Laws of Rosh Chodesh (Siman 97)
Intro
You're listening to Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe of TORCH in Houston, Texas. This is the Everyday Judaism Podcast.
Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe
Welcome back to the Everyday Judaism Podcast. Today we're going to learn something special because tonight is Hanukkah. And because on Hanukkah, beginning tomorrow morning at Shacharis, at the morning prayers, we're going to begin to recite Hallel.
Every single Rosh Chodesh, we also, the beginning of every month, we recite the Hallel. In every single festival, Sukkot, Pesach, Shavuot, and every other festive time, we recite Hallel, also on Rosh Chodesh. And therefore, I felt it was important because Hallel is a special prayer that comprises of several different psalms from King David. And because of that, I wanted to dedicate some time today to talk about the laws of Rosh Chodesh, because we will have Rosh Chodesh this coming Shabbos, and Rosh Chodesh is also going to be on Sunday next week, a week from today. It's a two-day Rosh Chodesh.
Rosh Chodesh, as we mentioned in previous episodes, is the first day of the month. So sometimes it's also the last day of the month and the first day, but it's always the first day of the month. So on some occasions it'll be one day of Rosh Chodesh, and some it'll be two days of Rosh Chodesh. And on both of those days, it's a very special time, auspicious time for teshuvah, for repentance, as we will see in this chapter of the Kitzer, in Simmon 97, Simmon Tzadik Zion. Yei shnogin l'sanos be'erev Rosh Chodesh.
There are those who have the custom to fast on Erev Rosh Chodesh, on the day that precedes Rosh Chodesh. And they recite the special prayers for Yom Kippur Katan, which is a compilation of prayers that's recited at the mincha prior to Rosh Chodesh. Rosh Chodesh, as the Jewish calendar, always begins at night. The day always begins with the night. So it would be on the mincha prior to that, and it's a minor day of atonement.
If you remember, we talked about this when we talked about, in the Parsha podcast, talking about ha'azinu. We talked about reciting the evening shema. And at that time, we talked about the four different Rosh Hashanas that we have, and the Yom Kippurs that we have, the times for atonement. We have Yom Kippur at the beginning of every year, the 10th day of Tishrei. We also have the day before Rosh Chodesh, which is also considered a day of auspicious time for atonement.
We also have the beginning of every week, which is right before Shabbos, a great time for atonement. And also the beginning of every day, which is at night before we go to sleep. Which is why many people recite at bedtime, not only the shema, but they recite a special prayer for forgiveness. Forgiving everyone else, and hopefully seeking for our own forgiveness from the Almighty. So these are very, very powerful times.
Now we're talking about the main one being Rosh Chodesh. L'fi shebo miskapim kol havonos shel kol hachodesh. Because on that day, the day before Rosh Chodesh, the sins of the entire preceding month are able to be forgiven. Dum yo desir Rosh Chodesh. In this way, this service is similar to the purpose of that higot that was offered on Rosh Chodesh.
And just like we say in the Musaf of Rosh Chodesh, in the extra prayer that we say, the extra Amidah that we recite on Rosh Chodesh. That Rosh Chodesh is a time of forgiveness for all of their descendants. And each place should follow its custom. There are some places that have special prayer for the day before Rosh Chodesh. In this service of Yom Kippur Katon, it's a small Yom Kippur, a micro Yom Kippur.
And some places do not have this custom. When I was in Yeshiva, I had never even heard of it before this. And before this experience of being in Yeshiva in Israel. And it was the day before Rosh Chodesh and they have this massive day of prayer. And it was transformative.
It really was, to me, it became the highlight. Now, there are only eight months of the year that we actually do this. There are only eight months. Now, you don't do it before Cheshvan because you're still in the month of Tishrei. You had already Yom Kippur in the month of Tishrei.
And it's also a time that you don't recite special supplications. So, therefore, that's not done. At the beginning of Kislev, you don't either do it. We can get into the reasons why. Then you have this month of Hanukkah.
Hanukkah, you don't do it. Sorry, so one second. Before Kislev, you do. Sorry, before Kislev, you do. And this month before Tevis, you do not because it's on Hanukkah.
