Shalom Ve'ehitraot- 35th day of the Omer

Hebcal for Juneà August.

https://www.hebcal.com/hebcal?v=1&year=2025&yt=G&i=off&maj=on&min=on&nx=on&mf=on&ss=on&mod=on&s=on&lg=s&D=on&c=on&geo=geoname&zip=&geonameid=4887398&city-typeahead=Chicago%2C+Illinois%2C+USA&b=18&M=on&m=&ue=off
 
 
Tisha B’av
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAoSODDghE8&

 

 

 

A.     The ban on milk and meat  foods mixed to gether is not only on eating it but selling it

B.     The mikvah, the jewish ritual bath must be filled with hot water.

C.      The kabalat shabbat service goes back 2000 years.

D.     Jews are supposed to say Birkat Hamazon after EVERY time they eat bread.

E.      shacharit is the name of the morning service because the word for dawn is shachar.

F.      tefilin are only a must for orthodox jews

G.     techeylet is the color of the crimson wool used in the bible.

H.     The old city of Jerusalem has five quarters.

I.       Shabbat Candles are supposed to be lit at home before sundown.

J.       Challah bread is only 500 years old and was adopted from a special bread for easter.  

K.      Tzitzit are only needed on a garment you pray in.

L.      Beit Din is a Jewish court of three Judges, now only used for conversion

M.    A traditional Jewish wedding contract, or Ketubah, has the vows of the bride and groom translated into Aramaic.

N.     Suri Olives are a new breed created in the state of Israel in 1956

O.     The aleph in a torah scroll is made from three other letters

P.     Jews first lived in China in the 19th century.

Q.     Ethiopian Jews have their own religious leaders, each known as a kes

R.     swordfish is only kosher when it grows scales as an adult

S.      The term Palestine is from an Arab word.

T.      "Losers weepers finders keepers" is actually a law in the Talmud.

U.     Chanukah was originally only seven days in the land of Israel.

V.     You need one rabbi present at a Jewish divorce ritual.

W.   Incense was burned in the Temple on a golden altar.

X.      The teruah on the shofar is three medium length sounds.

Y.      shatneyz is the torah's law forbidding wearing garments with wool blended with cotton.

Z.      The sanhedrin was the name of JEwish courts in the 2nd temple period

AA.  When a person says they are a koheyn, they mean they are descenents of Judaism's preists of long ago

BB.  The ark of the covenant had a heavy lid with two golden angels on it

CC.  There is a special blessing for the fragrance of fruit.

DD. it takes about six years after college to become a rabbi.

EE.   the dead sea in Israel is disappearing.

FF.   the ten plagues all happened within one year.

GG. Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, who was chief rabbi of Israel in the 1980's, had 800,000 people join in his funeral procession.

HH. Goldah Meir was president of the State of Israel.

II.      A Torah scroll can be written on heavy paper.

JJ.     King Saul was the first king of the Jewish people.

KK.  The sixth of the ten commandments is "do not murder."

LL.    The symbol of the tribe of Benjamin was the wolf.

MM.                  The ten commandments are actually called something else in Hebrew

NN. Cooking is forbidden on the sabbath, but warming food up is not.

OO. 2.            Using a bycycle is forbidden on the sabbath.

PP.  3.            The Jewish community in Iraq has a history that goes back 2600 years.

QQ. 4.            The expression "chas ve shalom",  a way of saying god forbid, is about 200 years old.

RR.  5.            If you can sleep in your sukkah, you are supposed to.

SS.   6.            Rabbi Russo is from Canada

TT.   7.            tefilat haderech is the prayer for when you are traveling.

UU. 8.            The Talmud is no longer relevant to modern Jews.

VV.  9.            Queen Ataliyah was a liberator.  Queen Shlomit Alexandra was a tyrant.

WW.                  10.         Moses spent 40 days and 40 nights on mount sinai -- TWICE.

XX.  11.         Shir hammalot  is the name of 15 psalms in the bible.

YY.   12.         Shavuot is celebrated by most Jews.

ZZ.   13.         There is a different Psalm for each day of the week.

AAA.                  14.         The fourth book of the torah is Bamidbar.

BBB.                   15.         Joshua took over leading the Jewish people after MOses.

