Pre-Nine-Days prep: My 10-minutes rule
Since I've heard that one isn't supposed to wear clean outer-clothes during the Nine Days of mourning preceding and including Tisha B'Av, but I see no point in being smelly and dirty, I line up all the blouses, t-shirts, skirts, jackets, etc. that I'm planning to wear during that period and wear each one, a day or two before the Nine Days, for at least 10 minutes. That's just long enough to do some legitimate work, such as downloading and saving a file and backing it up onto the external hard drive or cutting vegetables for a salad.
If you haven't already read Elie's tips on the Nine Days, I strongly recommend it.
Tuesday, August 9, 2011/Tisha B'Av update: It's a good thing that they announced at our local synagogue that we'd be having a Mincha (Afternoon) Service just before the beginning of Tisha B'Av, because I'd completely forgotten--again!--that one is supposed to eat one's final pre-fast meal (seudat hamafseket?)before davvenning/praying Minchah and almost davvenned Minchah at the office, as usual! So I'm adding this note to my pre-Nine-Days prep. post as a reminder for next year and future years.
If you haven't already read Elie's tips on the Nine Days, I strongly recommend it.
Tuesday, August 9, 2011/Tisha B'Av update: It's a good thing that they announced at our local synagogue that we'd be having a Mincha (Afternoon) Service just before the beginning of Tisha B'Av, because I'd completely forgotten--again!--that one is supposed to eat one's final pre-fast meal (seudat hamafseket?)before davvenning/praying Minchah and almost davvenned Minchah at the office, as usual! So I'm adding this note to my pre-Nine-Days prep. post as a reminder for next year and future years.
posted by Shira Salamone at 8:36 AM
6 Comments:
This reminds me of what we used to do at sleep away camp right before the nine days. We would put on ALL of our clothes, one on top of the other, and then take everything off. That way we had already "worn" them. One year, we took pictures of ourselves dressed in all those layers. (I still have those pictures).
My old Chabad rabbi used to recommend throwing the clothes on the basement floor as they came out of the dryer, so they would not count as 'freshly laundered'. My own custom is to leave them unfolded in laundry baskets instead.
In that case, Larry, all my family's clothes can be considered "not freshly laundered" most of the year round! Who has time to fold clothes...?
ALN
It occurred to me that my 10-minutes method works best for those not caring for young children, the ill, the disabled, or seniors in need of assistance, or for those not having other time constraints, as it takes time that one might not have, and one also has to keep an ear open for the timer. So I'm happy to see that there are more practical ways to get around not wearing freshly-laundered clothes without smelling. Elie's notion of putting one's shirts on the floor for a minute is also a workable approach for those with time contraints.
My O rabbi suggested what you did (only for 30 minutes instead of 10, which much to my surprise I managed to make time for) or putting them on the floor and stomping on them awhile (I didn't ask him exactly how much stomping was appropriate)
Thirty minutes?! I can't imagine where I would have found the time. I'm not crazy about the "stomp on 'em" method, either. I'd prefer just to leave them on the floor for a moment before getting dressed, as Elie suggested, if I didn't have time to wear them in advance.
I hope everyone had an easy and meaningful fast.
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