So, on Hanukkah, we don't recite those supplications either. Then you don't do it before the month of Nisan. And you don't do it before the month of Iyar. We'll get into the reasons. We can talk about that at a different time.
But it's only eight out of the 12 months is it recited. And if you have a leap year, then it will be nine out of the 13 months. Okay, halacha number two. It is a special mitzvah to eat a larger meal on Rosh Chodesh. And if it falls on Shabbos, then you should make one special food, one special dish that is unique because it's also Rosh Chodesh.
So, there are people who are very, very, very, very cautious about this halacha. And it also says that the food that is spent on Jewish Shabbos, on Shabbos and festivals, thank you so much, is covered by the Almighty, including the meals, the festival meal of Rosh Chodesh. And there are people who go all out on Rosh Chodesh. They'll have their prime rib dinner because it's covered by the Almighty. And if you do it for the honor of your relationship with Hashem, it's guaranteed to be covered.
If you do it for your own stomach, it's questionable whether or not it'll be covered, okay? So, Rosh Chodesh, it is permitted to perform labor on Rosh Chodesh, unless it's Shabbos, obviously. B'noshim nohagos sholol ha'asos b'molacha. Women, however, are accustomed to not performing labor on Rosh Chodesh. Why?
U'min aghagon hu. And this is a proper custom. Ve'ein la'hakelahem. And one should not instruct them to be lenient in this matter. Why?
We'll see in a second. Women were awarded Rosh Chodesh as a festival, as a yom tov, in merit of not willingly donating their jewelry for making the golden calf. They didn't do it willingly, which is a great, great, a great, great positive sign for women, a positive judgment for women, that women were not willing to do this. This didn't sound right to them, didn't look right to them, which is another thing. I think, you know, last week we celebrated the Pidgin Abed of my grandson.
And the women, one of the customs is, what do you do? What is the Pidgin Abed? The Pidgin Abed is the redeeming of the firstborn. So the Kohen really has possession as a representative of God of your baby. And now you have to redeem that baby with five silver coins.
So my son had the privilege of performing this mitzvah, as I did for him. And the Kohen was very special. It was my son-in-law. So that's really awesome. And one of the things that's custom, so they have this, they put the baby on a silver platter, a real silver platter. And if you'd see the size of that silver platter, it's like, wow.
Okay, a real silver platter. And one of the things that they do is the women take off their jewelry and they put it on the baby. Why? Because why do we have this mitzvah? Because of the golden calf that the firstborn boys acted inappropriately. And therefore they lost their status.
And now God says, no, no, no, now you're going to have to redeem your firstborn. Your firstborn was supposed to be a Kohen, no longer a Kohen. Now he's going to be a backup of a backup. But still you need to redeem the firstborn from the Kohen. So the women, in commemoration of not willingly giving their jewelry for the golden calf, are now giving it for the Pidyon HaBen.
Okay, so now, although the custom of women not doing work on the Shkodesh was universally accepted, nevertheless, there was no single uniform practice with regard to the extent of the custom. Each woman should therefore follow her custom provided that she abstains from at least some type of work so that Rosh Chodesh is different than other weekdays. If her custom is to abstain from all types of labor, she may not perform any work at all on that day. Now there are some women who have a custom not to do laundry on that day. There are some women who have other customs that on that day, the day of Rosh Chodesh, they don't perform certain activities.
Whatever that may be, whatever your custom is, it is proper to follow that custom. Customs also vary as to whether the practice of abstaining from work applies to both days of a two-day Rosh Chodesh or only to the second day. The halacha now continues, and this is the main reason we wanted to discuss this earlier and discuss it before Rosh Chodesh, is because of the following halacha. And that is Halel. What is Halel? We'll see in a second.
In the Shmon Esrei of Marif, Shakhras, and Mincha of Rosh Chodesh, the Yala V'yavo was recited. We know we add a special paragraph of Yala V'yavo on Rosh Chodesh. In addition, after the Chazan's repetition of the Shakhras Shmon Esrei, the Shakhras repetition of the Amidah on Rosh Chodesh, part Halel is recited. Now we're going to talk more about this. Now, for most holidays, most times we recite Halel, we recite the full Halel.
