semiholiday (O.H. 493:2 in Rama). According to tradition, the calamities of the Hadrianic persecution were interrupted on the eighteenth of Iyar, and as a result it was declared a semiholiday (Maharil [Warsaw, 5634], p. 21; [Bnai Brak, 5719], pp. 41-42). Tahanun is not recited, weddings and joyous occasions are permitted, and one may cut his hair (O.H. 493:2 in Rama).

In Israel the day is also observed as hilula’ Derabi Shim’on bar Yohai the Yahrzeit of Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai, the alleged author of the Zohar. Large numbers of people visit Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai’s grave in Meron and celebrate the day as a full festival.

The origin of this celebration is attributed to the great kabbalist Isaac Luria. In Lag Ba’Omer he saw not only the cessation of the plague that afflicted Rabbi Akiva’s disciples, but also the fact that Rabbi Akiva’s surviving students saved the Torah. The student who was most famous in the eyes of the kabbalists was Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai to whom they ascribed the authorship of the Zohar. According to tradition, he died on the eighteenth of lyar. It was an ancient custom to celebrate the Yahrzeit of great people as a holiday (Otsar Hageonim, Yebamot 241), and Rabbi Isaac Luria applied this to the Yahrzeit of Rabbi Shimon bar Yohai, thus making Lag Ba’Omer even more significant (see Wahrman, Hagei Yisra’el Umo’adaw, p. 167). Lag Ba’Omer is also called the scholars’ festival because of its association with the students of Rabbi Akiva. It is perhaps for this reason that the celebration has been observed mostly by schoolchildren. It used to be customary for children to make bows and arrows and engage in archery on Lag Ba’Omer. This is an obvious reference to the warlike activities of Rabbi Akiva’s followers. Later kabbalists saw an association with the rainbow, which is a symbol of redemption, since there is a tradition that the rainbow will appear in the sky as the harbinger of the final redemption (Benei Yisakhar, month of Iyar, 1).

Shavu’ot, occurring on the sixth and seventh of Sivan, is the second of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals. Like the other Pilgrimage Festivals, it commemorates an important event in the history of the Jewish people, it has an agricultural reference, marking a stage in the harvest, and it imparts an essential religious truth.

The agricultural reference is the most apparent since Shavu’ot marks the end of the counting of the ‘Omer. The agricultural significance of Shavu’ot is also indicated by the first two references to the festival in the Torah: “And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, even the first fruits of the wheat harvest” (Exod. 34:22); also, “And the feast of harvest, the first fruits of thy labors, which thou sowest in the field” (Exod. 23:16).

Thus two names are given to this festival: Hag Haqatsir (harvest festival), because of its agricultural aspect, and Hag Hashavu’ot, which does not indicate any characteristic of the festival except the date, i.e., that it comes after the counting of seven weeks (Deut. 16:10-12).

In the Talmud the name ‘Atseret is also given to the festival (M. R.H. 1:2; B. Pes. 68b). Our sages regarded Shavu’ot as the conclusion of the festival of Pesach, and therefore called it ‘Atseret, just as the conclusion of the Sukkot festival is called Shemini ‘Atseret (Shir Hashirim Rabbah 7:2).

According to rabbinic interpretation of the Bible (B. Shab. 86b-88a), the Ten Commandments were given on the sixth day of Sivan. Shavu’ot thus is zman matan toratenu, commemorating this event and emphasizing the Torah’s sanctity.

Torah, in its all-inclusive sense as the heritage of the children of Israel, is literally khayeynu veorekh yameynu (“our life and the length of our days”). Sa’adia Gaon said that Israel is a people by virtue of the Torah. It is one element in the Jewish “trinity”: kudsha brikh hu, orayta v’yisrael–“the Holy One Blessed Be He, the Torah, and Israel”(Zohar, Aharei Mot 73a).

As the Hebrew phrase torah min hashamayim indicates, the Torah is divinely ordained. Its moral laws are both normative and of divine origin, possessing unique validity that we must affirm and emphasize every day.

Professor Kaplan has written: “…the moral law must be regarded not as some prudential arrangement or social convention, but as inherent in the very nature of reality. The human mind loses all sense of security, and suffers from failure of nerve the moment it begins to suspect that the moral law is man-made” (The Meaning of God in Modern Jewish Religion, p. 302).

The rabbis in the Midrash express the same thought poetically. Rabbi Abahu said in the name of Rabbi Yohanan: “When God gave the Torah, no bird sang or flew, no ox bellowed, the angels did not fly, the Serafim ceased from saying, ‘Holy, holy,’ the sea was calm, no creature spoke; the world was silent and still, and the divine voice said: ‘I am the Lord thy God… ‘” (Exodus Rabbah 29:9). When God spoke the world was hushed. This gives us the common denominator in the various interpretations of torah min hashamayim. The validity of the moral law is not conventional or prudential, but divine.

“We should therefore recognize in the doctrine of Torah min hashamayim? the original prophetic discovery of the moral law as the principal self-revelation of God” (Kaplan, ibid., p. 303).

Whether we consider torah min hashamayim to be a historical fact or a theological concept, the import is that the moral law has divine sanction.

“The unique element in the Jewish religion consisted in the conscious recognition that the chief function of the belief in God was to affirm and fortify the moral law …. The outstanding characteristic of the Jewish religion is its conscious emphasis upon the teaching that the moral law is the principal manifestation of God in the world” (Kaplan, ibid., p. 302).

Shavu’ot is thus the festival that bids us emphasize the primacy of the moral law and the normative character of Judaism.

Observance

The laws concerning work on Shavu’ot are the same as on Pesach. The statutory services are also the same, with variations where Shavu’ot is mentioned. Thus in the ‘Amidah we say hag hashavuot hazeh zman matan toratenu , and the reading of the Torah is, of course, especially selected for Shavu’ot. On both days of Shavu’ot two Torah scrolls are removed from the ark. On the first day, in the first scroll, we read Exodus 19 and 20, which tell of the giving of the Ten Commandments. In the second scroll we read Numbers 28:26-31, which tells of the festival of Shavu’ot. The Haftarah is Ezekiel 1:1-28, 3: 12, which contains the prophet’s vision of God.

On the second day we read Deuteronomy 15:19-16:17, which speaks of the festivals. On a Sabbath we read Deuteronomy 14:22-16:17. The Haftarah is Habakkuk 2:20-3:19, where the revelation at Sinai is mentioned (O.H. 494:1-2; Levush, O.H. 494:1).

On the second day yizkor is recited after the Torah reading, as it is on the last day of Pesach, on Shemini ‘Atseret, and on Yom Kippur (Levush, O.H. 490:9 and 494:2).

Special Observances for Shavu’ot

It is customary to start the evening services of the first night later than usual. This is to satisfy the implication of the verse sheva shabatot tmiymot (Lev. 23:15, i.e., we count seven complete weeks; therefore we wait to make sure that the forty-ninth day has been completed O.H. 494 in M.A. and M.D. ).

It was an ancient custom for Jews to remain awake for the entire first night of Shavu’ot to study Torah. The Zohar ascribes this custom to particularly pious Jews (Emor 98a). In Eastern Europe it was widely observed, and a special text for the occasion, known as tikun leil shavuot, developed which contained the first and last verses of each Sidrah, the first and last passages of each tractate of the Mishnah, and excerpts from the Zohar.

A quaint reason is given for the practice of staying awake on the first night of Shavu’ot. Legend tells that the children of Israel slept so soundly the night before the Torah was given that they had to be awakened with thunder and lightening. We, on the contrary, are up all night and need not be awakened (O.H. 494 in M.A. and Shir Hashirim Rabbah).

The more obvious reason is that we review the Torah to celebrate the anniversary of its giving.

‘Aqdamut

The hymn known as ‘Aqdamut (because it begins with that word) is a song of praise to God for having chosen Israel and for granting us the Torah, hence its inclusion in the Shavu’ot liturgy (Levush, O.H. 494:1).

It was once customary to chant ‘Aqdamut responsively at the Torah reading after the first man was called and had said the benediction and the reader had read the first verse of the reading. Now we say it before the first benediction (Singer, Ziv Haminhagim, p. 112; M.D. on O.H. 494). ‘Aqdamut was written by Rabbi Meir of Orleans, a cantor in Worms, Germany, who lived in the eleventh century. Evidently its purpose was to strengthen the people’s faith during the Crusades.

The Book of Ruth

The Book of Ruth is read on the second day of Shavu’ot. The custom is mentioned in Masekhet Soferim (14:16), and the fact that the first chapter of Midrash Ruth deals with the giving of the Torah is evidence that this custom was already well established in the period when this Midrash was compiled (Dunsky, Midrash Ruth, p. 3).

Many explanations are given for the reading of Ruth. The most quoted reason is that Ruth’s coming to Israel took place around the time of Shavu’ot, and her acceptance of the Jewish faith was like Matan Torah for the people of Israel (Abudraham Hashalem, p. 240; Levush O.H. 494:2). The acceptance of the Torah entails suffering and sacrifice for us just as it did for Ruth (Yalkut Ruth 586).

A more logical reason is the desire to have sections from all three divisions of the Bible–i.e., Torah, Nevi’im, and Ketuvim–in the liturgy of Shavu’ot and to show that they are all divine. And why the Book of Ruth? Because in the Talmud (B. B.B. 14b) Ruth is counted as the first book in the Ketuvim (Singer, Ziv Haminhagim, p. 112).

Since the Book of Ruth ends with the genealogy of David, whose forebear Ruth was, it has been suggested that it is read on Shavu’ot because there is a legend that David died on Shavu’ot (P. Hag. 2:3, P. Bet. 2:4, Ruth Rabbah 3:2).

A recent scholar has suggested that the custom had its origin in the polemics against the Karaites. The Karaites denied the validity of the Oral Law. According to biblical law, neither an Ammonite nor a Moabite can enter the fold of Israel. How, then, was Ruth accepted? The rabbis interpreted the law as referring to males only; hence Ruth could become part of the people of Israel (B. Yeb. 76b). But this interpretation is based on the Oral Law, not the Written, and thus it is proof of the validity of the Oral Law. Shavu’ot was an appropriate time to show the equal validity of both the Oral and the Written Law (Maimon, Hagim Umo’adim, p. 271).

There is a difference of opinion as to whether a benediction should be recited before the Book of Ruth is read (see Levush O.H. 494:2; Rama on O.H. 490:9; Mishnah Berurah ad loc.; Shneur Zalman of Lyady, Shulhan ‘Arukh 494:13, 17). The present practice is not to recite a benediction.