CCC.                   16.         at a jewish funeral, everyone is supposed to help with the burial

DDD.                  17.         The Torah says there is a serious puniushment for a person who eats bread on passover

EEE.                    18.         The fast of Gedaliah is the day after Rosh Hashanah

FFF.19.         The maccabees began their rebellion from the Town of Modiin.

GGG.                 20.         Cholent is a special salad made on shabbat.

HHH.                 21.         Leket is the mitzvah of leaving food dropped during harvest behind for the poor.

III.    22.         Chuldah is one of the seven female prophets.

JJJ.   23.         Moses was 80 when he went to tell pharoah "let my people go!"

KKK.                   24.         One only has to say Hamotzi over bread when it is shabbat.

LLL. 25.         an Eruv is a symbolic boundary that allows Jews to carry on shabbat.

MMM.             26.         Hazzan Mizrahi's family is from Greece.

NNN.                 27.         on yom kippur, we don;t wear gold so we don;t remind God about the Golden Calf.

OOO.                 28.         Rambam was both a rabbi, a doctor, and a community leader.

PPP.                   29.         the tribe of Dan had lived the furthest north in ancient Israel.

QQQ.                30.         Mishlei is the book of the bible about the destruction of Jerusalem

RRR.                   31.         Rashi is the most famous of comentators on the Torah.

SSS.32.         There is only one Conservative Yeshiva and it is in Jerusalem.

TTT.                    33.         Anshe Emet used to use an organ and choir for shabbat morning services.

UUU.                 34.         war is always wrong according to the Torah.

VVV.                  35.         the kaddish shalem is a hebrew prayer in the siddur.

WWW.            36.         The torah says jacob wrestled with an angel on the banks of the Yabbok river.

XXX.                   37.         the english word for etrog is citron

YYY.                    38.         It is a mitzvah to return a lost item to its owner.

ZZZ.                    39.         There are two tropes so rare they only appear once in the entire torah.

AAAA.               Rabbi akibah began his studies at age 40. Before then, he  was illiterate.

BBBB.               there is no such thing as a heretic in Judaism.

CCCC.                Rabbi Siegel used to have a beard of redish brown hair.

DDDD.              The aleinu prayer at the end of services used to be said once a year.

EEEE.                 a person with a tattoo can not be buried in a Jewish cemetary

FFFF.                  There are people who can trace their family back to king david

GGGG.             The black hats worn by orthodox Jews goes back to the 1700's in Eastern Eruope

HHHH.              Jews from Yemen pronounce hebrew vowels and consonants differently than everyone else in the Jewish world.

IIII.   non-kosher wine might be clarified with animal fats or blood.

JJJJ. deconstructionist Judaism is one of the newest movements.

KKKK.                the first jews that came to the united states were Sephardic jews,

LLLL.                  at a brit milah, A guest of honor holds the baby in a special chair named for elijah. 

 

 

	YOM KIPPUR	TISHA B’AV	MINOR FASTS
START TIME	Sunset	Sunset	Sunrise
END TIME	Sunset	Sunset	Sunset
Eating or drinking?	Duh.	No	Guess.
Working	No	Hope not	Yes
Leather Shoes	No	No	Yes
Perfume or Cologne	No	No	Yes
Greeting People	Yes	No	Yes
Torah Study	Yes	No	Yes
Bathing	No	No	Yes

 

 

Calendar Period leading up to 9th of Av	Practices to get sad  (some do all, many do some)
The Three Weeks (17th of Tammuz to 9th of Av)	No weddings (pretty universal), No live music,   No haircuts
The Nine Days (from Rosh Chodesh Av)	The above,  plus: no eating meat,  no wine or grape juice (aside from Shabbat), no planting seeds or saplings,  no shaving, no new decorating the home.
The week where Tisha B’av falls “Shavuah She’chal Bo”	The above, plus: no swimming or bathing for pleasure, no freshly laundered or dry cleaned clothes, no buying new clothes
Tisha B’av,  the dark fast.   We sit on the floor, read Eicha, and remember Tzion….
And then six days later… There is Tu B’av!
It’s Judaism’s equivalent of Valentines day.  Not a Yom Tov, nor mentioned in the Torah.  It was practiced from the second Temple period (516 BCE to 70 CE).  It was a day of matchmaking and looking for a spouse. It has come back into practice only after the establishment of the state of Israel.	These days,  many Jews get married on Tu B’av. In Israel, lots of Jewish Israelis go out on dates, often wearing white garments. In the US,  it is slowly becoming more common for Jews to have Valentines-day like celebrations.
Seven weeks after Tisha B’av is Yom Kippur.