We'll see what the full Halel is in a minute. But on Rosh Chodesh, we recite a partial Halel. It's called a half-Halel, Chatzi Halel. Halel Tzolor Cholomer B'Amidah. When one recites the Halel, again, these are verses of praise of the Almighty.
We're going to expand on this in a minute. It's supposed to be recited while you're standing. And one should not interrupt while reciting it. And it is proper to endeavor to recite it with the congregation. If one who has not yet recited the Shakhras prayer arrives in the synagogue close to the time of the recitation of Halel, it is appropriate to recite the Halel with the congregation.
And afterwards, pray the prayer catch-up. And if he's at the part of the prayer of Pesukot HaZimra, which means from Hodu till Az Yashir, he should recite Halel with the congregation. And he should not recite the blessings that precede or proceed the Halel. Because the blessing of Baruch Shomer beforehand and the blessing of Yishtabach afterward, they suffice and they're effective for Halel as well. And specifically on Rosh Chodesh, you can do so.
Because only part of Halel is recited. And this also applies to Cholamot Pesach and the final two days of Pesach where half Halel is recited. But when complete Halel is recited, on the first two days of Pesach, Shavuot, the entire Sukkot and Hanukkah, he cannot jump in from Pesukot HaZimra into Halel. One who recites Halel without the congregation, without a minion, David's at home, recites it. As you may recall, in our old torch center, we were next door to a wonderful restaurant.
And I remember on Rosh Chodesh, it was a delight to hear the owner of the restaurant across the wall. I would be able to hear his beautiful singing of the Halel. And it was really, really special. If there are two other people there who are reciting Halel and all of you are without a minion, so let's say you're traveling and you're on an airplane or you're in the airport or you're anywhere and there are two other people with you, they should be recited together. In order that they should respond to his recitation, for since he says, give thanks, oh do, the implication is that they're saying this together with others.
If, God forbid, someone is in a house of a mourner, we'll talk about this in a different semen, semen 207. Okay, so now I just want to get back over here for a second when we're talking about Halel. Halel is a testimony of Hashem's praiseworthiness, of his wonders, and of the miraculous actions of which we are the beneficiaries. Since, by law, one stands during testimony, we stand during the recitation of Halel. So we're giving testimony to Hashem's praiseworthiness, to all of Hashem's miracles, therefore we stand.
When else do we stand? We stand Friday night when we recite the Kiddush because we're giving testimony that God created the world in six days and rested on the seventh. So we stand. Any time you give testimony, by the way, this has been adopted universally in court of law, all across the world, that when you give testimony, you stand. There's a seriousness to it.
Right? It comes from halacha. An allusion to this is found in the verse, Halelu avdei Hashem she'omdim beveis Hashem. Praise Hashem, your servants of Hashem, you servants of Hashem, you who stand in the house of Hashem. So we see here, and this is verses that are recited in the Halel, we're standing when we're giving praise to Hashem. With regard to whether one may support himself on a lectern or a wall while reciting Halel, we see that in halacha in a different place.
It is certainly permitted to lean slightly on any object provided one will not fall if that object was removed. One who recites Halel while sitting has nevertheless fulfilled his requirement. So you don't have to be alarmed. Uh-oh, what happens? I was sitting or I didn't know.
It's fine. You fulfilled your obligation of that. So also we have to know that Halel, there is a blessing that precedes it and a blessing at the end of it whenever we do recite the Halel. Halacha number five, following Halel, we recite a full Kaddish, which includes Tiskabel. Now, if you go to our prayer podcast, Kaddish number one, we talked about the different types of Kaddish.
We talked about different parts of Kaddish and their importance. Over here, we will recite the Kaddish Tiskabel, which is the full Kaddish, where we're asking Hashem, please accept our prayers. The Torah is taken out. The Koran is downloaded and four people are called up and read from the Torah. Each of those who are called up have at least three verses that are being read.
And then the Levi reads. So he's going through each of the verses that the Kohen, the Levi, and the two Israelites that are called up on Rosh Chodesh are called up for the Torah and the parts that are being read during that Torah reading. And this is during weekday. On Shabbos as well, we'll read all of those verses for the final Aliyah. This coming Shabbos, this coming Shabbos is going to be also Shabbos, also Rosh Chodesh, and also Hanukkah.