The Eating of Dairy Dishes

It is customary to eat dairy dishes on the first day of Shavu’ot. Many reasons have been given for the custom. One derives it from the verse “honey and milk shall be under your tongue” (Song of Songs 4:11), which is made to refer to the Torah, implying that the words of the Torah are as pleasant and acceptable to our ears and hearts as milk and honey are to our tongues (Kol Bo 58).

It has also been suggested that just as we have two food items (the shankbone and the egg) at the Seder to represent the two sacrificial offerings brought to the Temple on Pesach, so on Shavu’ot we have two types of food, first milk and later meat, in commemoration of the two special sacrificial offerings that were brought on Shavu’ot (O.H. 494:3).

We must mention one more reason which is still taken seriously by many though it seems almost facetious. With the giving of the Torah the dietary laws were established. Hence, when the people came home from Sinai they could not eat meat because they had none that was prepared properly. To prepare new meat properly would take too long. They had no choice, therefore, but to eat milk dishes (O.H. 494:2 in Mishnah Berurah 12).

A more logical reason, which may be an afterthought, however, connects the custom of eating dairy with restraint and self-control. The Torah is gained by eschewing pleasures and excesses. Meat is the food of those who know no restraint. Ascetics and people who seek self-control usually limit themselves to dairy dishes. Eating dairy dishes on Shavu’ot is a reminder that the Torah is given to him who lives the sober life rather than that of pleasure (Hirshovitz, Otsar Kol Minhagei Yeshurun, p. 201).

It is also customary on Shavu’ot to decorate the synagogue with flowers and foliage, and in some places the floors of the synagogue were strewn with fresh grass as a reminder of the agricultural character of the festival (O.H. 494:3 in Rama).

In some places the synagogues were adorned with branches and large plants as a reminder that according to the Mishnah (R.H. 1:2), the world is judged regarding the fruits of the trees on Shavu’ot. On Shavu’ot we thus pray for God to bless the fruit of the trees (B. R.H. 16a). Today, when flowers decorate the pulpit at all times, we simply add to the decorations and vary them.

In Israel many of the old customs are being revived, especially those having to do with the agricultural aspects of Shavu’ot. The bringing of bikkurim (first fruits) to the Temple in Jerusalem, as described in the Mishnah, was a gala affair (M. Bik. 3:1-8). It was discontinued after the destruction of the Temple, but has been revived in the villages and towns of Israel, where the children bring the first fruits of their fields with special festivities (Wahrman, Hagei Yisra’el Umo’adaw, p. 1186).

Confirmation

In many synagogues, confirmation services are held either on the first night or the first morning of Shavu’ot. The confirmation service has no roots in Jewish tradition but was instituted in the early nineteenth century in Germany by the Reform movement. It was frankly an importation from the Lutheran Church, but it struck roots in the Jewish community and was accepted by the Conservative synagogues and even by some Orthodox synagogues. There is no uniform service, no uniform age, and no uniform curriculum for preparation. The purpose, however, is to solemnly initiate Jewish boys and girls into their ancestral faith.

There were various motives behind the introduction of this rite. It was supposed to be a substitute for Bar Mitswah, and would thus apply to boys only. Then it was supposed to give equality to women as an equivalent to the Bar Mitswah. Later, when the Bar Mitswah rite was eliminated in the Reform movement, confirmation became the practice for both boys and girls (see Jewish Encyclopedia, 4:219).

In America the practice became so widespread that a Reform rabbi has written: “The confirmation ceremony, which generally attracts congregations that overflow the synagogues, is one of the chief contributions that Reform Judaism has made to the evolution of Jewish education and Jewish religious ceremonies in the American synagogues” (Universal Jewish Encyclopedia, 3:330).

Recent developments, however, have shaken this confidence. The Bar Mitswah has been reestablished with full force in all synagogues. And now–a contribution of the Conservative movement–the Bat Mitswah rite has been spreading to all segments of Judaism. Thus, all the original reasons for confirmation have disappeared. The protagonists of confirmation are hard put to find new meaning for it so as not to make it a duplication of the Bar and Bat Mitswah ceremonies. Where Bar Mitswah has a basis in tradition, and Bat Mitswah has a basis in the equalization of the sexes, confirmation is a hora’at sha’ah (temporary measure) which has lost its momentum (see CCAR Journal, June 1966, esp. the articles by Klein, Wolf, and Silverman).

In a number of synagogues confirmation has been eliminated, and instead there is a reconsecration rite with an entirely different purpose in mind.

Excerpted from:
A Guide to Jewish Religious Practice by Isaac Klein (Supplement by Rabbi Joel Roth)
91żě˛Ą of America, New York and Jerusalem, Copyright 1979, 1992

Return to Shavuot Learning

VII. Pesah (I)

1. Introduction

We noted in the preceding unit that the Pilgrimage Festivals have a threefold significance: historical, agricultural, and ideological. We can illustrate these as they apply to Pesah (Passover).

As a historical festival, Pesah commemorates the liberation of the children of Israel from Egyptian bondage. The exodus looms large not only for Pesah but also for a number of other Jewish institutions. The phrase zekher letsi’at Mitsrayim (“as a memorial of the exodus from Egypt”) occurs frequently in our liturgy. Many of the mitswot have the memory of the exodus as one of their themes. The Decalogue, in proclaiming the sovereignty of God, describes Him as the God who brought us out of the land of Egypt (Exod. 20:2: Deut. 5:6). The Qiddush for Sabbaths and festivals uses the phrase zekher letsi’at Mitsrayim and in the third paragraph of the Shema’ we recite: “I am the Lord your God, who brought thee out of the land of Egypt” (Num. 15:41). Thus Pesah is dedicated to the celebration of this historical event and to its memorialization.

As a festival of nature, Pesah is a springtime holiday that has its parallels in the calendars of other peoples. When nature reawakens and the fields bring forth their fruit again, man is impelled to rejoice. The month of Nisan is called Hodesh Ha’aviv, as it is written: “Observe the month of Aviv and keep the Passover unto the Lord thy God” (Deut. 16:1; the term ‘aviv designates the green ears of grain and thus refers to the beginning of the spring harvest). Consequently Pesah was also called Hag Ha’aviv, or the spring festival. As time passed, the agricultural theme of the festival was muted and the historical took precedence. However, a number of observances remain to celebrate the rebirth of nature. On the first day of Pesah, at Musaf, we recite the prayer for dew; on the second night we start counting the ‘Omer; and on the Sabbath of the festival it is customary to read the Song of Songs with its description of spring. This constitutes our recognition that the forces in the physical environment which make for physical survival and well-being have a divine source.

The historical theme of all the festivals teaches us “that in awakening in the nations the power of historical consciousness, [the Jews] have assumed the responsibility of directing that power into channels of peace and good will” (Kaplan, The Meaning of God in Modern Jewish Religion, p. 192). Basing the festivals on historical events gives man a sense of history, and “through his sense of history, man enlarges his field of operation far beyond the range of the three generations of time with which life is usually contemporaneous” (ibid., p. 189).

The Pilgrimage Festivals all center around the early history of our people. To understand a man’s personality, psychiatrists probe his mind to learn of his earliest experiences. The experiences of infancy and childhood have a decisive influence on the entire development of a human being. This is true of a nation as well. Our destiny has been shaped by our historical experience.

But Pesah does not focus on the exodus simply as a historical event that took place long ago. In the Haggadah we recite: “One must look upon himself as if he himself had come out of Egypt, personally” (quoted from M. Pes. 10:5). The exodus is contemporary for every generation of Jews. Jefferson said: “Eternal vigilance is the price of freedom.” Pesah provides that eternal vigilance for the Jewish people.

When Moses first approached Pharaoh regarding the liberation of the Jewish people, the king of Egypt asked: “who is this God that I should obey Him and free Israel?” (Exod. 5:2). Pharaoh knew of no god who redeems the oppressed. Professor Kaplan has written: “The conception of God as the redeemer of the oppressed has revolutionized the meaning and function of religion, and has placed it at the service of the ethical impulses” (Kaplan, The Meaning of God, p. 268). In the words of a contemporary theologian: “What makes the exodus from Egypt the pattern of redemption for all Mankind is the interpretation of the prophet who sees God as a redeemer from tyranny; the God of Israel makes history the place where man progresses to freedom” (Maybaum, The Face of God after Auschwitz, p. 177).

Kabbalists have understood freedom as the emancipation from the powers of evil and the realm of Satan, who lies in wait for man and tries to enslave him morally. Translated into modern categories of thought, this means moral responsibility as against subjugation to passion, impulse, and instinct. Thus Rabbi Kook writes: “The difference between a slave and a free man is not only a difference in status; that is, that by a matter of chance one person is subject to another person, and another person is not. We can find a wise bondman whose spirit is filled with freedom, and a free man who has the spirit of a slave. Authentic freedom is the exalted spirit to which a man and a people as a whole are elevated so that one is faithful to his inner self, to the image of God that is within him” (‘Olat Re’iyah, 2:245).

These ideas are not left in the abstract but are expressed in the many observances that cluster around Pesah.

2. The Four Parashiyot

In the six weeks preceding Pesah during the months of Adar and Nisan, there occur four special Sabbaths called Sheqalim, Zakhor, Parah, and Shabbat Hahodesh. In addition, the Sabbath immediately preceding Pesah is called Shabbat Hagadol. The first four are referred to as the ‘Arba Parashiyot and are distinguished by additional readings from the Torah and special lessons from the prophets. Two of these are connected with the celebration of Passover (M. Meg. 3:4). (A good summary of the ‘Arba Parashiyot can be found in the Mishnah Berurah on O.H. 681:1, n. 1.)

Shabbat Sheqalim

In ancient days, every male Israelite twenty years and older had to contribute a half-shekel annually to the maintenance of the Temple in Jerusalem. This had to be paid before the first of Nisan. In order to remind the people of this duty, proclamations were made on the first of Adar that the half-shekel was due (M. Sheq. 1:1). Inasmuch as Jews came to the synagogue on the Sabbath, it was instituted that on the Sabbath preceding the first of Adar, the Torah reading would include the passage describing the first proclamation of the half-shekel. On that Sabbath two Torah scrolls are removed from the ark. In one we read the portion of the week, and in the other Exodus 30:11-16, which contains this passage (O.H. 685:1). If the first day of Adar occurs on a Sabbath, three Torah scrolls are used: the first for the portion of the week, the second for the section for Rosh Hodesh (Num. 29:9-15), and the third for the section for Sheqalim (O.H. 685:1). Hatzi Qaddish is recited on the Sabbaths of the four parashiyot upon completion of the reading from the scroll prior to the one from which the Maftir is read. The Haftarah is from 11 Kings 12:1-17, which is an account of the gifts contributed for the repair of the Temple in the reign of King Jehoash. This Haftarah is recited even if Shabbat Sheqalim falls on Rosh Hodesh (O.H. 685:1).