 

Love your neighbor like yourself. No? Then like what?

 

"where you are!” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbuikoUmwI8

 

Test: THE CHANT!

Review: THE SHVAH!

Choose -

Puddin cake -  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mSPP5mH5lxs

Schnitzel-  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yp1m9iuKYUk

Red velvet truffles-   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aa2mP2ok14g

Do not go about as a tale-bearer among your people- do not stand idly by the blood of your neighbor!- Leviticus 19:16

. לֹא-תֵלֵךְ רָכִיל בְּעַמֶּיךָ, לֹא תַעֲמֹד עַל-דַּם רֵעֶךָ!

 

 Maimonides on Negative Speech, from Hilkhot Deot (Jewish Ethics and Thought), 7:1-4

A.   Rechilut,  or, “Life and death are in the hand of the tongue- Proverbs 18:21”

Whoever tells tales about another person violates a prohibition from the Torah, as it is said, ‘Do not go about as a rachil/tale-bearer among your neighbors’ (see below.)  Who is a tale-bearer?  One who carries reports and goes about from one person to another and says, ‘So-and-so said this;’ ‘I have heard such-and-such about so-and-so.’  Even if what the person repeats is true, the talebearer ruins the world.

There is a still more grave offense that comes with this prohibition, namely lashon ha’rah /evil speech [literally ‘the evil tongue.]  This means talking disparagingly of anyone, even though what one says is true.

A person with an evil tongue is one who, while sitting in company, says, ‘That person did such and such a thing;’ ‘So-and-so’s ancestors were so-and-so;’ ‘I have heard this about them;’ and then proceeds to talk scandal.

B. What Is Lashon Harah?

As a rule, most people seem to think that there is nothing morally wrong in spreading negative information about others as long as the information is true.  Jewish law takes a very different view.  Perhaps that is why the Hebrew term lashon ha-ra has no precise equivalent in English.  For unlike slander, which is universally condemned as immoral because it is false, lashon ha-ra is by definition true.  It is the dissemination of accurate information that will lower the status of the person to whom it refers.

Since lashon ha-ra is considered anything that lowers another person’s status, it  is irrelevant whether one uses a nonverbal technique to commit it, such as texts or social media. 

 

C.  What Is Motzi Shem Ra? The most grievous violation of ethical speech is slander, the spreading of roumors or gossip known to be false what Jewish law calls motzi shem ra, “giving another a bad name,” or in English, slander.

 Norman Rockwell (1894-1978), “The Gossips,” 1948. Painting for “The Saturday Evening Post” cover, March 6, 1948. Oil on canvas. 

 

 

Once there was a town gossip  who spread every rumor and story. Sometimes the stories were true, and sometimes the stories were not true.    The town became full of gossip and lies, and began to become a terrible place to live. The Rabbi then called the gossip to his house.  "Why do like to share these rumors and stories?" the Rabbi asked.  "It's only talk," replied the gossip. "I can always take it back."

"Perhaps you are right," said the Rabbi, and he began to talk of other things. As the gossip was ready to leave, the Rabbi asked, "I wonder if you would do something for me."  "Of course," said the gossip.  The Rabbi took a pillow from the couch and handed it to the gossip. "This will sound strange, but do me this favor. Take a  pillow to the town square. When you get there, cut it open, and shake out the feathers. Then come back."

The gossip was puzzled, but agreed to do what the Rabbi said. He got a pillow and took it to the town square and cut it open. The breeze scattered the feathers across the sky, down every street and into the air in every direction, quickly vanishing.  The gossip returned to the Rabbi's house and told him what he had done.

The Rabbi seemed pleased. He handed the Gossip a basket and said, "Now please go back to the square, and gather the feathers up again."  The gossip gasped, "But that's impossible!"  "You are right," said the Rabbi. "Just as it is impossible to take back all the untrue things you said about others. Be careful with the words you spread. Once spoken and sent on their way, they cannot be gathered again."

 

At least a pillow contains a finite number of feathers.  An email, on the other hand, can be ad infinitum (without limit)---- Rabbi Michael Fessler