It's going to be the longest Birkat Hamazon, the longest grace after meals of the entire year. Because you're also going to add the Al Anisim for Hanukkah. You're also going to add the Retzeh for Shabbos. And you're also going to add the Yalav Yevo for Rosh Chodesh. It is the longest Birkat Hamazon.
Also, Davening, we're going to take out three Torah scrolls. We're going to take out the regular Shabbos, we're going to take out for Hanukkah, and we're going to take out for Rosh Chodesh. So it's a very special opportunity to be in a synagogue, to be part of such an incredible, and we're going to say hallo, because it's Rosh Chodesh, and because it's also going to be Hanukkah. So, Rosh Chodesh, halacha number six. On Rosh Chodesh, it is prohibited to fast or to eulogize on Rosh Chodesh.
And we do not recite Tzedek Hadin, which is the acceptance of God's judgment, which is part of the burial ceremony. Halacha number seven. Part of the laws of Rosh Chodesh include what is done every single month. And what is that? We bless the moon, the new moon.
So what is Kiddush Levonah? Anybody familiar with that mitzvah, the sanctification of the moon? This blessing is recited each month upon the new moon. Chayivon l'kaddish levonah b'chol chodesh. It is an obligation to recite Kiddush Levonah, the sanctification of the new moon, each month.
Ve'ein mekatchen oso, elo keshihi vadei lailo. Kiddush Levonah is recited only when it's nighttime. She nirez richoso al gabei hakarka. When you can see the shine of the moon on the ground, v'roi lehonis me'ora, and it is fit to benefit from its light, to enjoy its light, im niskasis be'of, if it is obscured by a cloud, ein mekatchen oso, you should not recite the blessing. Elo imkein hu dak v'kolosh, unless the cloud is thin and insubstantial, you can still see the moon, but it's a little, there's a little bit of a blocking of the cloud.
That's fine. That's enough for you to be able to recite the beautiful blessing of Kiddush Levonah. V'im yitkhil havorech, if he started the blessing, v'hakarka niskasis be'of, and afterward, the moon became obscured by a cloud, gomer esabrocho, he may complete the blessing, avol im hu mesha'er, shelo yucha ligmor esabrocho, kodem she tiskase, oso lo le'haskhil. If he, at the beginning of the blessing, he sees, there's a cloud about to come, and I'm not going to be able to finish the blessing before it gets covered, don't start yet. Wait till it gets, till it gets cleared out and that you can recite the blessing.
It also, by the way, in the words of our Kabbalists and our sages, the month in which one recites the Kiddush Levonah, we have this opportunity 12 times a year, 13 times in a leap year, to bless the new moon, in the month that one recites the blessing over the new moon, no damage will happen to that person. You're protected. It's done within, and so here's the thing, you have to do it during the first 14 days of the month when the moon is expanding and getting more visible to us, not during the second 14 days of the month, okay, when it's waning. Ein le'kad she'arak tachas ha'shamayim, Kiddush Levonah cannot be recited indoors. It should be recited under the heavens, under the open sky.
Ve'lo tachas ka'aganat beneath a roof. Ach im ein lo makom naki, but if he's in an unclean place, you're outside and there's a bad odor or it's a place where there's a sewage or whatever, O ma'ach mas'ones acha, or because of an unavoidable circumstance and he cannot say it outside, Yo'cho le'kad she'agam b'soch habayis, then if you have no choice, you can recite it inside a house, be'ad ha'chalon, by a window where you're able to see the moon. It's customary. We do it in our synagogue. In most synagogues around the world, it's done Saturday night.
Usually, so this week, for example, we're going to have Rosh Chodesh on Shabbos. So you can't do it the first day. You can't do it during the first three days. It's after the first three days of the month of the new moon. Sometimes it's a day earlier that the moon is revealed.
So from the time of the Molad, which is the birth of the new moon, after three days, it can start being recited until 14 days. So there's about 11 days window when you can recite the new moon. Now sometimes, in certain seasons, some places around the world, it's cloudy all the time. It's very difficult to have that opportunity to recite. And there's some people who like, you know, have an alarm set because the weather channel said there's going to be a clear sky at 1 a.m.