In a leap year Shabbat Sheqalim occurs on the Sabbath before Adar II, or on Rosh Hodesh Adar II if it occurs on the Sabbath.

Shabbat Zakhor

The Sabbath preceding Purim is called Shabbat Zakhor. Again two Torah scrolls are used. In the first the portion of the week is read, and in the second, Deuteronomy 25:17-19, which tells of the battle with Amalek. This portion begins with the word zakhor-hence the name of the Sabbath. The Haftarah is from I Samuel 15:1-34, which also tells of a battle with the Amalekites. This material is associated with Purim because of a tradition that Haman was a descendant of the Amalekites since he was called an Agagite, and Agag was king of the Amalekites in the time of Samuel (I Sam. 15:8).

Shabbat Parah

The third of the four Sabbaths is Shabbat Parah. This must always precede the last of the four Sabbaths, Shabbat Hahodesh. Thus if Rosh Hodesh Nisan falls on a Sabbath and it also becomes Shabbat Habodesh, Shabbat Parah falls on the last Sabbath of Adar (O.H. 685:3-4). If Rosh Hodesh Nisan is in the middle of the week, Shabbat Habodesh falls on the last Sabbath of the month of Adar and Shabbat Parah precedes it (O.H. 685:5).

Again two Torah scrolls are used. From the first we read the portion of the week, and from the second, the laws concerning the red heifer (parah adumah) in Numbers 19:1-22. The Haftarah deals with the future purification of Israel as described in the Book of Ezekiel (36:16-38).

All Israelites carne to the Temple in Jerusalem on Pesah in order to offer the Paschal lamb. They had to be in a state of ritual purity to perform this rite. Since the ashes of the red heifer were used in the process of purification, this passage served to remind those who were not in a state of purity to take the necessary steps.

Shabbat Hahodesh

The Sabbath before the month of Nisan, or the first of Nisan if it is a Saturday, is Shabbat Hahodesh. Again two Torah scrolls are used. In the first we read the portion of the week, and in the second, Exodus 12:1-20. If Rosh Hodesh Nisan is on Sabbath, three Torah scrolls are used. In the first we read the portion of the week, in the second, the portion for Rosh Hodesh (Num. 28:9-15), and in the third, that of Shabbat Hahodesh. Qaddish is said after the reading of the second scroll. The Haftarah is Ezekiel 45: 16–46:18, which contains a description of the sacrifices to be brought on the first of Nisan, Pesah, and other festivals in the future Temple. This Sabbath celebrates the arrival of the month of Nisan, during which the liberation of the children of Israel took place.

3. Shabbat Hagadol

In addition to these four Sabbaths, the Sabbath immediately preceding Pesah is called Shabbat Hagadol (O.H. 430:1). It received the title “great” because of the importance of the approaching festival. In the opinion of at least one scholar, the Sabbath before each of the festivals was originally called Shabbat Hagadol because of the instruction sought and given respecting the observances of the coming festival (Zunz, Ritus, p. 10). The name has been preserved only in the case of the Sabbath before Pesah possibly because in this case the questions were more numerous.

Other explanations have been given. According to tradition, the tenth of Nisan in the year of the exodus was on a Saturday; it was considered a great event, in fact a miracle, that the Israelites could on that day select a lamb for sacrifice without being molested by their Egyptian masters, who, at other times, would have stoned them for such daring (Exod. 8:22; O.H. 430:1 in M.A.). Another possible reason for the name is that the Haftarah speaks of the “great day” of the Lord on which Messiah will appear (Mal. 3:4-24).

A most cogent and yet novel explanation is that the people used to return from the synagogue later than usual on this Sabbath because of the unusually long discourse that was customary on this day. Thus this Sabbath seemed “great,” i.e., longer than the other Sabbaths (Shibolei Haleqet, sec. 205).

There is no change in the service or the Torah reading on this Sabbath. According to some customs we are to recite part of the Haggadah, from ‘Avadim hayinu to lekhaper ‘al kol ‘avonoteinu, instead of Psalm 104, normally recited on Sabbath afternoons in the winter (Rama on O.H. 430:1).

VIII. Pesah (II)

10. The Seder

The scriptural exhortation to tell the story of the exodus to our children (Exod. 13:8) is interpreted as a positive commandment to retell the story each year (Lauterbach, Mekhilta, Mesekhta D’pisha, 1:17, p. 149; Maimonides, Sefer Hamitswot, mitswah 157). Hence we have the Seder.

“The Passover celebration commemorates an event which will probably symbolize for all time the essential meaning of freedom–namely freedom directed to a purpose. When Israel came forth from bondage, it was not simply to enjoy liberty but to make liberty an instrument of service” (Finkelstein, The Haggadah, p. i).

“Because Jewish tradition holds that God must be worshipped not only through prayer, but in equal degree, through study and learning, the Passover celebration is arranged primarily as a lesson, in which are mingled Jewish history, literature and religion” (ibid., p. iii). Hence the Haggadah is “an anthology of Jewish literature in almost every one of its multifarious aspects, composed in many ages and under many skies, and moulded by long centuries of usage into an harmonious whole” (Roth, The Haggadah, p. v). The name Haggadah, which means “telling,” is derived from “And thou shalt tell thy son” (Exod. 13:8).

Preliminaries

Whereas the rabbis normally discouraged displays of affluence, in the case of the Seder they urged that the table should be set lavishly with the finest silver and dishes at one’s disposal (O.H. 472:2; ibid. in Shneur Zalman of Lyady, Shulhan ‘Arukh). In many families it is customary for the chief celebrant to wear a white robe known as a Kittel (sargenes among German and Alsatian Jews). Many reasons have been given for this practice.

The Kittel is a festive garment that was worn in ancient times at all joyous celebrations. The High Priest wore white garments when officiating in the Temple of Jerusalem (Lev. 16:4), and wearing the Kittel gives the Seder the status of a sacred service in the Temple. According to the kabbalists, white symbolizes the divine attributes of lovingkindness and mercy, chesed v’rachamim, and thus reminds us that the Holy One showed lovingkindness and mercy to our ancestors in Egypt since not all of them were deserving of redemption. We should exhibit the same mercy and lovingkindness toward our fellow men. Hence the special emphasis on inviting guests who are in modest circumstances to the Seder (Wahrman, Hagei Yisra’el Umo’adaw, pp. 147 f.).

A strange interpretation of the practice maintains that the Kittel resembles a shroud and is donned as a precaution lest the celebration turn to revelry (O.H. 472 in M.D. 3).

Dr. Finkeistein has suggested that the Kittel was an adaptation of the festive garment of Jerusalem in the days of the Second Temple. As a matter of fact, many of the practices connected with the Seder derive from the life of the Jews of that period, such as eating an egg and parsley, washing the hands before touching any food, and the reclining posture which becomes free men (copied from the Persians) (Finkelstein, The Haggadah, p. iv).

The Seder Plate

The Seder Plate, containing three matsot, bitter herbs, Haroset, parsley or another vegetable, and two dishes–usually a shankbone and a roasted egg, is placed before the one who conducts the Seder (O.H. 473:4).

In accordance with the principle that one should not pass over a mitswah when he meets it), the foods on the Seder Plate are so arranged that the first one to be used is nearest to the leader of the Seder, the next one next, and so on (Rama on O.H. 473:4). Hence the arrangement is as follows:

1. Top right, the Zero’a (shankbone)
2. Top left, the egg
3. Center, Maror (bitter herbs)
4. Lower right, Haroset
5. Lower left, Karpas (parsley)

All the printed Haggadahs have fifteen words which trace the sequence of the Seder service. These are written in rhyme and were devised as a mnemonic. Abudraham quotes a variety of other mnemonic verses. The one in our printed editions has been attributed to Rashi (Kasher, Haggadah Shelemah, p. 77). It is as follows: Kadesh, Orchtz, Karpas, Yachatz, Magid, Rachsa, Motzi Matzah, Marror, Korech, Shulchan Orech, Saphun Barech, Hallel Nertza. We shall explain each term and the laws connected with it.

Kadesh: As with all festival meals, the Seder begins with Qiddush. It consists of three benedictions: one over wine, the second over the festival, and the shehechianu. On the Sabbath we begin with v’ychulu and add the appropriate references to the Sabbath. On Saturday night, before shehechianu, we insert a special Havdalah that consists of two benedictions boreh M’oire ha’esh.” and the regular Havdalah but with the variation necessitated by the festival. Here the separation is not between the holy and the profane but between the holy of a higher degree and the holy of a lesser degree. (O.H. 473:1)

Four Cups of Wine

The cup of wine used for Qiddush also counts as the first of the four cups ordained for Pesah. (O.H. 472:8, 13, 14).

Many explanations have been given for the four cups of wine. They are said to he symbolic of the four synonymous expressions for redemption used by Scripture (Exod. 6:6-7), or of the four monarchies which are to precede the final redemption (Dan. 7), or of the four figurative cups of punishment which the empire of godlessness is to drain before the event, while the four cups of comfort are administered to Israel (M. Pes. 10:1).

A modern commentator has proposed a more simple reason for the four cups. Every Sabbath and festival we have two cups of wine at the meal, one for Qiddush and one for Birkat Hamazon. Since the Haggadah has two more benedictions, one concluding the first part of the Haggadah and one concluding the second part, two more cups were added, the second for the former, and the fourth for the latter (Knebel, Haggadah shel Pesah, p. 24).

The Cup of Elijah

The question arose whether a fifth cup of wine should be drunk at the Seder, after Hallel Gadol (Ps. 136), corresponding to the fifth scriptural expression of redemption, vahevete (Exod. 6:8). Since the question remains unresolved, we pour a fifth cup but do not drink it. We call this the cup of the Prophet Elijah because when Elijah reappears to herald the coming of the Messiah, he will rule on all unanswered halakhic questions (including the question of whether a fifth cup is required). Our custom thus has been to have four cups (O.H. 481:1, but see Maimonides, Hil. Hamets Umatsah 8:10, and Rama, O.H. 481:1, who rule that the fifth is optional).

At least one modern Haggadah suggests that, following the ruling of Maimonides making the fifth cup optional, we should adopt it as our practice in gratitude for the reestablishment of the State of Israel (Silverman, Haggadah, p. 66). (For an extensive discussion of the fifth cup, see Kasher, Haggadah Shelemah, pp. 94-95.)

