- Shabbat and Holidays
- Jewish Holidays
1047
The Jewish summer is divided into three distinct periods of time. The first one in which we are now engaged is from Shavuot to the seventeenth of Tammuz. This is usually the most pleasant time of the summer, weather wise and mood wise. It still has the anticipation and excitement of summer plans present and the chance to wind down and appreciate life and its blessings in spite of its problems and disappointments. It is the season for weddings, family visits and trips and vacations. This first enjoyable part of the summer reaches an almost abrupt ending with the advent of the seventeenth of Tammuz and the period of mourning for the destruction of the Temples and the Jewish exile. In the Ashkenazic world no weddings are then solemnized until after Tisha B’Av and enjoyable occasions and trips are minimized. The Sephardim begin their period of commemoration mourning on Rosh Chodesh Av or on the week in which Tisha B’Av itself falls. In any event this second period of the summer is the low point of the season for Jews, heavy with memory, angst and an aching sadness. This period of time does allow us to assess what we do have and the progress that we and civilization have made over the past nineteen hundred and thirty eight years since the Romans destroyed the Temple in Jerusalem but it also poignantly points out to us the distance in the road that we have yet to travel to make good that loss. The final period of the summer from after Tisha B’Av until Rosh Hashana is already a busy period of time. Elul marks the beginning of the season of the High Holy Days, schools reopen (hopefully on time this year) and the pace of life picks up in anticipation of the great and holy days that lie immediately before us. The end of summer brings with it a sadness related to departing time coupled with a heightened anticipation of the new year and its potential blessings and accomplishments. The knowledge that the great holidays are just beyond the horizon is the true comfort for the otherwise sad departure of summer, its warmth, beauty and relaxed mood. The Jewish calendar of the year is truly a work of Divine genius. It is meant to give humans the greatest benefits of bounty, pleasantness, anticipation and meaning. I think that it certainly accomplishes that goal in a most efficient and wise manner. It is a further example of how the Torah is the book of human guidance and challenge.

Example of Shifting Gears to Build a Jewish Nation
Erev Pesach which Falls on Shabbat
Rabbi Ari Shvat | Nisan 5785
The Laws of Blowing the Shofar
Rabbi Eliezer Melamed | Thursday, 23 Elul 5767

Where’s the Beef? - Eating Meat During the Nine Days
Rabbi Yirmiyohu Kaganoff | 3 Av 5768
10. The Mitzva to Drink
Chapter 16: The Mitzvot of Joy and Kindness
Rabbi Eliezer Melamed | Tevet 5 5782

Serving as Chazan on the Shabbat Before a Yahrtzeit
Rabbi Daniel Mann | Tevet 2 5777

"If Haredim Should Serve in the IDF, So Should You"
IDF Service for Young Jewish Men from America
Rabbi Ari Shvat | 25 Tammuz 5784

Serving as Chazan on the Shabbat Before a Yahrtzeit
Rabbi Daniel Mann | Tevet 2 5777

Forgetting a Day of Sefirat Ha'Omer
Rabbi Yosef Tzvi Rimon | 5778

Parashat Hashavua: Two Sides to a Coin
Rabbi Yossef Carmel | Nisan 5785

P'ninat Mishpat: Rental of an Apartment that Was Not Quite Ready – part I
based on ruling 82031 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts
Beit Din Eretz Hemda - Gazit | Nisan 5784

BETWEEN YOM HASHOA & YOM HAZIKARON
Rabbi Ari Shvat | Nisan 5785