So they, you know, they got to run outside and get a clear view of the moon so that they can recite the Kiddush Levana, the sanctification of the new moon. אין לקצר רך תחס השמיים אין לקצר רך תחס השמיים Okay, so we said that. You only recite it under the sky, under the open sky. מצוה מן המופחר מצוה מן המופחר It is an ideal performance of the mitzvah of Kiddush Levana, לקצר במוצא שבס to recite it specifically Motsi Shabbos, which is right after Shabbos. כשהוא מבוסם כשהוא מבוסם When a person is in good spirits, הוא מלובש בגודים נויים הוא מלובש בגודים נויים because you're wearing your finest attire still from Shabbos.
אך אם מוצא שבס יהיה לאחר עשר יום מן המולד אך אם מוצא שבס יהיה לאחר עשר יום מן המולד However, if Motsi Shabbos will be more than 10 days after the Molod או שיש איזה חשש או שיש איזה חשש or there is any concern שם לא יוכל לקצר שם לא יוכל לקצר if one is concerned that it's going to be bad weather coming in the next couple of days in the next couple of days and is not going to be able to recite this special blessing. able to recite this special blessing. אין מעמתינים למוצא שבס Then don't wait for Motsi Shabbos. You don't want to lose the opportunity to do this great mitzvah. Now there's some people like the Hasidic communities they don't recite it till the seventh day after the birth of the new moon so then their window is even smaller.
They have only seven days to recite it and if you have bad weather you can miss the opportunity to recite it appropriately. There have been many many times where you know where you know on the third day fourth day fifth day sixth day seventh day almost 13th day terrible weather wintery stormy weather and it's every evening was was cloudy and you wouldn't see the moon and suddenly I walk outside and I see yeah there's a clear moon I would immediately text the community chat guys anybody who didn't get the opportunity now is your opportunity to sanctify the new moon. A mitzvah l'katr basifas om It is a special mitzvah to recite it with as many people as possible. Mishum de berov am hadras melech because we know from the verse in Proverbs King Salmon tells us that with multitudes of people is the glory of the king. It enhances Hashem's glory when many people join together to perform his mitzvahs.
Therefore we try to recite it with as many people aval al ya'ake yis'akev bishvil ze ki mitzvahs zrizir makdim Those who are speedy to perform mitzvahs are the ones who merit to the mitzvahs. Those who have alacrity those who are zariz they don't waste time those are the ones who merit to get the mitzvahs. So we shouldn't delay dekhila mitzvahs berov am even even overriding the opportunity of fulfilling the mitzvahs with as many people as possible. So now if comes an opportunity for you to recite the sanctification of the new moon and you're like what? I should wait for the community I should wait for everyone so we can recite it together but you're afraid one second what if I'm not going to get that opportunity?
What if people are traveling we're not going to have a group of people and then I might miss the opportunity to recite this blessing because it may be covered by bad weather you might have that opportunity. Halacha we have only five more halachas here regarding this. This eve will discuss the earliest and latest time for Kiddush Lavana since these times are based on the lunar cycle we now present a short introduction explaining this cycle. Generally half the moon is illuminated by the rays of the sun nevertheless the illuminated part of the moon is not always entirely visible to an observer on earth. The phases of the moon depend on how much of that half is visible right because the sun is only showing one side of the moon from earth and this is determined by the location of the moon in its orbit around earth.