A person who never drinks wine, either because it is harmful to him or because he does not like it, should make a special effort on Pesah to drink from each of the four cups (O.H. 472:10).

Even children, when they have reached the age of being trained in the performance of religious commandments, should have a small cup of wine before them (O.H. 472:15).

Reclining

In ancient times laborers and slaves ate hurriedly, squatting on the ground. The well-to-do, on the other hand, reclined on cushions alongside the table. On the night of Pesah, when there is no distinction between rich and poor, we all recline at the table in the manner of free men.

Customs change, however, and the ancient triclinium (dining couch) has long since passed out of use. Thus, when we recline at the Seder table, harking back to the practice of the Jews in Palestine at the time of the Second Temple, we do not use a triclinium but sit propped up on cushions. The celebrant leans to his left when drinking the wine or eating the food (see Roth, Haggadah, p. xi et al.). Hence, when he sits down after reciting the Qiddush, the celebrant should drink the first cup of wine while reclining to the left (O.H. 472:2-3).

Orchatz – Immediately after Qiddush the hands are washed. This washing is necessary because we are obliged to wash our hands before touching anything that is dipped in liquid (B. Pes. 115a; Tur, O.H. 473), and the next item in the sequence of the Seder service is the dipping of a vegetable (O.H. 473:6). Since this is not the regular statutory washing before meals, the benediction on washing the hands is omitted (see Tosafot, B. Pes. 115a, s.v. kol).

Opinions vary as to whether this washing of the hands is obligatory for all the participants or only for the leader of the Seder. Since the reason for the washing obviously applies to all the participants, all should wash (see Abudraham Hashalem, p. 219). Most current Haggadahs, however, speak only of the celebrant washing his hands (see Yosef Omets 763 and Leqet Yosher, p. 88). One scholar has proposed that this is either based on an error (i.e., since the instructions in most Haggadahs are given in the singular, they were interpreted as referring only to the celebrant), or that it is sufficient if the leader alone performs the washing since the practice is only the vestige of an ancient custom (see Goldschmidt, Die Pessach-Haggada, p. 20, n. 1; see also Kasher’s comments in Haggadah Shelemah, pp. 96-97).

Karpas – A piece of parsley or some other vegetable is given to each person at the table and dipped in salt water. It is eaten after the recitation of a benediction. This practice is meant to arouse the curiosity of the children (Tur, O.H. 473).

Historically, the dipping of the vegetable goes back to the fashion of eating meals a few thousand years ago. The meal began with an hors d’oeuvre, or dish of a slightly pungent flavor, steeped in some liquid of a similar nature. This ultimately became identified with the bunch of hyssop which was dipped in the blood of the first Paschal sacrifice at the time of the exodus and used for marking the doorways of the houses of the children of Israel as a sign to the angel of death (Roth, Haggadah, p. 8).

Yachatz – The leader takes the middle matsah and breaks it into two pieces. One portion is left where it is. The larger portion is wrapped in a cloth and hidden somewhere in the room–generally under the tablecloth or between the celebrant’s cushions (O.H. 473:6 and in B.H. 19). The breaking of the matsah represents the bread of affliction–i.e., of the poor man who eats crumbs rather than whole loaves (B. Pes. ll5b-116a).

We use three matsot at the Seder because on Sabbaths and festivals it is customary to have two loaves of hallah on the table in recollection of the double share of manna which fell in the wilderness on the sixth day (Exod. 16:22; B. Shab. 117b). Since one of the matsot is broken in two at the beginning of the Seder, there must be three matsot at the outset so that two whole ones will remain for the meal (Seder Rav ‘Amram, ed. Goldschmidt, p. 113).

The custom of hiding the Afiqoman and rewarding the child who finds it is intended to keep the children interested until the end of the Seder (Wahrman, .Hagei Yisra’el Umo’adaw, p. 144).

Magid – The story of the exodus is recited. As mentioned above, the telling of the story is one of the commandments connected with the observance of Pesah, hence the Haggadah.

The Haggadah as a whole has two main divisions. The first contains most of the ceremonies, and the recital of historical and expository passages explaining the reason for the Seder celebration. The second part comes after the meal. The passages recited here are hymnal and glorificatory, also expressing our hopes for deliverance.

The first part, which begins after Qiddush and the few preliminary rituals, is referred to as Magid. It comprises the following sections.

Lifting the plate and reciting the introductory passage, ha lachma.

The display of the plate, and particularly of the matsah, occasions the child’s questions ma nishtana after the qe’arah (plate) has been put down and the cups filled.

The answers follow, with illustrations of the duty to recount the story of the exodus, the description of the four sons, and the exposition of Joshua 24:2-4 and Deuteronomy 26:5-8, leading to an elaboration of the ten plagues. Then follow psalms of thanksgiving and the prelude to the meal with its attendant ceremonies.

Usually it is the youngest son who asks the four questions. In ancient times the questions were spontaneous, and the child had to be prepared in advance if he was not alert enough to ask questions on his own. Later the questions became set with a permanent text which the children had to learn. If the children cannot ask the questions, or if there are no children, the wife may ask them, or another adult, or the celebrant himself reads the questions (B. Pes. l l6a; O.H. 473:7).

It is customary to spill a bit of wine from the cup at the mention of each of the ten plagues. This is also done when the mnemonic of the plagues is said. This practice probably originated in an ancient belief that in so doing we ward off evil–nolo me tangere (Roth, Haggadah, p. 27). Some explain that since the wine is usually spilled by dipping a finger into the cup, the practice refers to the verse “This is the finger of God” (Exod. 8:15). A more rationalistic explanation is given by Don Isaac Abarbanel. The spilling of the wine is a sign that our cup of joy is not full since our deliverance involved the punishment of others; our joy is made incomplete by the fact that the Egyptians suffered so that we might be liberated.

Before the conclusion of the first part of the Haggadah, marked by the drinking of the second cup of wine, the first two paragraphs of Hallel are recited, as they were during the sacrifice of the Paschal lamb (M. Pes. 9:3, 10:6, 7). The usual blessing is omitted (Tur, O.H. 473 in Bet Yosef). The blessing is recited only when all of Hallel is recited without interruption, or when Hallel is recited by day (see Kasher, Haggadah Shelemah, pp. 139 f.).

The first part of the Haggadah ends with the second cup of wine, which is preceded by the blessing on wine (O.H. 474:1 in Rama).

Rachsa – As before every meal, each participant washes his hands and recites the blessing al ntealat yadaim (O.H. 475:1).

Motzi Matzah – After the washing of the hands, the leader takes the matsot from the Seder plate and recites two blessings, the usual hamotzi and the special blessing for matsah, achilat matzah, and then distributes a piece of the uppermost matsah and a piece of the broken middle matsah to each participant; these are eaten while reclining to the left (O.H. 475: l). When a large group is present, the participants can use other matsot. The eating of matsah is an obligation only at the Seder, and is optional during the rest of Pesah. The requirement of abstaining from leaven applies to all of Pesah (O.H. 475:7; M. Pes. 10:5).

Marror – The participants take a piece of bitter herb, usually horseradish root, dip it into the Haroset to reduce its sharpness, and eat it after reciting the blessing al achilat marror (O.H. 475:1).

Korech – The leader breaks the bottom matsah into smaller pieces and makes sandwiches of bitter herbs between two pieces of matsah. These are eaten after reciting zecher l’mkdash k’hellel while reclining on the left (O.H. 475:1). Customs vary as to whether Haroset is used here again (ibid. in Rama).

The eating of bitter herbs is a biblical commandment (Exod. 12:8; Num. 9:11). It is a symbol of the bitter servitude our ancestors experienced as slaves in Egypt (M. Pes. 10:5).

The Haroset, which lessens the sharpness of the Maror, is a compound of apples, almonds, raisins, and spices, chopped very fine into a paste with the addition of some wine. Its admixture with the Maror, dulling the sharpness of the bitter herbs, may be taken as symbolic of God’s loving-kindness, which dulled the bitterness of the Egyptian bondage. The color and general composition of the Haroset remind us of the mortar which the Hebrew slaves used while working on the building projects assigned by their taskmasters.

The principal ingredient of the Haroset, the apple, recalls an ancient legend regarding Pharaoh’s heartless sentence against the male Hebrew children. Jewish mothers, fearing for the lives of their infants if they were boys, used to give birth in the secrecy of orchards, unseen by human eyes, and there, we are told, angels came down from heaven to help them. The source of this explanation is a midrashic comment on the verse in the Song of Songs: “I raised thee up under the apple tree; there thy mother brought thee forth” (Song of Songs 8:5; Exodus Rabbah 1:16; Rama on O.H. 473:5). The other ingredients of the Haroset are also fruits to which the people of Israel have been compared (O.H. 473:5 in Rama; detailed explanation in Qitsur Shulhan ‘Arukh 118:4; Roth, Haggadah, p. ix; see also B. Pes. 116a in Tosafot, s.v.).

Shulchan Orach – The meal is an integral part of the Seder service. The heart of the service in ancient times was the eating of the Paschal lamb, which had to be consumed within the confines of Jerusalem and in a state of ritual purity. Nowadays the table becomes an altar, and eating performed in the right spirit becomes an act of worship.

A spirit of reverence, therefore, should pervade the meal. Immoderate eating or drinking would be blasphemy (O.H. 476:1 in Rama), and loose language should be avoided. By such measures the commonplace is sanctified, becoming an act of divine service (Roth, Haggadah, p. 44).

It is customary to start the Seder meal with a hard-boiled egg dipped in salt water. Classical scholars, recollecting the traditional description of a Roman meal (ab ovo usque ad mala), consider the egg to be no more than a relic of the customary hors d’oeuvres of the typical meal of ancient times (Finkelstein, Haggadah, p. ix; Roth, Haggadah, p. ix; Wahrman, .Hagei Yisra’el Umo’adaw, p. 147). It has been pointed out, however, that popular lore throughout the world generally associates eggs with the spring season.

While the egg may be a relic of an ancient custom, it can be given a fresh symbolic value (Roth, Haggadah, p. ix). Various explanations in this vein have been offered. Eggs are a symbol of mourning (round things are generally eaten in a house of mourning), and thus the egg at the Seder is said to be a gesture of mourning for the destruction of Jerusalem, added in place of the special festival offering, which can no longer be offered. This interpretation is emphasized by the fact that the ninth of Av always falls on the same day of the week as the first night of Pesah. (O.H. 476:2). Hence the salt water at the Seder symbolizes the tears we shed over the destruction of the Temple (Wahrman, Hagei Yisra’el Umo’adaw, p. 147).

Rabbi Moses Sofer (the “Hatam Sofer”) offered a more fanciful interpretation. In general, the more a food is cooked, the softer it becomes. With the egg, however, the opposite is the case. This is symbolic of the people of Israel. The more they are oppressed by the nations of the world, the harder they become in their determination not to yield and to remain faithful to the covenant.

The rest of the Seder meal follows the custom of the land regarding festive meals. In certain places, however, roasted meat is forbidden at the Seder because the Paschal lamb was roasted, and roasted meat might be construed as being a Paschal sacrifice, which is forbidden today. In some other places, there is no restriction on roasted meat but an entire lamb may not be roasted, since it would be too similar to the Paschal lamb (O.H. 476:1).

Saphun – After the meal, the half-matsah that was put aside early in the evening is distributed to the participants, each of whom eats a piece to conclude the meal. This is the Afiqoman. The word afiqoman has been given various interpretations. The most logical is that it is the Greek word for “dessert” (Roth, Haggadah, p. 44). For us the Afiqoman represents the Paschal lamb, which was traditionally the last thing to be eaten at the Seder so that its taste and recollection would remain uppermost. Therefore nothing is eaten after partaking of the Afiqoman (O.H. 478: l). Some Sefardic rites preface the eating of the Afiqoman with the words zecher l’karban pesah hanechal al hasava (“in remembrance of the Paschal lamb which is eaten when one is sated”) (Goldschmidt, Haggada, p. 71). There is a difference of opinion about drinking after the Afiqoman. Some authorities only permit the drinking of water–with the exception, of course, of the last two of the four statutory cups of wine (O.H. 478:1 in Mishnah Berurah). Others forbid fermented beverages, since drinking these may lead to intoxication (O.H. 478:1 in B.H.).

Barech – The third cup of wine is filled and Birkat Hamazon is recited. It is the usual Grace after meals with the addition of yaleh v’yavo and the harachaman for the festival, with r’tze on a Sabbath; the cup of wine, which is generally optional, is obligatory at this service (O.H. 479:1).

Hallel – After the Birkhat Hamazon and the drinking of the third cup, the fourth cup is filled and the rest of Hallel is recited (O.H. 480:1). During the Middle Ages shefoch chamatcha, consisting of verses from Psalms 79:6 and 69:25 and Lamentations 3:66, was inserted before the Hallel (Wahrman, Hagei Yisra’el Umo’adaw, p. 149). The old Haggadahs do not have it (see Seder Rav ‘Amram, ed. Goldschmidt; Maimonides, Mahzor Vitry, ed. Hurwitz, p. 282). These imprecations seem vengeful and vindictive to us, and unworthy of a festival which includes a number of rituals showing compassion even for the Egyptians. The fact that they date from the Middle Ages, when persecutions of the Jews had become common, explains the mood (see Abudraham Hashalem 234).

It is customary to pour an extra glass of wine, known as Elijah’s cup, and keep the door open during the recitation of shefoch chmtcha. This is a symbolic act which shows that we are not afraid, despite the oppressive cruelty we face, and that our faith in the final redemption and the final triumph of righteousness is unshaken (O.H. 481:1 in Rama, B.H. 3). It has been suggested that originally the door was open throughout the entire Seder. During the Middle Ages, when it was dangerous to do so, the door was kept closed, but it was opened just for this passage (see Wahrman, Hagei Yisra’el Umo’adaw, p. 149). In Jewish lore, Elijah the prophet has become the harbinger of the coming of the Redeemer. We call this cup the cup of Elijah to reaffirm our faith in his coming to announce the final redemption (ibid., and Yosef Omets 788; also, see above p. 123). A commendable effort has been made to use this passage as an occasion for the memorialization of the six million martyrs who perished at the hands of the Nazis and for the heroes of the ghetto uprisings. When recited in relation to these tragic events, the words no longer seem unduly vindictive.

After this, Hallel is continued. The customary final benediction, Melech M’hulal b’tesbachot, is omitted because the later benediction al melech gadol b’tsbachot, serves as the closing benediction for the entire section (see B. Pes. 118a in Tosafot, and in Abudraham Hashalem, p. 236; O.H. 480:1 in B.H. 3).

The Haggadah divides Hallel into two sections because the first part of Hallel, which mentions the exodus, fits the mood of the Haggadah passages preceding the meal, all of which are variations on the same theme, while the second part of Hallel is hymnal and thus fits the songs of praise which are the substance of the second part of the Haggadah (Kasher, Haggadah Shelemah, pp. 140 f.; Abudraham Hashalem, p. 236).

After Hallel we recite Hallel Gadol (Ps. 136) and Birkat Hashir (B. Pes. 118a), which we call Nishmat (O.H. 480:1 in Rama, B.H. 3), ending with the benediction melech el chai haolamim. After this the fourth cup is drunk and the Berakhah Aharonah is recited.

Nertza – marks the end of the Seder with an appropriate hymn—chasal sedor Pesah and shanah habaah b’yerushalim. Some hymns have been added at the end of the service. We recite euvchen v’yhe bchatzi halaylah of Yannai on the first night and euvchen v’amrtem zevach pesah on the second night. In addition there are three other playful songs. Though the commentators have read profound meanings into these songs, they were simply intended as a means of holding the attention of the children until the very end.

The rest of the evening should be spent in serious discussion or in study consonant with the spirit of the celebration (O.H. 481:2).

With the exception of the slight variation mentioned above, the Seder on the second night of Pesah is celebrated exactly as on the first night (O.H. 481:2 in Rama).

IX: Pesach (II)

15. The Concluding Days of Pesah

The seventh and eighth days of Pesah (in Israel the seventh day) equal the first days in sanctity, and the same regulations apply to them.

The services are exactly the same as during the first days, except that the shortened version of Hallel is recited during the morning services, each day has its own specially assigned reading from the Torah and the Prophets, and memorial services for the deceased are recited on the last day. The shecheanu is omitted from the candle lighting and evening Qiddush.

The shortened form of the Hallel is recited for the following reason. According to tradition, the children of Israel crossed the Red Sea on the seventh day of Pesah. When the ministering angels saw the hosts of Pharaoh drown, they wished to sing praises unto God. God rebuked them, saying: “Shall ye sing praises unto me while my creatures are drowning?” (B. Meg. 10b). Hence we shorten the hymns of praise on this occasion. Another suggested reason is that normally the complete Hallel is recited only at the beginning of the festival, as is done on Pesach. Only when the succeeding days have some theme peculiar to themselves do we say the complete Hallel on those days as well. During Sukkot each day saw a different number of sacrifices offered in the Temple, and on each night of Hanukkah a different number of candles is lit, giving each day a significance of its own. The complete Hallel is therefore recited on each of these days (B. Arak. 10a-b).

The Torah reading on the seventh day is Exodus 13:17-15:26, telling of the crossing of the Red Sea, which took place on the seventh day, and the song that Moses and the children of Israel sang when they were saved. The Maftir is the same as the reading from the second scroll on the Intermediate Days. The Haftarah is II Samuel 22:1-51, also a song of deliverance.

On the eighth day the reading is Deuteronomy 15:19-16:17. On a Sabbath the reading starts with 14:22. The Maftir is the same as the day before. The Haftarah is Isaiah 10:32-12:6, which speaks of the future deliverance of the children of Israel.

The Memorial Services follow the reading of the Torah and the Haftarah. The present-day practice is to have Hazkarat Neshamot at the end of each festival, i.e., the eighth day of Pesach, the second day of Shavu’ot, the eighth day of Sukkot, and on Yom Kippur, which, because it is connected to Rosh Hashanah by the Ten Days of Penitence, is considered to be like the last day of a festival.

The custom of remembering the dead in the synagogue is an old one and is based on the belief that such prayers are of help to the dead (Midrash Tanhuma, Ha’azinu 20:8; Pesiqta Rabbati 20). This was done individually by people when they were called up to the Torah and pledged a gift for charity (O.H. 284:7 in Rama). In some synagogues this is still the practice, in other synagogues a memorial prayer is recited after the Torah reading, or on the Sabbath at Minhah after the Torah reading when the names of all those whose Yahrzeit will be held during the coming week are mentioned in a memorial prayer, el maleh rachamim.

A collective memorial prayer with the entire congregation joining in originally took place only on Yom Kippur. it was recited not only for the dead (O. H. 621:6) but also to put the living into a contrite mood (Kol Bo 70). Among German Jews this custom is still maintained (Me’ir Netiv, p. 144; see also Siddur Rashi, ed. Buber, par. 214).

Those whose parents are living customarily leave the place of worship during the yizkor service. Many reasons have been given for this practice: lest we arouse the jealousy of those whose parents are dead; to prevent those who do not have to say yizkor from falling into the error of saying it by mistake, thus tempting fate; lest we be in the awkward position of remaining silent when those around us are worshipping. Obviously some of the above are superstitions, but the custom has nevertheless persisted.

Among the Sefardim no one leaves the service during yizkor. Many Conservative synagogues have adopted the Sefardic custom (see Eliyahu Kitov, Sefer Hatoda’ah 1:56).

That the yizkor service has such wide appeal in our day is to be welcomed, for it helps to bind the generations together in filial piety. Death does not end or break this bond. The virtues of the fathers work to mitigate some of the faults of the children, and the virtues of the children work to remove some of the imperfections of the fathers. “Moreover, to pray for the dead is not an unjustifiable corollary of the belief in God’s boundless mercy. Unless we are prepared to maintain that at his death the fate of man is fixed irretrievably and forever, that therefore the sinner who rejected much of God’s love during a brief lifetime has lost all of it eternally, prayer for the peace and salvation of the departed soul commends itself as of the highest religious obligations” (Singer, Lectures and Addresses, p. 72, quoted in Abrahams, Companion to the Authorised Daily Prayer Book, pp. ccxxi f.).

The rest of the service is exactly as on the seventh day. The same is true of Minhah. The Ma’ariv service is a weekday service, with ata chonantanu inserted in the fourth benediction.

The festival is concluded with Havdalah on wine, both at the synagogue and at home, as at the end of the first two days. On a Sabbath the benedictions for fire and spices are added.

Excerpted from:
A Guide to Jewish Religious Practice by Isaac Klein (Supplement by Rabbi Joel Roth)
91żě˛Ą of America, New York and Jerusalem, Copyright 1979, 1992

“The Jews ordained and took upon themselves and upon their descendants… that these days of Purim should not cease from among the Jews, nor the memory of them perish from among their descendants… to observe these days of Purim at their appointed time” (Esther 9:27-31).