Moreover when in the course of its monthly orbit around earth the moon passes between the sun and the earth the illuminated part of the moon is totally invisible to an observer on earth. So we know that that's usually on Rosh Chodesh right before Rosh Chodesh. You know when would Rosh Chodesh be declared in the times of the temple? There would be two witnesses who would have to come to the Betin to the Jewish court and say we saw the moon exactly and they would give a description of exactly what it was that they saw and if two witnesses were verified after questioning then they would declare it Rosh Chodesh they would declare it Mount and then the next mountain would see and they would light a fire and the next mountain would see and like this it would go all the way to Babylon from Jerusalem all the way to where the Jewish people were mountain to mountain to mountain lighting that fire so that they everybody knew we got the message it's Rosh Chodesh and therefore we recite the special prayer it's a special festival it's also the importance of counting the calendar properly because if you count the days wrong you'll have Passover you'll have Rosh Hashanah on a non-Rosh Hashanah day if you count it wrong you don't have any there's no room for error okay a full cycle of lunar phases known as the lunar or synodic month is calculated by our sages to be 29 days 12 hours 44 minutes and three and a half seconds in length three and a third seconds sorry this is the time of the Molad which is the rebirth of one month to the Molad of the next month and is expressed as okay he gives over here 29 days 12 hours and 793 halakim when divided into a 1080 portions thus each portion equals three and a third seconds and 793 halakim equals 44 minutes and three and one third seconds okay so now the Kiddush Lavan is not recited so Kiddush Lavan should not be recited until three days have passed from the birth of the new moon and there are those who wait seven days and we mentioned this previously when falls before seven days one should not recite Kiddush Lavan rather he should recite it on Matzah Shabbos even if it's before seven days and one we may recite Kiddush Lavan only until half of 29 days 12 hours 793 halakim between the Molads which is 14 days which is 14 days exactly from the beginning of the Molad 14 days 18 hours and 22 minutes from the previous Molad okay so that's exactly the half point the midpoint Kiddush Lavan is to be recited in a state of happiness befitting the occasion of paying homage to the king Kiddush Lavan should therefore not be said during times of mourning there is no Kiddush Lavan before nine days you know the nine days of Av from the beginning of Rosh Chodesh Av till the ninth of Av really sad days days of great sorrow for the Jewish people therefore we don't recite the Kiddush Lavan until after nine days and additionally someone who's mourning during their Shiva does not recite the Kiddush Lavan so unless he will not complete his mourning until ten complete days having passed from the Molad because if he's going to miss the opportunity he's going to miss the opportunity of Kiddush Lavan of sanctifying the moon so therefore in such a situation he can recite it during his mourning when someone is fasting they should not recite the Kiddush Lavan so if someone is still fasting from Tisha B'Av they have to break their fast first and then recite the Kiddush Lavan you're not supposed to recite the Kiddush Lavan when you're fasting you're supposed to be in a happy state same thing we do with Yom Kippur he'll mention it I'm sure so first partake in eating some food nevertheless on Motso Yom Kippur since we leave the synagogue on Yom Kippur with great joy because now we're forgiven for all of our sins so therefore it's different and one may recite Kiddush Lavan right after Yom Kippur even before he ate one should not recite the Kiddush Lavan on Shabbos not on Friday night and not on Yom Tov and not on the night of Yom Tov unless it is it is a time of pressing need if it's going to be too late to recite it means you forgot or it was it was cloudy and now it's Friday night or holiday like Pesach and if you wait one night to the next night you're going to miss the opportunity already because now it's going to be on the waning edge of the month so then in such a case you can recite it Friday night but always best not to absolutely even if they can't see it with their own eyes because they're blind they can it is permitted for them to recite the Kiddush Lavan the reason for this is because the Kiddush Lavan was established as an appreciation of the renewal of nature from which a blind person also has benefit if the moon is shining at the beginning of the night so if you see there's a beautiful moon before Maarev the law is that if there is still time there will still be time for another few nights to recite Kiddush Lavan they should then recite the Maarev and afterwards recite Kiddush Lavan if the moon is still visible why? what's the problem here?
the problem is what comes first the regular mitzvah or the irregular mitzvah? what's more regular praying the Maarev service or praying the monthly sanctification of the moon? Maarev is every single day always this is a known fundamental rule okay I'll give you an example for next for next Shabbos okay which blessing comes first? the blessing for Shabbos or the blessing for Rosh Chodesh? for Shabbos because Shabbos is every week Rosh Chodesh is every month which one is more frequent?