The festival of Purim is based on the story in the Book of Esther. While scholars have had difficulty in identifying the time and the characters of the story, there is no doubt that Jewish tradition and the Jewish people have accepted the event as authentic, and the celebration of Purim as based on a firm foundation. Unlike Hanukkah, which is post-biblical and is not even mentioned in the Mishnah, Purim is based on a book of the Bible; a tractate of the Mishnah and Talmud is devoted to it as well.

Purim attained great popularity because it reflected the perennial problem of the Jewish people–animosity against the Jew. Haman’s accusation–“There is a certain people scattered abroad and dispersed among the peoples…” (Esther 3:8)–has been repeated in every age. The celebration of Purim serves to strengthen our people, enabling them to face such accusations with dignity and courage, and inspiring them with the hope of final victory over their enemies.

Elaborating on this point Professor Kaplan says: “Out of the reaction of the Jews in the past to their status as a minority everywhere in the Diaspora there evolved a remarkable philosophy of life or system of spiritual values. It is remarkable not only for its influence in sustaining the courage of the Jew in desperate situations, but for its inherent worth. Being in the minority, Jews were expected to accept the life-pattern of a conquered people. They were expected to adopt the standards imposed on them by the majority, with good grace, if they could, or with sullen resentment, if they must. They did neither. Instead they formulated a philosophy of life which prevented the conquest from being consummated” (The Meaning of God, p. 363).

The corollary of this is not that we face hatred with faith and courage, but rather that we find meaning in the minority status that so often makes us the target for the slings and arrows of our enemies. “It is therefore necessary,” says Professor Kaplan, “as it is appropriate, to make of the Feast of Purim, and of the special Sabbath preceding it, an occasion for considering anew the difficulties that inhere in our position as ‘a people scattered and dispersed among the nations.’ It is important that Jews know the nature of these difficulties in order that they may the better equip themselves to meet them. Those days should make Jews conscious of the spiritual values which their position as a minority group everywhere in the diaspora should lead them to evolve, and of the dangers which they must be prepared to overcome, if they expect to survive as a minority group” (ibid., pp. 361-62).

It is perhaps for this reason that the rabbis said that even when all the other festivals are abolished, Purim will remain (Midrash Mishle 9:2).

The Observance of Purim

The Sabbath preceding Purim is called Shabbat Zachor, the Sabbath of Remembrance. It is one of the arba parshiot preceding Pesach, discussed in unit 7 in connection with Pesach. Its association with Purim is based on the tradition that Haman was a descendant of the tribe of Amalek. Furthermore, Amalek and Haman had in common the desire to annihilate the Jewish people, and both were frustrated in their designs.

The day before Purim, the thirteenth of Adar, is a fast day. If Purim is on a Sunday, the fast day is observed on the preceding Thursday (O.H. 686:2).

The four statutory public fasts will be discussed later (see next unit). They are observed in memory of the tragic events connected with the destruction of Jerusalem and the loss of the Jewish state. The Fast of Esther is a statutory public fast of a similar nature, but it is connected with another calamity that threatened the existence of the Jewish people. The precedent for this fast is found in the Book of Esther. When Mordecai informed Esther of Haman’s plans, she asked him to proclaim a three-day fast (Esther 4:16). It is in memory of this that we fast on the day before Purim (O.H. 686:1).

Noting that the fast proclaimed by Esther was not on the thirteenth of Adar, some authorities offer a different explanation. When the children of Israel gathered together on the thirteenth of Adar to defend themselves against their enemies, they were in a state of war, and preparations for war always included a public fast (see O.H. 686 in Mishnah Berurah 2; Ziv Haminhagim, p. 275, no. 7).

A modern commentator suggests that the Jews fasted on the thirteenth of Adar because they were so occupied with defending themselves that they had no opportunity to eat (Rabinowitz, Hol Umo’ed, p. 72; Munk, World of Prayer, 2:311).

Since the fast of the thirteenth of Adar is not explicitly mentioned in the Bible, the rabbis were lenient about its observance (O.H. 686:7 in Rama; Ziv Haminhagim, p. 275).

The primary observance connected with Purim is the reading of the Book of Esther, usually called the megilla (Scroll). It is read twice: in the evening, after the ‘Amidah of Ma’ariv and before alenu; and in the morning after the Torah reading (B. Meg. 4a; O.H. 687:1).

The Megillah is read from a parchment scroll that is written the same way a Torah is written–i.e., by hand, and with a goose quill (O.H. 690:3). If there is no such scroll available, the congregation may read the Book of Esther from a printed text, without the accompanying benedictions.

The Megillah is chanted according to a special cantillation used only in the reading of the Book of Esther, If no one is present who knows this cantillation, it may be read without the cantillation, as long as it is read correctly (Qitsur Shulhan ‘Arukh 141:18). It may be read in the language of the land (O.H. 690:9). In practice, however, reading the Megillah in any but the original language is to be avoided (‘Arukh Hashulhan, O.H. 690:16). Today in particular, when we seek to emphasize the use of the sacred tongue whenever possible, we should not encourage any deviation from the prevailing practice.

Before the reading, the scroll is unrolled and folded to look like a letter of dispatch, thus further recalling the story of the great deliverance (Maimonides, Hil. Megillah 2:12). The reading is preceded by three benedictions and followed by one (O.H. 692:1). The three before the reading are sheasa nesim, al mekra megila, and shehechianu. The benediction following the reading is harav et revnu.

The Megillah must be read standing and from the scroll, not by heart (O.H. 690:1, 7). During the reading four verses, termed “verses of redemption” (pesuke g’ula), are said aloud by the congregation and then repeated by the reader. The verses enumerating the ten sons of Haman (Esther 9:7-10) are said in one breath to signify that they died together (B. Meg. 16b). Another reason has also been suggested: We should avoid the appearance of gloating over their fate, even though it was deserved (Vainstein, Cycle of the Jewish Year, p. 135).

It is a widespread Purim custom for the listeners at the Megillah reading to make noise, usually with special noisemakers called graggers, whenever Haman’s name is mentioned. This is an outgrowth of a custom once prevalent in France and the Provence, where the children wrote the name on smooth stones, then struck them together whenever Haman was mentioned in the reading so as to rub it off, as suggested by the verse, “the name of the wicked shall rot” (Prov. 10:7; Abudraham Hashalem, p. 209; O.H. 690:17 in Rama). In some places this practice is discouraged because it makes it difficult for worshippers to hear the reader (ibid. and also in Mishnah Berurah, n. 59 and n. 57 thereto of Sha’ar Hatsiyun).

The Megillah should be read in the synagogue in the presence of a minyan. If a minyan is not available it may be read even for one individual (O.H. 690:18). Those who cannot attend services in the synagogue may read the Megillah at home (Rama on O.H. 690:18).

Shushan Purim

“But the Jews that were in Shushan assembled together on the thirteenth day thereof, and on the fourteenth thereof; and on the fifteenth day of the same they rested, and made it a day of feasting and gladness. Therefore do the Jews of the villages, that dwell in the unwalled towns, make the fourteenth day of the month of Adar a day of gladness and feasting” (Esther 9:18-19).

From these verses the sages derived the view that Purim was celebrated on the fifteenth of Adar, as in Shushan, in cities that had been walled since the days of Joshua (M. Meg. 1:1; O.H. 688:4 and in M.A. 4). In the towns of the Ashkenazic diaspora this is academic because there are no cities that ancient (Levush, O.H. 688:4). In Jerusalem, however, Purim is observed on the fifteenth of Adar. There are also cities which are in a doubtful category, such as Jaffa, Safed, Akko, Tiberias, and Lydda; in these the Megillah is read on both the fourteenth and the fifteenth of Adar. On the fifteenth it is read only at night and without the accompanying benedictions (Shanah Beshanah 5727, p. 59; O.H. 688:4).

Purim Services

The services on Purim are the same as on other weekdays except for the following variations, al hanesim is added before v’al kulam in the ‘Amidah and before v’al hakol, in the Birkat Hamazon (O.H. 693:2, 3); Tahanun is not said at Minhah the night before, in the morning, or in the evening (O.H. 693:3, 697:1); lam’natseach is also omitted (O.H. 693:3).

The Torah is read in the morning, with three people given ‘aliyot. The reading is from Exodus 17:8-16, beginning with v’yavo Amalek (O.H. 693:4).

The rabbis sought to understand why Hallel is not recited on Purim (O.H. 693:3). The Talmud explains that the redemption represented by Purim was not complete. True, the Jews were saved from the annihilation plotted by Haman, but they still remained subject to Ahasuerus (B. Meg. 14a), whereas after the redemption commemorated by Pesach they ceased to be subjects of Pharaoh, and after Hanukkah they were no longer subject to Antiochus (Levush, O.H. 693:3; O.H. in M.D. 2). Moreover, the reading of the Megillah performs the function of Hallel (Levush, O.H. 693:3). The Talmud also explains that Hallel is not said for events that took place outside the land of Israel (B. Meg. 14a).

Shushan Purim is celebrated as a semi-holiday; Tahanun is not said, and one should not fast, give a eulogy, or say tseduk hadeen (O.H. 696:3, 697:1).

During a leap year, it is the usual practice to do all things that must be done during the month of Adar during First Adar, in conformity with the principle that “one must not pass by precepts” (B. Pes. 64b). Purim, however, is celebrated only during Second Adar (M. Meg. 1:4). The Talmud suggests that since Purim and Pesach both celebrate the deliverance of Israel, they should occur close to one another (Levush, O.H. 697). First Adar is not neglected completely, however. On the fourteenth and fifteenth of First Adar, Tahanun is omitted, no eulogy is said, and fasting is not permitted (B. Meg. 6b; O.H. 697:1). It is therefore called Purim katan (‘Arukh Hashulhan, O.H. 697:2).

Opinions differ as to whether a person who is sitting Shiv’ah should continue to observe Shiv’ah on Purim (O.H. 696:4). The prevalent practice is for mourners to come to the synagogue, sit on a regular chair, and wear their shoes. As on the Sabbath, however, they should observe d’varim shebtsenah, and the day of Purim counts as one of the days of Shiv’ah (Rama on O.H. 696:4; Hayyei Adam 154:36).

There is also a difference of opinion regarding weddings on Purim. Some authorities oppose them on the principle of ein m’arvin smcha b’semcha , “we do not mix one joyous occasion with another,” (B. Mo’ed Qatan 8b, 9a; O.H. 696:8 in M.A. n. 18; ‘Arukh Hashulhan 696:12; Maharam Schick, O.H. 345). Others permit them (O.H. 696:8 in Sha’arei Teshuvah, n. 12; Tur, O.H. 698 in Belt Yosefand Hayyei Adam 154:39). The weight of opinion is with the latter position.

Purim Customs

“And Mordecai wrote these things, and sent letters unto all the Jews that were in all the provinces of the king Ahasuerus both nigh and far, to enjoin them that they should keep the fourteenth day of the month of Adar, and the fifteenth day of the same, the days wherein the Jews had rest from their enemies, and the month which was turned unto them from sorrow to gladness and from mourning unto a good day; that they should make them days of feasting and gladness, and of sending portions one to another and gifts to the poor” (Esther 9:20-22).

This order by Mordecai provides the basis for all the practices ordained and adopted in connection with Purim, with the exception of the reading of the Megillah.

The “feasting and gladness” are expressed by the s’udat Purim, an especially festive meal held in the afternoon before sundown (O.H. 695:2). In order to heighten the joy at this meal, the rabbis even allowed an unusual amount of levity. Well known is the statement in the Talmud: “Rava said: A person should be so exhilarated [with drink] on Purim that he does not know the difference between ‘cursed be Haman’ and ‘blessed be Mordecai'” (B. Meg. 7b). The later authorities tried hard to lessen the exuberance of this command. Since they could not condone intoxication, they suggested that the passage means that one may drink more than he does usually (O.H. 695:2 in Rama). It was also ingeniously suggested that the numerical values of “cursed be Haman” and “blessed be Mordecai” are the same; to be unable to discover this does not require a very high degree of intoxication. (See Abudraham Hashalem for other interpretations. The most rational is the one quoted from Ba’al Haminhagot. According to him, there were responsive readings where the responses to the reader were “cursed be Haman” and “blessed be Mordecai.” Naturally it was necessary to know when the one was called for, and when the other. Again, one did not have to be highly intoxicated to confuse the responses.)

The permissiveness in regard to imbibing on Purim was explained on the ground that imbibing was very much involved in the story of Purim. Vashti fell from grace when “the heart of the king was merry with wine” (Esther l:10), which resulted in Esther becoming the queen. When Esther became queen there was a similar banquet (Esther 2:18). Haman’s downfall started with the drinking of wine (Esther 7:1, 2; O.H. 695:2 in M. D., note 1).

It was customary in Eastern Europe for youngsters at the s’udat Purim to be disguised in costumes and to sing humorous Purim songs or render humorous dramatic recitations, usually of their own composition. Each country and each generation, dating back to talmudic times (B. San. 64b), had its own form of merrymaking.

In European countries, where a carnival with parades, pantomimes, and masquerades took place at about the same season of the year, the celebration of Purim was influenced by the customs of the environment. Consequently, on this day plays were produced representing scenes from the events related in the Megillah, and at times also from other biblical stories. The amateur players were known as Purim Shpielers (Waxman, Judaism, p. 74). Sometimes women were dressed in the garb of men, and vice versa. This would normally have been forbidden, but it was permitted in the case of Purim since the object was merrymaking (Responsa of R. Yehudah Mintz, 16, quoted in Mateh Mosheh 1014; also O.H. 696:8 in Rama; see also Maimon, Hagim Umo’adim, pp. 121-23).

In America, not counting the reading of the Megillah, the celebration of Purim found its widest expression in the religious schools. It is in the schools that we have Purim plays, carnivals, masquerade contests, and Queen Esther crownings. Some adult organizations also have Purim masquerade balls and parties.

In Israel, Purim, like Hanukkah, has experienced a great revival, with emphasis on the national theme. One specific innovation is the adlayada. It is an elaborate, well-organized parade with floats, bands, marchers, costumes, and dancing in the streets and squares of the city (Wahrman, Hagei Yisra’el Umo’adaw, p. 126).

Another practice is that of mishloach manot (O.H. 695:4). Families, especially the women, exchange gifts of foods and pastries.

The custom of giving gifts to the poor on Purim has become a casualty of our modern system of organized charities. In ages past, it was ordained that on Purim people were to be extra generous, giving to all who asked without question (O.H. 694:1, 3). It is still customary in many congregations to put collection plates on a table in the vestibule of the synagogue. The contributions are called machatzit hashekel money, in memory of the half-sheqel that was collected in ancient days around Purim-time for the upkeep of the Temple in Jerusalem.

The only special food for Purim is hamantashen, a three-cornered pastry filled with poppy seed (the original name was muntashen–mun being the Yiddish word for “poppyseeds”). In Hebrew this pastry is called azne haman, based on the older name Haman Ohren or, in Italian, Orrechi d’Aman (Jewish Encyclopedia, s.v. “Purim”). In old illustrations Haman is pictured wearing a three-cornered hat, and this may have given rise to the three-cornered pastry.

The many community and family Purims of Jewish history are a unique development connected with Purim. These private holidays were instituted to commemorate great deliverances experienced by individual communities or families. They were celebrated with festivities, and often with the reading of a scroll telling the story of the deliverance (for examples of these scrolls, see Ginsburger, “Deux Pourims Locaux”; on local Purims, see Roth, “Some Revolutionary Purims,” and “Supplement,” Jewish Encyclopedia, s.v. “Purim”; Hagim Umo’adim, p. 161).

The festival of Purim offers Jews a powerful lesson, teaching them not to despair even when dangers are most threatening and persecution most cruel. Its festivities cheered the Jew in his darkest moments and assured him that deliverance was at hand. No wonder that the sages took literally the Book of Esther’s promise that “these days of Purim shall not disappear from among the Jews, nor the memory of them perish from their descendants” (9:28), and therefore said: “All the festivals will cease, but the days of Purim will not cease” (Midrash Mishle 9; see also P. Meg. 1:6). 

Excerpted from:
A Guide to Jewish Religious Practice by Isaac Klein (Supplement by Rabbi Joel Roth)
91żě˛Ą of America, New York and Jerusalem, Copyright 1979, 1992

• Hanukkah
• The Observance of Hanukkah
• The Hanukkah Services

1. Hanukkah

“Now on the five and twentieth day of the ninth month, which is called the month of Kislev, in the hundred forty and eighth year, they rose up in the morning, and offered sacrifice according to the law upon the new altar of burnt offerings, which they had made. At the very season and on the very day that the Gentiles had profaned it, it was dedicated with songs, citherns, harps, and cymbals…. And so they kept the dedication of the altar eight days…. Moreover Judah and his brethren, with the whole congregation of Israel, ordained that the days of the dedication of the altar should be kept in their season from year to year for eight days, from the five and twentieth day of the month Kislew, with mirth and gladness” (I Macc. 4:52-59).

“What is Hanukkah? For the rabbis have taught: Commencing with the twenty-fifth day of the month of Kislew there are eight days upon which there shall be neither mourning nor fasting. For when the Greeks entered the Temple, they defiled all the oil that was there. It was when the might of the Hasmonean dynasty overcame and vanquished them that, upon search, only a single cruse of undefiled oil, sealed by the High Priest, was found. In it was oil enough for the needs of a single day. A miracle was wrought and it burned eight days. The next year they ordained these days a holiday with songs and praises” (B. Shab. 21b: for variations of the story, see Pesiqta Rabbati, ed. Meir Ish Shalom, p. 5a; Megilat Ta’anit, ed. Lichtenstein, P. 341).

These passages represent the two strands within the Jewish tradition regarding Hanukkah and its meaning, the one preserved in the Apocrypha, in First and Second Maccabees, and the other in the Talmud.

In the apocryphal books, the story of the people of Israel during the Hellenistic period places special stress on the battles and victories of the Hasmonean (Maccabee) family. The war fought by the Hasmoneans is given a religious meaning; it was a struggle against the suppression of Judaism, culminating in the purification and rededication of the Temple of Jerusalem. The rededication took eight days; hence the eight days of Hanukkah.

The Talmudic tradition, on the other hand, stresses the miracle of the cruse of oil and mentions the Hasmonean struggle only cursorily. It is remarkable that while the Talmud contains an entire tractate devoted to Purim, Hanukkah is not even mentioned in the Mishnah. The talmudic discussion begins with the question ma’ee chanukah (“What is Hanukkah?”), as if the answer were not very well known.

The early authorities sensed that the Hasmonean victories had already lost their luster by the mishnaic period. Abudraham claims that while the Hasmoneans were initially pious, they sinned by making themselves the rulers of the Jewish state, an office not to be assumed by a priestly family, As Kohanim, the Hasmoneans had no right to take the royal scepter into their hands. Their punishment for this crime was eventually inflicted by Herod, who exterminated virtually all the Hasmoneans who were alive during his reign (Abudraham Hashalem, p. 201).

Rabbi Moses Sofer sees Rabbi Yehudah Hanassi as responsible for the. omission of Hanukkah from the Mishnah, He says that Yehudah Hanassi, who claimed to be a direct descendant of King David, regarded the Hasmoneans as usurpers since they were not members of the Davidic dynasty (Rabinowitz, Hol Umo’ed, p. 65). It has been suggested that there was also a political reason for the fact that the Maccabees are not mentioned in the Mishnah. The Romans, who dominated Judaea during the period when the Mishnah was compiled, would have interpreted any I emphasis on a Jewish war of independence as a sign of rebelliousness and this might have had dire consequences for the entire community (see Kahana, Sifrut Hahistoriah Hayisra’elit, 1:61).

It is apparent that the Hasmonean dynasty had lost its glory by the time of the Mishnah, for the last of the Hasmoneans were guilty of the very things their forebears fought against; as a result, Hanukkah was well-nigh forgotten (Kahana. loc. cit.). In time the festival was reestablished, but now the stress was on the miracles that accompanied the rededication of the Temple, not on the victories of the Maccabees. Hence, when the Talmud asked ma’ee chanukah the answer did not pertain to the Maccabean victories and rededication of the Temple, but rather to the miracle of the cruse of oil (B. Shab. 21a.)

The talmudic tradition has obtained to our own day. The message of Hanukkah is expressed in the prophetic words of the Haftarah of the Sabbath of Hanukkah: “Not by might, nor by power, but by My spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts” (Zech. 4:6). In this spirit Dr. Kaplan says: “The striking feature of the celebration of Hanukkah is the fact that, although the occasion which it commemorates was incidental to a successful war of independence fought against an oppressive foreign ruler, that occasion itself was neither a victory on the field of battle nor a political transaction that gave official recognition to the hard-won independence of Judaea. Hanukkah commemorates the rededication of the Temple at Jerusalem to the God or Israel after it had been deliberately defiled by the Grecian rulers” (Kaplan, The Meaning of God, p. 330).