Shabbos daily versus monthly daily comes first because daily is every day it's more frequent than a monthly occasion this is a known principle in Halacha something which is steady comes before something which is not as steady what is steady? evening service so if you see you're walking into Shul for evening service and you see wow what a beautiful moon don't recite it yet first pray the Maarev service then afterward you can now why did he say that there are going to be other days? because what's if this is the last day and you're going to miss the opportunity if you wait till after Maarev? so then there's an exception for that and you could recite it before because of the conflict between frequent the frequent takes precedence furthermore Shema is a Biblical obligation Kiddush Levon is only a Rabbinic obligation therefore Shema takes precedence but if there's not going to be remaining days and you may miss the opportunity for the sanctification of the moon and there's only another two or three nights and in this short amount of time there's a concern that there might be cloudy evenings and you're not going to be able to see the moon and definitely during the rainy season like winter time he says in certain situations where we're concerned that we're not going to have the opportunity to have such a clear view of the moon do it as soon as you can so that you don't lose that opportunity if the moon becomes visible if the moon becomes visible while the congregation is reciting Shema and it's blessing the law is that if you're in a place where it's so limited the amount of time that you can see the Levonah for by the time you're finished the Amidah the end of Marif you're going to miss the opportunity for reciting the sanctification of the moon you can even interrupt then even in the middle of the blessings of the Shema or in the middle of the Shema itself to sanctify the moon however if it's possible at least finish the section that you're in the middle of reading and say the Kiddush Levonah only between the sections okay one more halacha but it's important for us to know you see over here that there's always a variety of halacha that one can fall onto okay you can fall onto there's you know there's always room for a person to fulfill the mitzvah that a person really wants to fulfill and you see that there's so many different opinions here well you shouldn't really but you can if you have no choice we have to understand that remember this is part of Jewish law and that is the principles of Jewish law need to always be abided by the principles always need to be fulfilled now the way you personalize it may be a little bit different so I'll give an example Shabbos everybody agrees that Shabbos is a day that we're not supposed to do creative labor everybody agrees so one person says you should eat this and eat that and one person says you should eat fine different ways in which you can enjoy it's one person likes to drink wine another person doesn't like wine so to the one who enjoys the wine great drink the wine the one who doesn't enjoy the wine don't drink the wine you understand within the realm of observing the Jewish law within that realm everyone has their own unique way they can express it but we have to be very careful that it stays within the parameters of Jewish law and not to change it and not to break open the walls of Jewish law that now anyone can do whatever they want because it doesn't really make a difference no it does make a difference there's okay I think it's important for us to remember that and to remind ourselves Im Bechodesh Adah halacha number 15 the final halacha here in this chapter if during the month of Adar low nearer Salavonah there was no moon visible for the whole month Ad Leil Yudal until the night of the 14th which is Purim night Shehu Zman Mikur Megillah where now you need to read the Megillah Yekadshu Tkhilo Esalavonah you should first recite the Kiddush Salavonah V'achakach Yikur Esalavonah and then read the Megillah V'im Niraso Be'em Tzakri Esalavonah and if it was visible in the midst of reading the Megillah Im Hu B'Zman Shegam L'Achash Yigmur Esalavonah Yir Od Zman L'Kadsho Ein Mavsikim Be'em Tzakri Esalavonah since you recited a blessing at the beginning of the reading of the Megillah you shouldn't interrupt that blessing until the end so if the moon will still be out when you're done don't interrupt Avol Im Ach Yigmur Esalavonah Yav Or Zman but if by the time you're done reading the Megillah it's going to be cloudy and you're not going to have that opportunity Im Kola Kola Dayim L'Kichu Esalavonah if the entire congregation did not recite the Kiddush Salavonah Yaf Siku L'Kadesh Esalavonah they should interrupt the Megillah reading in order to recite the sanctification on the moon V'achakach Yigmur Esalavonah and then together they should continue reading the Megillah Avol Im Rak Yohid Lo Kiddush Esalavonah but if only a single individual did not recite the blessing on the moon Sh'im Yav Sik L'Katchi Yitztor V'achakach Yigmur Esalavonah Yichidush Lo Yav Sik so now what happens if he leaves the congregation recites the blessing comes back he's going to have to recite the whole Megillah again alone Lo Yav Sik Kasum Y'nisa O'dif because publicizing the Purim miracle through the public reading of the Megillah is preferable even though this will result that this individual will not recite the Kiddush Esalavonah at all that month okay so this concludes chapter number 97 in the Kiddush Esalavonah and right now my dear friends we're going to turn to Ask Away episode number 26 I hope you all came armed, but don't jump you're jumping armed you're like yeah we're in Texas we're all armed no no no armed with questions armed with questions so that we can hopefully learn and grow together as much as possible so this concludes this episode of the everyday Judaism podcast and now we will resume with our ask away number 26.
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