With the rise of Jewish nationalism, Hanukkah assumed a new importance; again the stress was shifted, this time back to the wars for political independence. The celebrations that heretofore were conducted at home and in the synagogue took the form of public demonstrations. The heroism of the Maccabees in liberating their country from foreign domination became a source of inspiration for nationalist endeavors (see Sefer Hamo’adim, Hanukkah, pp. 189-91, article by Joseph Klausner; Schauss, The Jewish Festivals, p, 230; Waxman, Handbook of Judaism, p. 73; Wahrman, Hagei Yisra’el Umo’adaw, p. 98).

This stress on the Maccabean struggle for independence reached its peak in Israel, where Hanukkah has become a patriotic celebration.

In America the proximity of a Christian holiday, and its prominence on the secular calendar, has influenced the celebration of Hanukkah both positively and negatively. The positive influence expresses itself in the greater and more widespread observance of Hanukkah, Negatively, Hanukkah has become more important to many American Jews than some of the major festivals on the Jewish calendar and is celebrated more and more lavishly in order to compete with the celebration of the non-Jewish holiday.

Note: In fact, the festival is mentioned several times in the Mishnah. For instance, Taanit 2:10 and Moed Katan 3:9 list it as a day on which mourning is forbidden. Bava Kama 6:6 recognizes that most people would light candles outside their homes, with a possible fire hazard resulting. Megillah 3-4 lists the Torah readings for the holiday. Perhaps what Klein means to say is that there is no tractate devoted specifically to Hannukah, and only passing mention of its distinctive Mitzvot. (Rabbi Joshua Heller)

2. The Observance of Hanukkah

Hanukkah begins on the eve of the twenty-fifth day of Kislew and lasts eight days. Work is permitted during the eight days, but all signs of sadness are to be avoided. There is no fasting, and at funerals eulogies and tziduk hadin are omitted (O.H. 670:1; Rama on O.H. 683:1).

Hanukkah is marked by the kindling of lights at home and it) the synagogue (hence it is also called chag haurim, the Festival of Lights). If oil is used for the Hanukkah lights, olive oil is preferred (O.H. 673:1). If candles are used, wax candles are preferred. The weight of rabbinic opinion opposes the use of an electric Menorah (She’arim Metsuyanim Bahalakhah, 3:240 f., quotes Levush Mordekhai, Or Zar’ua, Pequdat El’azan, Bet Yitshaq, see also Rabbi Y. E. Henkin in ‘Edut Leyisra’el, p. 122; Mishpetei Uzi’el, 1:25). In addition to the reasons cited in these sources, it should be noted that the use of candles or oil has great esthetic appeal and more sentimental meaning.

One light is kindled on the first night of Hanukkah; an additional light is added each succeeding night, so that eight lights are kindled on the eighth night (O.H. 671:2). The lights should be kindled after sundown (O.H. 672:1), Three benedictions are recited before the kindling of the lights on the first night: lehadlik ner shel hanukkah, sheasah nasim la’avoteinu bayamim hahem bazmal hazeh, and shehechiyanu v’kiyemany v’higianu lazmal hazeh (O.H. 676:1); the first two are also recited on each of the seven subsequent nights, but shehechiyanu is not (O.H. 676:1).

The first candle is placed on the right side of the Menorah. The second candle (on the second night) is placed directly to the left of the place occupied by the first candle, and so on, always moving leftward, The kindling starts on the left and moves toward the right, Thus the first candle to be lit each day is the candle added for that day (O.H. 676:5). hanerot halalu, is sung while kindling the lights, followed by maoz tzur; (O.H. 676:4). The Menorah should be placed where it is visible from outside the house in order to proclaim the miracle of Hanukkah to all passers-by–l’farsumei nisah (O.H. 671:5, B. Shab. 24a).

In addition to the candles that are lit for each day, there is a special candle known as the shamash. This extra candle is necessary because the Hanukkah lights themselves should not be used for kindling other lights–hanerot halalu kodesh hem v’ein lanu reshut lehishtamesh bahem. The shamash is added, therefore, to be used in lighting the other candles and to provide illumination, it remains lit with the others (O.H. 673: 1).

Hanukkah lights are lit in the synagogue as well as in the home, and the same laws apply, They are lit immediately before Ma’ariv (O.H. 671:7). Since the main idea is l’farsumei nisah, this is not a substitute for kindling the lights at home (ibid.).

For the same reason, it is customary to light candles in the synagogue before Shaharit each morning, but without the accompanying benediction (Ziv Haminhagim, p, 263, no. 26). This also serves as a reminder of how many candles must be lit in the evening (see Eisenstein, Otsar Dinim Uminhagim, p, 141).

On Friday night the Hanukkah lights are lit before the Sabbath candles (O.H. 678:1). Opinions differ regarding whether the Hanukkah candles should be lit before or after Havdalah in the synagogue (O.H. 681:2 and M.D. ad loc.). Our custom is to light before Havdalah (see Hayyei Adam 153:37; Qitsur Shulhan ‘Arukh 139:18).

3. Hanukkah Services

In the liturgy al hanisim is added before v’al kulam and in Birkat Hamazon before v’al hakol (O.H. 682:1). Tahanun is not recited on Hanukkah, beginning with Minhah on the eve of Hanukkah (O.H. 683:1). Complete Hallel is recited every morning after the ‘Amidah (O.H. 683:1 in Rama). Since there is no Musaf on Hanukkah, and Hallel is thus not the end of the Shaharit service, only half-Qaddish is recited after Hallel (see Ziv Haminhagim, p. 263, no. 26, Abudraham Hashalem, p. 202). The complete Hallel is recited each day of Hanukkah because each day has its own individuality, as marked by the addition of a candle (Abudraham Hashalem, p. 202).

The Torah is read every morning and three people are called to the reading. The reading is from the Sidrah naso (Num. 7); it is known as parashat nesi’im because it tells of the gifts the princes of Israel brought at the dedication of the Tabernacle in the wilderness.

On the first day the reading starts at the beginning of the chapter (the Sefardim start three verses earlier, with the Birkat Kohanim) and ends with verse 17 (O.H. 684:1).

There are variations in the manner in which the portion is divided into ‘aliyot. According to one custom, we read up to bayom harishon for Kohen, the first three verses of the next passage for Levi, and the last three verses for Shelishi. According to the other custom, the passage beginning with bayom harishon is kept intact for Shelishi, and the first passage is divided between Kohen and Levi, the first four verses being read for Kohen, and the rest for Levi (O.H. 684:1). The Rabbinical Assembly Weekly Prayer Book follows the latter custom.

On the second day the portion begins with verse 18–bayom hasheni–which describes the offering of the second day. The first three verses are read for Kohen, the second three verses for Levi (O.H. 684: 1), and the entire passage of bayom hashlishi for Shelishi (Rama on O.H. 684: 1).

The same order is followed each day except the sixth, which is also Rosh Hodesh Tevet (O.H. 684:3), the day or days of Hannukah that fall on a Sabbath, and the last day of Hanukkah, when we begin with bayom hashmini and complete the chapter up to and including the offering of the twelfth day, and the concluding passage beginning with zot chanukat hamizbeach (O.H. 684: 1). Because of the reading of this passage, the eighth day of Hanukkah is sometimes called zot chanukat.

On the last day the reading begins with bayom hashmini. The paragraph is divided as on the other days: the First three verses for Kohen, the next three for Levi, and from bayom hatishi’i through the end of the chapter for Shelishi.

On the sixth day, which is always Rosh Hodesh. two Torah scrolls are taken from the ark. In the first Torah scroll we read the portion prescribed for Rosh Hodesh (Num. 23:1-15), calling three people. In the second Torah scroll we read the prescribed portion for Hanukkah, bayom hashishi, calling one person (O.H. 684:3). When Rosh Hodesh Tevet is observed for two days. the service follows the same procedure on the second day of Rosh Hodesh as on the first, except that the portion read from the second scroll begins with bayom hashvi’i.

On the Sabbath two Torah scrolls are taken out. The Sidrah of the week is read from the first. The Maftir, which is the prescribed reading for that day of Hanukkah, is read from the second (O.H, 684:2). The Haftarah is Zechariah 2:14-4:4. It was chosen because it mentions the Menorah and also because it contains the verse “Not by might, nor by power, etc.,” which has become the motto of Hanukkah.

Since Hanukkah lasts eight days, it will have two Sabbaths if the first day of the festival is a Sabbath, In such a case, we follow the same procedure on the second Sabbath as on the first, except that the Haftarah is from I Kings 7:40-50. This passage has a description of the furnishings of the Temple of Solomon, an appropriate reading on a holiday that celebrates the rededication of the Second Temple.

If Rosh Hodesh and the Sabbath coincide, three Torah scrolls are taken out, The Sidrah of the week is read from the first, and six people are given ‘aliyot, The passage for Rosh Hodesh (Num. 28:9-15) is read from the second for the seventh aliyah. The Qaddish is then recited. The prescribed reading for the sixth day of Hanukkah is read from the third, The Haftarah is that of Hanukkah (O.H. 684:3). The services for the day incorporate the special prayers of both Hanukkah and Rosh Hodesh; i.e., complete Hallel, the Musaf ‘Amidah of Rosh Hodesh and al hanisim in each ‘Amidah (O.H. 682:2). On the Sabbath of Hanukkah av harachaman and tzidkatcha tzedek are omitted (Rama on O.H. 683:1) since they are omitted on any Sabbath on which, were it a weekday, Tahanun would not be said (O,H. 292:2).

Many festive customs are associated with Hanukkah, special games (dreidl) and special foods (latkes or pancakes) are characteristic of the holiday. In America Hanukkah has become an occasion for the exchanging of gifts, especially for children (Ziv Haminhagim, pp. 262-63, nos. 24, 25). Plays and celebrations are held in religious schools. At home there is special emphasis on the children’s participation in the lighting of the candies (O.H. 675:3). The festival thus recalls to us a great act of faith, commemorating the liberation of our people bayamim hahem bazman hazeh, “in those days, at this season.” Hanukkah symbolizes the struggle, of “the few against the many, the weak against the strong,” the eternal battle of the Jewish people for its faith and its existence. To the world it proclaims the eternal message of the prophet Zechariah: “Not by might, nor by Power, but by My spirit.” 

Excerpted from:
A Guide to Jewish Religious Practice by Isaac Klein (Supplement by Rabbi Joel Roth)
91żě˛Ą of America, New York and Jerusalem, Copyright 1979, 1992